Barcelona
I arrived in Barcelona to bright sunshine and markedly warmer temperatures than in Nice. About 10 degrees warmer…Oddly enough, I felt immediately at ease here which I think has more to do with me being more familiar with the language thanks to the 100 or so spanish speaking employees I have hired and (sometimes sadly) fired in the last couple of years. It is very confusing for me though… I find myself switching words and interchanging the languages without even realizing it until I get that look… I’m trying very hard to manage these few days in Spain without having to revert to English… that is my self-imposed challenge. So far… so good. My taxi driver from the airport spoke no English and spoke the Catalonia version of Spanish, I asked him initially if he spoke English, so I took a deep breath and jumped in… I told him where i needed to go, asked him how much it was going to be and we had a lovely conversation on the way to my hotel. He pointed out several landmarks for me, informed me where to go and what to see… all in his native tongue and I got it… He delivered me to my Hotel.. and wished me luck.
My hotel is cute… A step above basic, but not much to look at. (As in I have no view of anything other than the corner) It’s walls are a bit thin, and since the floors are all wood, you can hear the hallway noise pretty clearly. But cute and pretty close to the city center.
My first stop was the Sagrada Familla… the famed Gaudi cathedral. I am going to tour this tomorrow in more detail… but my first impressions… My breath caught in my throat and I felt like my feet were glued in place. STUNNING. I walked around to the back side and So glad I did… because the detail in the stone work is phenomenal…. I could not take my eyes off it. I had to sit for a minute and stare at it….I can’t wait to see inside… I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that someone actually thought to design and build this unbelievable church.
I walked on to the Marina and found a café to sit outside. My tummy was very hungry so I ordered a Sangria and decided on a couple of tapas.. patata braves and shrimp and garlic… I would have ordered them, but the couple next to me decided to play run the waiter and kept calling him over, he would go grab what ever they asked for, returned to them only to get sent on yet another mission… this went on for a while. And let me tell you… what a sour bastard that guy was…. he was just pissy about everything. Hated what he ordered… which was seafood pallea…. and then he bitched about how he did not know it was going to be shellfish and thought it was going to be fish. he hates shellfish. UGH… I ate so fast and slammed my sangria only because I wanted to get as far away from that guy as I could. No sourpuss on my time.
Onward… I found my way to Las Ramblas, which is an open street market… had a Guinness to toast my friends at home… wandering on I found FOOD NIRVANA…. An open market place with rows and rows of single vendor stalls all selling fruits, nuts, sausages, meats, fish… you name it… it was there (food wise). Gorgeous! Shortly after I made a GRAVE mistake… I walked into Custo Barcelona. Please, let me explain here that I am NOT a fashion label crazy kinda girl, but Custo… makes my pulse race. I love his shirts. In fact, had one on today…. OMG. I wanted to buy one of everything in the store. (I’m going to check to see if there is an outlet store here) Just … fun, bright, hip shirts. Love ‘em. Going to try to show some restraint…. can’t promise….Further up the street, I found the place my friend from Nice said I should go for Tapas, Ciutat Comtal.
Night all…
Special thanks to my cousin Eric for telling me about the bus around town that allowed me to still walk and saved my legs a bit between sights…and my friend Eric for leading me down the gastronomic rabbit hole that is Els Quatre Gats that ended in a moment of ecstasy so great it, I think it was multiple.
