La Isabela: Barcelona, Spain

Last weekend, in honor of my friend Eurydice's 30th birthday, we decided to take a quick trip over to Barcelona for some much needed celebratory sunshine. On the Saturday night, we started off at La Isabela, the rooftop terrace bar of Hotel 1898. Although the hotel is on one of the busiest central streets, La Rambla, the terrace was surprisingly peaceful and felt like an entire world away from the hustle and bustle of the busy city below.

When we arrived, we were shown to a special elevator that is only used to reach the bar and found ourselves transported to a picturesque city escape. The bar area is made up of a few tables, lots of comfy sofas and a few more private cabanas. Fortunately, at 7pm, the bar was still pretty quiet with just the right amount of people to maintain the relaxed atmosphere.

The views were pretty spectacular with the city to one side and the sunset on the other. Of course, being tourists, we may have spent the first fifteen minutes moving around taking photos of this view... but fortunately no one seemed to mind!

Since we had dinner reservations for later that evening, we opted to stick to the cocktail menu which had a great selection of local versions of classic drinks. The five of us managed to choose a varied mix so ended up with a very colorful table - which felt very appropriate given how vibrant a city Barcelona is!

I went for the "Mediterraneo" which was a nicely jazzed up gin and tonic (on the right in the photo below). It was deliciously refreshing and came with a tomato and basil skewer as a garnish... which, as a tomato obsessive, was totally fine with me! Along with the drinks, our server also brought out some complimentary olives and cheese which we promptly devoured.

This was such a perfect spot to start our night and I really hope to return someday soon! If you find yourself in Barcelona and the weather is nice, I highly recommend giving this place a try. Although the prices are a little higher than what you would find elsewhere (about 10-15 euros per drink), the atmosphere is completely different to what you experience in busier tapas bars. We booked our table easily via their website and I think this is probably a good idea for any future visit as I can image this place getting quite crowded...