“Go to Barcelona…?”

Architecture, Fun, Travel

…OKAAAAYY!

I first visited Barcelona during the summer of 2003. It was one of the stop offs on a Mediterranean cruise I went on with my first ever boyfriend. We had a measly 4-5 hours to mooch around this popular city, soaking up a teeny tiny handful of the sites on offer before heading back to our miniature cabin on board the ship, just in time for dinner.

I typically like to venture to new places rather than anywhere I’ve been to before but I had always planned to head back and spend a decent amount of time there. Some 10 years on I figured, now’s as good a time as any.

Less than a two-hour flight and a cab ride through rush hour traffic I arrived at the delightful Melia Sky. On check-in I was told that they had decided to upgrade me for free to a Grand Premium Junior Suite. Boom! Surprises like that are always a great start to any holiday and this treat meant that all drinks and daytime snacks were freeeeeeee. Naturally I celebrated with a glass of fizz and a yummy cookie, (okay, three cookies!) and pondered on what a great weekend this was going to be.

Nestled up in my lovely room on the 28^th floor I was totally smitten with the panoramic views of the impressive skyline right before my eyes. StarArchitect Gaudí’s famous work in progress, La Sagrada Familia cathedral was in the distance whilst the Gherkin lookie-likey, Torre Agbar, was literally in full view. Way down below was the Parc del Centrede Poble Nou, a landscaped haven designed by architect Jean Nouvel. **I am a right geek when it comes to buildings.*

I spent a few days covering some ground visiting a couple of Gaudi musts. La Sagrada Familia blew my mind and made me cry when I walked in. My inner Catholic girl came out in force and there I was sitting in the quiet zone doing a little prayer. We all have wishes in life and this seemed like the perfect place to ask for it to come to fruition. Sounds daft but that little memory will stay with me forever.

My jaunt took me to the famous Park Guell, which had been recommended. The views across the city, the ornate and lovely colourful houses were pretty spesh but I couldn’t really see what all the fuss was about. Maybe I missed something? The guy that owns the pit stop café just before you get to the park was a complete legend and let me into a tiny secret that I promised never to divulge. Sorry, guys, you’ll have to visit yourselves.

I ventured into the tourist trap area of La Ramblas for a few drinks and to watch Spain play their penultimate game in the World Cup. It was quite tricky to find a typically Spanish pub that was playing the footie so in true ‘Brit abroad’ fashion I settled for an atmospheric back-packers bar down one of the back streets. I sat slap bang in the middle of the room – half watching the game and half watching the ridiculousness of the hundreds of 20-something gap year kids, taking me back to the days of my own travels over 10 years ago. I’m sure I wasn’t as groomed as these kids? In fact, I know I wasn’t. Three months away from home turned me into a wilder beast!

One of my absolute favourite bits of the weekend was the jaw-droppingly fabulous Dry Martini Speakeasy restaurant/cocktail bar I found halfway up the Diagonal. Once it filled up and the food and cocktails came rolling in I was in prohibition paradise. The place had a real sense of privacy and secrecy, a true testament to the New York and Chicago scene during the 1920’s. It was stocked wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with booze and the food was terrific. The personal touch I received from our maître d’ David was the icing on the cake to this special evening. After dinner I indulged in a tour of the building. Spying the ‘secret’ door that the somewhat more ‘theatrical’ guests like to use. I conjured up vivid images of the Spanish equivalent of Cirque De Soleil rocking up in the early hours and chowing down on paella whilst swinging from the chandeliers.

My tour ended in the attached cocktail bar where the resident mixologist came over to introduce himself. This little ledge treated me to a one on one cocktail making lesson. I had a whale of a time shaking and stirring up some of my faves like a pro. A skill I will one day be showcasing to all of my friends.

With the coolness of my hotel, the spectacular sites, the delicious food and the overall happy times I had in Barcelona, I 100% recommend that you all go and visit. This city really does have it all …and more.

What are you waiting for? Life’s too short. Book that flight.

MC x

This is not Miami…

Travel

…THIS WAS KECH KECH KECH!