First, briefly about my day…. I started my day with a light breakfast and headed out to explore the Sagrada Famila in more detail. I was in utter awe… sheer amazement…. I was at a loss for words other than ‘what an honest and loving tribute to God’ one must have been thinking of to conceive such a GRAND cathedral. Gaudi’s incorporation of nature and all things ethereal… is mind-blowing and so carefully thought out. Since tourist dollars are funding the completion of the cathedral… I felt ok paying the 2.50 euro to take the lift to the top of the spires on the Nativity side… As soon as I exited i wanted to retract. I stepped out and my heart started pounding… my hands started sweating and my breath came at such a rapid pace it was hard to keep up. I was surrounded by massive structures and a lot of rock… but I could feel the panic setting in… it was MUCH worse here than I experienced at Notre Dame in Paris… I took as many photos as my nerves would allow and very gingerly crossed over to the adjacent spire … I felt stuck as there were too many people flooding the way back down via lift.. and I just wanted out. I was done.. get me down. My nerves were on high alert and I started down the stairs, which I also have a GREAT fear of… stairs down, up is fine, down… I hate, no matter how few the stairs, I get that little flutter before I take the first step down. I think I held my breath all the way… and screamed at a four italian teens (in my head) to either MOVE or GET THE FU*K out of my way… my palms were so sweaty on the way down I think they dripped… I certainly white knuckled the rail on my right and my camera in my left hand. Half way down I was in such a panic….I could not think of anything else but get to the bottom… FAST. Every thought in my head was ..”oh god, please… ground, please.. NO MORE SPIRES…. I swear” I was tearing up in utter panic….I finally hit the ground… and just stopped, bent over and took a few deep breaths… I was in such a cold sweat… I went outside to catch some air and sit for a minute… Just retelling here brings that panic back and makes me tear up… So… next city, I don’t care how miraculous the church is.. no more spires, no more stairs… I’m done. Gaudi…. Kudos on a brilliant church, but I’m keeping my happy butt on the ground form here on out.
Thanks to cousin Eric, I hit the bus that goes all over town…From Sagrada Familia I hit (and not in detail… only because my dinner was the second star of the day (after Gaudi, of course)….Parc Guell, the Science Museum, the Ceramic Museum, Textile Museum and Museum of Decorative Arts, and La Pedrera (but did not go in) By the time I got to Gaudi’s Apartment building, La Pedrera… I was tired and had not eaten anything all day, nor had I stopped to write like I usually do.. so I called it at day. Gaudi was a genius, an amazing visionary and no other will ever follow in his footsteps… I found a cute little Vinoteca, had a couple glasses of wine, reviewed my day and mapped out directions to …. the best dinner I have had since Paris…
And here is where my friend Eric comes in….here is where I spare no details….
So.. From my little Vinoteca… I mapped that I was not at all far from Els Quatre Gats and thought why not… what’s the worse that could happen… I got seated right away had a glass of wine and looked over the menu. I was given a plate of local olives to nibble on.
Immediately I knew I had to have the octopus … (I judge a restaurant on two criteria, how good their onion soup is and how well they cook octopus) I was having a bit of a hard time deciding between three entrees… grilled veal, duck confit with fava beans, or the lamb shoulder… I called my waiter over to discuss. I told him i had my mind made up on the octopus, for sure. Only because I love it so much… and asked him… if her were me, what would he order. He recommended the veal… and so it was done.
Here are my notes as written at the time: Octopus sliced with smoked paprika, a hint of spice and olive oil and these potatoes that just melt in your mouth. I had to tear a piece of bread to sop up some olive oil and spices. OMG… I have always thought that spanish olive oil is superior to all others and this confirms it. I wish I could better verbalize the taste or had some sensory recording device that i could play back, but for now I am just reduced to internal profanity… F@$K.
Then the veal came…. OMG I want to hurt someone. Thank god for veal. More swearing. Lots of swearing, profane… I’m making my self blush. And then this potato cake… with candied onions and a hint of cheese. I ordered my veal medium rare… and it is actually rare, but OHHHH… fine by me. It’s really just seared on the grill. Fabulous. This dinner made me feel a little funny in my pants… multiple times. It doesn’t taste like beef, its sooo good. When I am presented with meat this awesome, I lose all woman like sensibilities and become carnivore, barbarian even, gripping my knife and fork more like a weapon than a utensil. Veal in the states tastes nothing like this… American veal is almost flavorless compared to Spanish veal.
Dessert, My waiter, Rafa suggested a Spanish Crema… which is like crème brûlée, but no vanilla flavor… just the taste of sweetened cream custard and burnt sugar. He served me a herbsaint as well…as a digestif. And called me guapa… which made me blush.
This food was not fussed over, it was simple… no sauces, (unless you count fine olive oil as a sauce) finished with a few flakes of sea salt… just fresh, fine local ingredients that were allowed to speak for themselves… octopus was tender, veal tasted like veal should.. meaty, young and robust… l’aliment de l’esperit (food of the spirit).
Many thanks to Eric and Eric…One for a Gaudi-kinda-day and one for the best diner I have had since Paris.
3/18/09
