Gluten Free Barcelona

Finally my Barcelona blog post online. As I don’t like talking wrong about people, I will say most of my pictures were “lost.” So after gathering some of the images, I downloaded to my Mac, iPhone pictures and some other ones I got back. I finally finished this. 

Last year I needed a vacation. So why not Barcelona? Haven't been there since I became a mom, love their food, and they happen to speak one of my mother languages. But to be honest, I was a bit skeptic about being in my old "Party Town" with a toddler. We were invited to spend some days at Barceló Raval. It is a beautiful and centric hotel in Barcelona filled with art, elegant interior and the most beautiful (sexy) light for selfies or bed games if you are not traveling alone ;) 

The cool thing about the location of this hotel is that you can walk around the city and leave your car parked. As a celiac, it is always hard to travel. Many countries have no gluten-free alternatives  (Sorry France for bashing you), But Barcelona was a tremendous Gluten-free destination.

From small stores full of fresh fruit to huge markets offering cured meats, and seafood. A paradise for Gluten intolerants.  Of course, you can have bread, but who needs this when you can have oysters with Cava and Ibérico with cheese?

I love traveling off-season. In October it was like Norwegian Summer, some days were pretty hot, but in the mornings a trench was needed. Here you can see Pepa early in the morning wearing a Mint & Berry Trenchcoat, Tiny Cottons t-shirt, Zara kids Jeans, Adidas Stan Smith kicks and Acne Studios beanie at 7 am. And before we were wearing shorts and sandals.

My favorite breakfast/brunch place was Caravelle: A very cool and Scandinavian style place that serves fantastic coffee. It was so good; we went there two times. They have a large gluten-free selection — for example this tortilla staple with poached eggs and avocado.

Or these "sunny side up" fried eggs with mushrooms and avocado. All eggs were on point and the second time around I had the Spanish breakfast that had pork with pork and a side of pork :)

Walking around Barcelona was fun. No need to move too much, and for a two-year-old, it was quite ok. The narrow streets and balconies are a must-see. Pepa was wearing a jumper from 1+family, a Nike jacket and Suicoke Sandals with Hipsterkid sunglasses.

Pepa wears a "coord" tank top and shorts from Gray Label, Nike jacket Socks with Adidas Stan Smith sneakers.

Another place I enjoyed wasDüal Café. A tiny spot next to the market hall. They had as well many gluten-free things (if you aren’t vegan) like this tortilla with mushrooms and tomatoes or a massive amount of delicious Iberico ham with a poached egg with hollandaise sauce.

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After a great breakfast and walk, we needed a Mom-Daughter nap, but first some time at Barceló Raval´s terrace, they have an incredible 360° view terrace, and you can see the whole Barcelona from up there while tanning or cooling down in the pool.  At night, that terrace turns into a hot summer party with live music and cocktails.

At Barceló they have a great gluten-free selection at breakfast and in the evening as well. They made the whole dinner gluten-free. Starting with some bubbles and cheese chips, Toast with hummus, patatas bravas, and zucchini rolls deliciously filled.

For the mains, fish with steamed veggies and for me a tender beef with sauce over mashed potatoes, I was not missing gluten at all!

A must do for someone that hasn’t been in Barcelona yet or if you are traveling with kids is go to Barcelonetta beach and enjoy the view while sipping Sangria and eating some mussels. Be sure to ask if they come with flour cause some of them do. Some Patatas Bravas are always welcome as well.

There is a fair as well, where kids can do some bungee, drive cars and do some vehicle crashing or drive on the Ferris wheel. I always have loads of fun and Pepa had a blast.

Pepa wears jumper from and hat from MarMar, I wore: Do nothing club shirt, vintage shorts, bag from Ebeth and sunglasses from Ace & Tate, and my favorite fun lipstick from MAC: Ruby Woo.

One of the things  I like about Barcelona is that you can take the car and drive around, finding beaches and small towns and that is what we did. We saw beautiful beaches and hidden pearls when we decided to drive up north along the coast.

Most places were closed because it was off-season, but at least one restaurant per beach was open. They were very friendly about me not eating gluten and added extra eggs or meat. I didn't felt bad or left out because of gluten.

Pepa wears Pants from Noa Noa white shirt from a market in Bali and Suicoke Sandals.

My tiny mermaid loves water so much that she was in every beach, pond or swimming pool wearing swimming diapers you can find at every supermarket in Barcelona or with her favorite bathing coord suit from Tiny Cottons with SPF 50 protection we got from Littlehipstar. The flamingo was from the store next to the beach in Lloret de Mar.

If you follow me on Instagram, you could have seen some outtakes of the trip and videos like this one. Yes, I was in love with this oversized T-shirt from On vacation club, I wore it almost every day as a dress or at the beach. Hooray for huge shirts.

I will return to Barcelona for sure. It is very celiac welcoming and kids friendly, the off-season is my favorite season as it isn’t full of cars and tourists, but you can still enjoy the warm weather and beaches.