Beyond excited – I packed my ‘ridiculously oversized’ hand luggage and geared myself up for the action packed hen weekend of my friend, and one of the WAGS, Lucy. Lucy and her bridesmaids, Claire and Nikki, all work in TV so are super organised and always in the middle of the party! I knew this would be one finely tuned, bad ass holiday. You should’ve seen the call sheets!! MAYZING!

The party started at Chez Valerie’s (Lucy’s Mum’s) with nibbles and a showing of Sex And The City 2 (obvs) The perfect antidote to a less than lovely week at work. Two hours of sleep and we’re on our way. I’ve travelled a fair amount but arriving in Africa after only 3 hours on a plane blew my tiny little mind. I had no idea Morocco was that close.

First up on the itinerary was checking into the super cool Riad Dar Alfarah, our home for the next 3 days. Bit of a hop, skip and a jump over a couple of stray cats, but ya know, we all knew it wasn’t Monaco. Our hotel was the perfect choice – a great private little retreat for eight WAGS on tour. Our penthouse was more like a Sultans palace! Okay, slight exaggeration but we did have our very own mahoosive private terrace and a hallway so big it later became our ‘catwalk’ for drunkenly showing off our colour-popping outfits to one another.

After settling in and dressing up to the nines we headed over to Nikki Beach. If you haven’t experienced a proper beach/pool party then you really must. Booze, banging beats and the most beautiful bodies adorned the glam-tastic setting. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon. 😉

Comptoir Darna served up some exceptional delights for dinner on Friday night and the entertainment of belly-and candelabra-dancers was show-stopping. We decided it was a great idea to neck an expresso martini each giving us the much needed energy to get our-shisha-pipe-table-dancing-salsa-skanking-harassing-the-DJ-French-speaking swerve well and truly ON in the super cool late night bar upstairs. BOOM!

After waking the poor night porter up at silly o’clock to let us in (awks), a few hours later the same happy chappie served up a yummy traditional Moroccan brekkie for us all. I think it was cake? It tasted like cake and cake for breakfast is definitely a big fat win in my book. Copious amounts of coffee and a quick outfit change into something a bit more respectful, we moseyed on down to check out the cultural delights of Marrakech. The labyrinth of souks were mesmerising – blinging handbags, colourful shoes, oversized jewellery and other lovely spangly things. If I had room in my luggage I would’ve had a right spend up. sob Note to self: pack less sh*t next time.

Le Jardin was the recommended pit-stop for lunch. It was an absolute beaut of a hidden gem tucked away in the middle of the Souks. It’s one of the few places that sell alcohol in the town centre. (What? It was a hen do!) Some yummy food, a Casablanca and Mojito later, we were all geed up and headed back to the glitter palace to get ready for our ‘BIG’ night out. And big it was.

After dinner at the super stylish, albeit very tricky to find, Kechmara – we decided that our little party feet needed to let loose and find a dance-floor. Theatro was just what the doctor ordered – a ginormous rave with, quite frankly, DJ sets that could rival Ibiza and blighty. We danced until we could dance no more and fell into bed at around 6.30am, fully dressed, make-up still on and into the land of nod within seconds. We definitely showed Marrakech how us Londoners roll.

Our planned trip to the nearby Hamman was quite the experience – mainly for me as I was a very pickled-hung-over-mess. I opted out of the full on Ritual Spa but the girls reported back and said it was lush! They were washed and scrubbed up by a couple of local ladies followed by full body massages and all emerged two hours later looking like absolute goddesses! How jealous was I.

Later that day we arrived back at the airport, shadows of our former glamorous selves with hair full of oil from the earlier massages (chic), reflecting on what was literally a weekend of absolute epic proportions.

Marrakech gave us style, some serious tunes, bags of culture and plenty of laughs. We all picked up a little French (Juj!) and got to know each other a whole lot more after divulging all sorts about ourselves during a game of ‘I have never..’. I for one can’t wait to get that bag packed and out to the next destination with these lovely ladies – they were all bloody brilliant.

Roll on the 2^nd August for Lucy and Neil’s wedding………!

MC x