Art, Gardens, and Views!

We started the morning with a walk to the Boqueria market to the Pinotxo Bar for breakfast.  We were served by Juanito, who has been there forever.  Sharon said that he was there 10 years ago when she was last in Barcelona.  We had a delicious xixu (light pastry filled with cream and dusted with sugar and cinnamon) and cappuccino.  We also had a tortilla de espinache, which was OK.

After breakfast we wandered through the market 

It was a very colorful place.  

Miro in the street

Palau Güell, UNESCO site,  is a mansion designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí 

We headed off to get to the funicular to take us up to Montjuic and the Miro Museum.  Both of these were "free" with our Barcelona Cards.  

"A Hair Chased by 2 Planets" (can you see the thin line with 2 little black dots, :-) )

Mercury Fountain by Calder

This really is mercury.  I looked it up later.  It is a toxic fountain.  It is outside and in an enclosed area, not open to the public.  

On our way to lunch we went through the Laribel Gardens.

Lunch at La Font del Gat

Delicious meal and relaxing.  Sharon and I split an avocado & prawn salad and a filet mignon entree.  Jeanne had a vegetable tempura and Kris had tuna steak salad.  We had wine, of course.  

We wandered through the Botanical Gardens.  We also got some good views of the Olympic stadium and of Barcelona.  

these birds were all over

We caught the bus to go to ride the cable car down the mountain.  This was not Kris's cup of tea, but the rest of us had a good time.

toe touching in the Mediterranean

Aah!.  Perfect.  After a nice relaxing time on the beach we had to scurry back to the hotel to get ready for our food tour.

The Barcelona Taste, Gotico Tour

We headed off to walk about 1/2 a mile to meet up with our tapas food tour guide, Laura.  Wow.  What a fun time that was.  Laura took us to 3 restaurants for 2 savory tastings and 1 sweet.  We wandered through a lot of back alleys and side streets in between.  So many buildings built soooo long ago, it is hard to compared. We just do not have the same feeling of history at home.

an amazing cathedral

Laura, our guide, in front of Tapeo Bar

We started with a glass of vermouth on ice.  My picture did not turn out.

eggplant sandwiches

ground octopus, sort of like a tuna salad

an amazing fritata

beans and cod

very tender pork cheeks with onions and mushrooms.  We also had olives. 

the chef.

Then we walked a round to our next place.

a Lichtenstein

Belmonte

We were at a table upstairs

baked vegetables. traditionally it is with eggplant and tomatoes for sure and then whatever else they want to include.

fabulous potato cakes

bread with a tomato rub

a salad with avocado, tomatoes, peppers and onions. 

Here we had a white wine, a vinyet.

sausage on toast and salmon on toast.  

Whew.  We were getting pretty full by this time.  Both places seemed very generous with the amount of food.  

street performers

Bodega la Palma for dessert

The 3rd beverage was a cava.  

a cheesecake or penna cota type of dish, a creme brulee type and a chocolate dish.  The creme brulee dish was my favorite. 

But the chocolate was the prettiest

By this time we were not only stuffed but we were nearly zombies, having been up for a day and a half straight.  Laura got us back to our starting point so that we could find our way home.  It is a good thing because I was totally lost.  

This was a huge stainless steel sculpture by Liechennay, that was rotating.  There were several other sculptures there as well.

Only disappointment - absolutely no view of the full moon.  Argh!!

We got back to the hotel and met in the lobby just long enough to come up with a plan for tomorrow.  For some reason, Sharon and Kris are not able to get the wifi.  Jeanne and I are having no problems with that.  They are very frustrated.  

Time to crash.   

Hola Barcelona!

pre-trip, nearly full moon

On Thursday, June 8, Glenn got us to the airport for our 1:30 pm flight (Portland time) Jeanne had a 5 pm flight (Minneapolis time).  This is Kris, me & Sharon.

what a sunrise.  I could not stop taking pictures.

We met up with Jeanne in Amsterdam.  I don't think any of us got much sleep.  Both of our flights arrived a little early, June 9th.  That was nice.  We left there 10:30 am.

We arrived into Barcelona 12:30 pm (Barcelona time).  Once we got our luggage (they made us check our bags), we caught the airobus into town.  Nice view of the city as we came in.

In front of the hotel.  We unpacked and got settled.  Then we went to do a few errands.  We had to get our Barcelona cards, so that we can get into some things for free and unlimited rides on the metro.

Plaza de Catalunya

Las Romblas

Of course we had to stop for gelato.  Pam, you would have been happy

For a little more money you could have your gelato, shaped like a rose with a macaron in the middle.  

Then grocery shopping for a few essentials, just in case.  Jeanne and I are sharing a 0.89 euro bottle of wine.  I will let you know how it is.  We were curious. It was not the only bottle of wine which was that cheap.

We then walked back to the hotel to have a little siesta before we head out for our food tour.  

We met up with someone at our Poble Sec food tour who said they had taken a picture of the full moon.  They sent it to me.  We have not seen the moon at all.

Barcelona-Madrid-Paris Plans

Sharon, Kris, Jeanne and I are doing a Rick Steves tour to Barcelona and Madrid and then we are tacking on a trip to Paris.  We have 5 nights in each city.  Sharon, Kris & I will leave Portland mid-day on June 8th (that is this Thursday!!) and Jeanne will leave from Minneapolis.  We will meet up in Amsterdam and do the last leg together.

 We have had a lot of fun planning this trip.