Whilst we have both been back to the UK since Covid, we have gone separately as we could not risk the borders being closed with us both away. We have our dogs and our life here, so that has been our priority.

As all restrictions become less onerous and travel is becoming more accepted, we wanted to just get away together for a few days – somewhere different to blow off some steam.

Ryanair has opened a flight hub here in Agadir, so are now flying directly from Agadir to many major cities at really great prices, so we decided on Barcelona.

I have not been to Barcelona for many years, and Karen has never been, so it’s a new place to explore and have fun. We booked our tickets (such a good price), and booked the dogs into the Caniche Ranch in Agadir so Zoe and Abdul can look after them ready for our trip.

We arrived at Agadir Airport, checked in, and boarded really quickly – it seems Fridays are a good day to travel. Our flight took off on time, no delays. We decided that as its a short break, we would go with hand luggage only, so arrival was simple – we had filled in the forms so went straight through – unlike one of the other passengers!

This guy decided to duck under one of the queuing tapes, right in front of immigration officers, then got a bit stroppy – he was soon dragged off to an interview room…some people are just idiots!

As we arrived really late, we had booked a hotel close to the airport – a good decision as getting onto central Barcelona at 1 am is not easy. The hotel was really nice, so we crashed out pretty quickly.

Breakfast was excellent – a buffet but so nice and relaxed – the hotel was not too busy so we just took our time – we could not check in at our final destination until lunchtime, so no rush really.

After checking out, we got the shuttle back to the terminal. Getting to the city center is easy – one bus route takes you right to the center at the top of La Ramblas, close to where we were staying – 6 Euros one way.

We found our hotel really easily, it was just behind the famous La Boqueria market, just off La Ramblas – a small hotel called the Leonardo Hotel Barcelona

We managed to check in early and drop off our bags before setting out to explore.

First stop, La Boqueria Market for lunch. One thing we love is Tapas, so pulling up a stool on the edge of a bar to be served some amazing tapas, washed down with a good Spanish beer was awesome. After lunch, we wandered around the market and explored the local area around our hotel, before heading off to find somewhere for dinner.

The next day, we decided to get a bus tour ticket so we could go explore all the sights around this wonderful city. These tickets are fairly expensive, and in hindsight, we would have been better off walking or getting a taxi to where we wanted to go – we spent a lot of time on the bus but did not really see much.

We did go to the famous Sagrada Familia – the unfinished cathedral and the Park Guell as part of this bus tour but the other places we saw on foot.

The next day we explored the harbor and the beach area which is really nice, then got a cable car with great views of the beach and port area – its really high so you can see right across the whole city.

In the evening, we decided to go a bit off-piste and walked all the back streets of the Gothic Quarter – there are lots of really nice little places to check out. As it got dark, we got really lost – Google actually took us to the wrong hotel – one of a similar name to ours but miles from where we were staying – I kept saying it was not right….but we carried on. We managed to get caught up in a Gay Pride Street Party music event which took us ages to get out of, then caught a taxi back to our hotel. We always seem to get caught up in some drama or other!

The next day we had a lazy morning, knowing our time away was coming to an end. We made our way back to the airport, and home again to Agadir. A short but very nice trip away, just the two of us. We had some great food, some laughs, and chilled out – just what we needed!