Bicycle trip to the IKEA in Badalona

It might sound like a bad idea to go to the Ikea with bikes, but we just needed some small things so it was a good excuse to bike to Badalona on the coast , and discover a bit of the upper part of it, we took the red metro line from Fondo to come back. There is a bike lane all the way on the cost from Barceloneta till Badalona and further. It is a good occasion to check out the 3 huge chimney's of Besos form close, this area is vey good place for people who like to visit or take pictures of postindustrial things and places. You also cross the freshly built marina before get into the town. Badalona has a nice little promenade by the beach with restaurants and cafes, good place to try a menu del dia. To find the ikea we just asked locals on the way, basically it is just up, up and up, takes about 15 minutes with bicycle if you go quite slowly. It is a good solution if you are bored of even think about to go to Ikea but you need something, like this at least you connect it with a little sightseeing, some soft adventure and exercise. From Ikea to Fondo metro station it is 5 minutes , and very easy to find.


Besos river

Saturday market in Sant Boi de Llobregat

You can get to Sant Boi with any FGC trains from Plaza Espanya. It works with the T-10 ticket and takes about 20 minutes. We took our bikes with us on the train, but it was a bit uncomfortable on a saturday morning, cause the train goes to Montserrat as well so it was totally full. Sant Boi has a nice little medieval church , and some streets with old houses around the church, but this area was absolutely empty, although the newer part of the town , which is the typical 70's and 80's blocks was full of life, that is where the market is as well. The atmosphere was quite strange with these blocks on one side , and trees and hills on the other side. On the market you can find a couple of places where they sell second hand clothes for 1-2 euros, and there is one stand with all kinds of second hand stuff, good chance to find some treasures for a euro. The main profile of the market though is chinese stuff, textiles, kitchen stuff, new polyester clothes, cheap cosmetics.We tried to eat something after walking around take a close look on the market , but we didn't have the patience finally, waiters seemed even more relaxed then in Barcelona in the 2 restaurants where we tried to get served. I found that Sant Boi has a strange atmosphere with this green environment on one side and on the other it is this quite poor , a bit industrial feeling , but absolutely clean and relaxed at the same time. You can have a view of Barcelona from the square in front of the church in an unexpected angle, not the most attractive view of the city to be honest.This time i didn't have time to check out what's by the river Llobregat up here, but i'll come back to see cause i am quite curious.

Plane watching and beach at El Prat de Llobregat

You can get to El Prat de LLobregat with a train from Estacion Francia, which is really comfortable with a bicycle especially. A simple T-10 ticket is enough. From the station you have to go to the main street of the town and go along that for a while, until you reach the bicycle way which goes besides the airport. There is a nice little typical spanish bar before you exit the town if you feel like some tapas or cheap platos combinados. IT takes around 15 minutes with a bike to get to the beach, but of course more if you stop to take pictures of every low flying airplanes.There are also two plane watching spots on the way, one with these concrete chairs just like on the beach, and the other one is a watchtower, it is surprising how many people are there watching planes even on a weekday. I suppose the beach can be ok too in the summer, cause at least there are no buildings on the cost here only pine-trees (unfortunately surrounded by a fence), looks enough natural comparing to other beaches this close to Barcelona, although you can here the planes taking off all the time. It is a nice little trip with a bicycle, you can also visit the small natural park of the Llobregat river, there are visibly many kinds of different birds around.

Thursday market in Sant Cugat de Valles

It takes around half an hour to get to Sant Cugat with the Ferrocariles de La Generalitat from Plaza Catalunya. It is quite a nice trip on the train as it crosses some forest areas around Barcelona , with some nice flowery trees, not crowded with industrial buildings like other suburb areas of Barcelona. I will wander around in other villages by this train line later , cause they look nice. Sant Cugat is a pretty little town,at least the center of it is. There is calm countryside atmosphere in the air, but you find surprisingly fancy shops on the main streets, even an Apple store , which you won't find in Barcelona. The market is quite big there are only a few second hand clothes seller, but many new clothes, kitchen utensils, house textile stands.The market is on some nice streets and around the medieval monastery.It is a really nice atmosphere, but the only thing i thought was better to buy than in Barcelona ware plants, there are many plant sellers, with big variety , and good quality plants, usually for cheaper than on the city.Also the second hand clothes were quite cheap and was possible to find some nice things for a few euros.Before i only heard people going to work to Sant Cugat, so i imagined some industrial, computer designed, boring, grey town, but it was a very positive disappointment after all!
return FGC ticket : 5,40 eur travel time: 30 min each ways