July 22 - Barcelona, Spain

croquettes

La Sagrada Familia

Weather – 26

La Sagrada Familia

degrees, sunny, a bit humid

chips, manchego, olives, hot sauce

Steps – 22,774

Jet lag seems to be over. Nothing is on our agenda until this evening, so we get up for a late hotel-included breakfast. The breakfast is nothing too special, but they do have Spanish torta (cold egg, potato, and onion baked omelette) and pan-con-tomate (bread topped with a fresh tomato purée) along with everything else you’d expect.

cava!!!

After breakfast we wander over to La Sagrada

Familia which is about a kilometer from our hotel. The first time Chris and I were in Barcelona (2012 or 13, I think) we visited the inside of this church, so we just admire the outside this time. This place is busy, not thronging, but plenty of people. We find a bench for a bit of a sit, take a few photos, and move along.

Hector and Chris

When we return to Barcelona after the cruise, we have a tour of the Estrella brewery which is close to the Sagrada Familia, so we wander over there to take
a look. We can’t go inside, but now we know where we have to be.

We find ourselves at one of Barcelona’s

church

pedestrian streets for a beer. This tree lined street is small, lined with shops and bars with a smattering of tables from each bar down the middle. There are plenty of locals around which we like to see. I figure I need to find a tour with an abuela (Spanish grandmother.) These older women know how to dress for this weather…always a flowy dress with room for a breeze, I’m not sure about pockets in these dresses, but I can’t have everything.

We have to be on the go again this afternoon around 4, so we head back to the hotel for one more beer (complements of the hotel) and a siesta. While we enjoy

random street with random art

our beer, we chat with the woman who seems to run the hotel in the day – she checked us in, worked breakfast this morning and poured our beer. The hotel has 90 rooms and apparently is nearly full.

The highlight of the day is a “Barcelona at Sunset: Tapas & Wine Tour”. With Hector our guide and 7 other people (all younger than us, all 6 Americans and one Mexican), we visited 2 bars and one restaurant in the Gothic Quarter and Born neighborhoods. Each of the places is small and independent. We start with Cava (Spain’s answer to Champagne), tomato bread, eggplant and goat cheese croquettes, cecina (Spanish dried beef) and Russian salad (potato salad and tuna that has nothing to do with Russia.) There is enough food here for a small meal and this is just our first stop. During each stop, Hector explains what we are eating and the history and stories around the food and drink. I could do with out the Russian salad, but for the croquette and beef I could have stayed all day.

chocolate mousse with olive oil and salt

Our second stop is to an underground cellar-type establishment. We learn about the Andalusian way of sprinkling hot sauce on potato chips – delicious! We also have thinly sliced beef with tuna sauce, olives (delish), Manchego (again…delish) and cod (also delish). With this we drink red vermouth (vermút rojo) and a white wine…both delish…obs! I had never tried Spanish vermouth but had heard of it and was keen to try. Vermút rojo is a white wine with caramel added along with spices, fortified with brandy or other alcohol…, kinda like a cold mulled wine.

The last stop has us at more of a restaurant than the first 2 places. Here we start with a red wine and eat beef cheek, Spanish hummus and a chocolate mouse drizzled with olive oil and flaky salt. We finish with a Spanish late harvest wine.

church

Between the 3 eating and drinking stops, Hector stops to tell us about a church we pop into, or a monument or a neighborhood. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…touring with a guide is the way to go. Of course, this costs a bit more, but the info and experience is something we can never get from a book.

As expected, this tour was fantastic. A small number of people lets us get to know each other a bit over sharing travel stories and advice. Hector guide was great throughout.

After the tour we hunted for places to grab one last drink. All of the places we passed were a bit too thronging and uninspiring, so we thought the craft beer place right beside our hotel would be perfect. Nope…this place was closed by the time we got there, not super late…930, so much for late night Spanish culture.

At this point I was in a bit of a lather, so since we were right next to the hotel we cooled off and set out in search of one more time for a beer. We finally found a place with an open table and were set.