The Rest of Barcelona

Day 5

Standard morning procedure: wake up, shower/ get dressed, get breakfast and hit the internet store. So I did all that. Afterwards I headed once again down to Las Rambles to wander around and see if I could get a seat at one of the bars for some tapas and drinks inside La Boqueria. Indeed seats were free, but when I looked at the prices for some of the dishes I turned around and walked away. So I decided to have some fruit. I bought a package of strawberries and kiwi’s which were excellent. As I strolled back around the fruit section I kept seeing this one type of fruit I had never seen or heard of; Red Pithaya, or cactus fruit. I bought one and dug in. It had a very light refreshing flavor to it with a consistency that was a cross between a kiwi and a melon.

After some more mindless wandering around I met up with Maite. Maite is my friend Adriana’s sister. She was going to show me around a bit. We left Les Rambles and headed over to the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter). Here she showed me the old Barcelona when it was a castle surrounded by a wall. We didn’t go in because the line was way too long. So we walked around the area and she showed me Casa de l’Ardiaca and then we went to the Cathedral. Now as you all know I am not a subscriber of religions that recognize Jesus Christ as lord and savior but the inside of this cathedral was like nothing I had ever seen before. Besides the vastness of it the detail of everything was something spectacular. Wood carvings, stained glass, the columns it all had this magnificent detail to it and you could easily tell the people who built this place put their hearts and soul into it.
Some more walking around as she showed me many other sites around the city. We stopped for a drink and a snack and kept going. Later on we met up with Brian and Dan from last night. Our first stop was to grab a drink at El Busc De les Fades, the bar from the day before that looked like middle earth. When it was time for dinner we told Maite we wanted some authentic Spanish/Catalan tapas. She took us to a place called Bidasoa which was somewhere down by the waterfront/ Les Rambles. It was some of the best food I had ever had. We ordered a bottle of sparkling white wine to start. Then there was a plate of spicy sausages on bread; amazing flavor. Followed by fried calamari which was made well; it didn’t have that greasy, fat inducing feeling most American versions of the dish do. Then there was this egg dish almost like a scrambler. It had all kinds of vegetables in it, even mushrooms, and I hate mushrooms, it was delicious; a light but flavorful dish indeed. Then came these meatballs in a tomato based sauce; phenomenal. We ordered a second round of the sausages, some crouquettes filled with meat, and escargot. Maite was a bit afraid of eating snails; Bryan and Dan had never had them but were willing to try them. They liked them; they taste a lot like seafood, honestly. After dinner we all parted ways as it was getting late and Maite had to work in the morning and Bryan was moving into his new place tomorrow.

Day 6

I woke up a bit on the late side and took care of the normal morning detail. I then hopped a cab up to the IQS University to see Jordi, a friend of Adriana’s who I had met when he came to Boston for a bit. He works in one of the labs there and had a siesta from 1-3pm so I met up with him and one of his co-workers. We walked down the street to a restaurant whose name I cannot recall but the food and drink was pretty good. I started off with a drink that combined beer and lemon soda, this is a popular drink amongst Spanish speaking countries, as my good friend Joel had introduced me to when he came back from Chili. Spanish speaking countries mix beer with fruit soda like the drink I had, or sometimes they’ll mix red wine and coca-cola. Jordi mentioned that mixing wine and coke was something that young kids in Spain do when they get drunk for the first time, so obviously this was not something that is widely acceptable amongst an older crowd. Then for food I had a dish that bore a striking resemblance to an all-American breakfast; a fried egg, hamburger patty, pork loin, bacon, potatoes and cheese. About half way through my meal I asked Jordi if he goes back to work and performs ok after a meal like this, “oh of course,” he tells me. If I eat something like this for brunch I’m usually passed out on the couch an hour later. The Spanish know how to eat well.

They had to head back to the University to catch a lecture from some famous professor, I grabbed a cab back to Gracia and went back to the hotel for a bit. Around 5pm I checked my email again because Bryan and I had made plans to meet up. I met up with him around 6:30 and we headed down to the hostel where he had been staying up until he moved into his new apartment. The plan was to meet up with some people from the hostel and party. Little did I know this meant several ladies from Brazil and the receptionist from the hostel….OK THEN!!! After Bryan got some of the particulars and spoke with his girlfriend we headed down towards the beach. He was told that they would be at the first bar on the beach, so we started walking. Once again, gotta kick some knowledge on how beautiful the Mediterranean really is; from afar it’s like starring at a jewel but up close its even more amazing. Mix that with the sand of the beach and the buildings and mountains in the background and you have a scene worth getting out the brushes and paint for.

We walked and walked and walked for what seemed like forever until we finally found the bar they were at. As we got there they were leaving so we at least caught them. All I could think was wow, this was gonna be a good night. One of the Brazilian girls was giving me shit about drinking water and not alcohol….this was gonna be good. They were heading off to go shower and get ready. The receptionist told us to meet up with them in about 2 hours at her place. This is when I met Duncan and Ralph; two guys from the hostel from rural North Carolina. Rednecks? Oh you have no idea. So as the girls left to get ready the four of us walked back to the hostel. Along the way we picked up a whole bunch of Strella Damm (the stereotypical Spanish beer, honestly not very good beer, but in this case it would do the job) I think we had about 24 tall cans. The receptionist had given Duncan directions to her place so we got on the metro and headed over there. Two problems quickly arose; The first being we were pretty late heading over there. Second, the directions she gave Duncan were terrible and by the time we got lost and tried to call them they already had left to go to a club. So we headed back to the hostel and started drinking. At first the four of us played asshole, your very typical American drinking game. Then we switched over to Texas Hold ‘em but instead of betting with chips we bet with drinks. This kept up until about 4am when Bryan and everyone else decided it was time to sleep. I once again grabbed a cab to Gracia.

The final day in BCN.

I knew this was it for me in Barcelona and I wanted to make it a good day. I had so many things I wanted to do and see before taking off but in the end I decided to relax instead of run around. I realize now I’m going to have to go back again so I can see these few things. I had planned to go to the Picasso museum as well as walk around the El Borne district to pick up a few things for people back home, and eat at a restaurant called La Luna that came highly regarded by my good friend Nick and his wife Ashley who spent a week in Barcelona on their honeymoon. But last minute I came to realization to just take it easy. After relaxing for a while and walking around Gracia I met up with Bryan around 8pm. We sat down at some small café in his new neighborhood and got some food and drinks. Some tapas of meatballs and seasoned ham that was obviously astonishingly good. We then made our way once again to the beach area stopping at one of America’s biggest institutions, McDonalds. Yeah I know, I’m in Spain and I’m eating McDonalds but it hit the spot. We ended up going back to my neck of the woods and drinking at this English pub. 2am rolled around and the bar closed down. Bryan and I parted ways promising to keep in touch. I went back to the hotel to pack and get ready for my voyage tomorrow to Eastern Europe…Prague. I realized as I laid my head down to sleep that Barcelona is absolutely an amazing city and that I indeed need to return here, not only to see and do the things I didn’t get a chance to do but also just to come back. I have to be honest when I say I fell in love with this city, so much history, culture and remarkable food. All I need to do now is work on my Spanish so the next time I come back I’ll be able to communicate much better. Barcelona is a truly breathtaking city. Sure it’s got the sites you need to see (ie Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia, tapas, etc…) but it’s a very livable city and full of life which is what really drew me to it. I knew when booking this trip that it was a city I should see but I didn’t realize until I was about to leave how incredible of a place it was. In the words of the governor of California…I’ll be back!