Barcelona in August is actually not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Sure it’s full of tourists and the heat/humidity combo can be overwhelming some days but there is also a lot less traffic and as long as you stay away from the center of town and the tourist hordes it almost feels like you have the city to yourself. Almost.

Still, there are times when a little outing is in order as Small Paw likes to remind us every once in a while. (Most days she’s actually very content to stay at home and read or play iPad. Both a blessing and a curse…)

We’d heard good things about the Torre de las Aguas park and it was indeed a cute little hangout, complete with old-fashioned changing booths, a sandpit full of toys and even a large amount of trees to bring shade! My major gripe with most playgrounds in this city is that there’s rarely any shade so the slides are burning hot by mid-day and who wants to sit in the broiling sun while the little ones are melting on the seesaw? But I digress, back to the Torre de las Aguas or Jardins de la Torre de les Aigües in Catalan.

The pool itself was perfect for little kids because it’s only 50cm deep. Small Paw could walk around and even play crocodile, i.e. put her hands on the pool floor and pretend to be a crocodile lurking around. That pose didn’t last long though because the water was freezing cold. Better to do some swimming practice where you (ideally) move your limbs.

Then today we headed to Montjuic to show Small Paw the great playgrounds they have and more importantly, find a place to have a picnic because we made lemonade last night and that simply tastes better when you’re sitting somewhere outside, surrounded by greenery. Unfortunately also surrounded by mosquitos (what is it with the mozzies this year in the city??) but nevertheless, we had a fun little picnic.

For dessert Fa brought us to a lovely little café which sounded like a total tourist trap on paper because it’s right on the Ramblas within spitting distance of the Boquería market but the cheesecake was divine and the coffee was also very good. When we left I saw that they make fresh waffles as well so I we’ll surely be back to try those. Hopefully soon!