I couldn’t sleep in the early morning hours, so, of course, I started scrolling on TikTok. I got a reel for the best croissants in Barcelona, so that was our breakfast this morning.

Brunells was a short 15 minute walk from our hotel. We would have never found it without the TikTok about it, because it was in the opposite direction of our usual path. Brunells was voted the best pastry in Spain in 2020 and 2024, and has been in business since 1852. The shop had the cutest window displays.

I asked the lady what their most popular croissant was and she directed me to the pistachio croissant. Kate got the cheesecake croissant with raspberry filling, Jack got a strawberry and cream croissant, and Dan got a plain croissant and another pastry. The croissants were flaky and airy and amazing.

After our breakfast,  we headed to the Picasso Museum. As luck would have it, it was the building right behind Brunells. We have always ran out of time for the Picasso Museum when visiting Barcelona, so today was the day! Picasso spent much of his life in Barcelona and a large collection of his work, donated by himself and others, is in this museum.

After the museum, we hit up a few stores before slowly making our way back to the hotel. We decided we would grab lunch on the way back, when inspiration struck us. I really wanted Patatas Bravas, so I was looking for a tapas bar. I happened to look down a dead end and see a restaurant off the beaten path, so we shared tapas there. We had bruschetta, cheese croquettes, olives, sausage, and patatas bravas. Dan and I had cava to drink.

After lunch, it was back to the hotel for our siesta. After the rest, we had a little pool time before dinner. I had reservations at Los Caracoles. Dan had found this restaurant on Instagram 3-4 months ago, so I had it earmarked to visit. It is an older restaurant with chicken spinning over a fire. To get to the restaurant area, you walk through a crowded bar and then right through the kitchen.  The tiled walls are lined with pictures of celebrities. The food was good, but not amazing, but the atmosphere was really cool.

Dining is a very slow experience in Europe, or maybe we just don’t know what we are doing. We always have to wave waitstaff over if we need anything, and drink refills almost never happen. We were in this restaurant over two hours, when all was said and done. Every step of the process is very slow with minimal interaction with the wait staff. No one is rude, it is just very culturally different.

After dinner, we were close to a plaza that we have visited all three times, so we had to go recreate some old photos.

Tomorrow is our travel day and we are ready to be back home. It is a long travel day, as we will lose 7 hours coming home.  We leave Barcelona at 2:10pm, layover in NYC, and arrive at O’Hare at 9:00pm, which is 4:00am the next day in Barcelona. 😵‍💫