Making Lemonade out of Lemons: An unexpected trip to Vallvidrera, Spain

On Sunday, we ended up in a small town in the hills just outside Barcelona called Vallvidrera. We were on our way to Tibidabo, but got on the wrong train and decided to make the best of it. I am glad we did. Here’s what happened.

On Sunday morning, I left our apartment in Sitges with two of my three daughters – Tatiana, aged 10, and Raymi, aged 7. My other daughter, Soraya, stayed with my husband, Nando, in Barcelona at his brother’s house. The plan was that we would meet up on Sunday afternoon and spend the day together in Barcelona. Just as we were leaving Sitges, however, my husband called to let me know we should come to his brother’s house instead.

The idea of hanging out at in my brother-in-law’s living room on a beautiful Sunday did not sound appealing, so we decided I would spend the day in Barcelona with Tatiana and Raymi and meet up with Nando and Soraya at Barceloneta Beach in the afternoon. That meant Raymi, Tatiana and I had to decide where we would spend our day. On the 30-minute RENFE train ride from Sitges to Barcelona, I studied my guidebook and decided we would go somewhere in Gracia, starting with Tibidabo. I didn’t actually want to go to the amusement park itself, but thought it would be fun to ride the tram and the funicular with the girls.

So, we got off the RENFE train at Passeig de Gracia and tried to get on the FGC train to Tibidabo. That was not as easy as it looks on the map. You see, Barcelona has three separate rail lines: The Metro, the RENFE, and the FGC. The RENFE goes long distances, mostly south and north and the FGC is a regional train that mostly goes east, away from the sea and up into the mountains. And, the Metro is the underground that goes around Barcelona. We finally figured out that we had to go to a different train station to get the FGC.

Funicular that goes up to Vallvidrera

Thus, we took the Metro to the FGC Station. Right when we got to the FGC station, the train was there, waiting for us. We hopped on the train that said “Line 7” on the front and were pleased we didn’t have to wait long for a train. A few stops later, I noticed that we were not on Line 7, but on Line 6, and had made it all the way to Las Tres Torres. Oops! We jumped off the train and I thought of going back to get the train to Tibidabo. But, by that time we had been on different trains for well over an hour and wanted to get to our destination.

I looked at the FGC map and saw a station called “Peu de Funicular.” I thought to myself that that station might have a funicular as well and might even lead somewhere nice. On a whim, I decided we would go there. Luckily, the “Peu de Funicular” stop did have a funicular and, as I expected, my daughters thought the funicular was very cool! They even compared it to a roller coaster. We took the Funicular up to Vallvidrera Superior, and found a nice little town set in gorgeous mountain scenery.

The town of Vallvidrera is very hilly, and has lots of stairs. It also has amazing views of Barcelona below as well as the mountains above and below. We walked around a bit, but not much, as the girls were not too keen on the stairs. We found a nice homestyle restaurant and went inside for lunch.

Tatiana and Raymi in Vallvidrera

The lunch was decent. I ordered three plates: roasted chicken with fries, pasta, and a salad. The pasta was a big hit with the girls, and we ate most of the other two plates. I was particularly pleased to see that when I asked for a glass of house wine, I got a carafe and it was only 85 cents! After lunch, we looked around a bit more and made our way back to the funicular, and then back onto the FGC train. Later, I looked online and saw there is a small hostel in Vallvidrera. I will keep that in mind as a possible place to stay in Barcelona, as it looks clean and inexpensive, and I really did like the town.

On the way back, we had a lot more luck with transportation. The FGC train took us all the way to Plaza Catalunya. From there, we took the 59 bus straight to Barceloneta. I was impressed with my navigation skills on the way back from Vallvidrera. There was lots of room for improvement, anyway. At any rate, despite the long train rides, my daughters seemed to enjoy our outing today. They were even happier to get to the beach at Barceloneta!

Barceloneta was also nicer than I expected, full of vibrant Sunday afternoon activity and the beckoning Mediterranean Sea. It turned out to be a perfect day: a lovely lunch in a mountain village followed by a dip in the cool sea. The fact that it doesn’t get dark until 9pm in Barcelona in June certainly helped us to make the most of a long day.

Raymi in Barceloneta

Barceloneta