Happiness, thy name be Barcelona. What an amazing city. Sean says my feelings could just be a severe backswing from all of our problems in Italy, but my Rome-mongering aside, I am in love with this city. We arrived yesterday via the ferry around 6PM, and because we were a day early with the change in our travel plans, our only goal was to get to the hostel and get something to eat. We accomplished both with little difficulty (our first sign we were out of Italy), and the tapas we had last night were the perfect way to start our time her in Spain.
Luckily, the condo that we rented for the week was only a few blocks away from the hostel. So we simply checked out and made our way over, kind of taking inventory of the shops and restaurants along the way. The condo is perfect, located in a small, trendy neighborhood known as El Borne, or La Ribera. It's a cozy little place guarded by a 200-year-old door, leading to an outdoor staircase decorated with greenery and art, and then up to our tiny studio with a city-kitchen, a lofted 2nd bed, and a BATHTUB. Hallelujah!! I haven't seen a bathtub since Mistelbach. For those of you who haven't spent much time in Europe, utilities out here are pretty expensive, so most of the showers that I have the privilege of using would cause claustraphobia in anyone. But not in MY magical city... WE have a BATHTUB!! After thoroughly scrubbing the last remnants of Italy from my skin, Sean and I headed off into our usual introductory walk.
One of our first impressions of the city was that it was WAY more laid-back than Rome (not that that's really saying anything). One of the things we've started doing is getting tour guides on our Kindle for each new city we come to, and one if it's first recommendations was to make our way to Plaça de Catalunya. We spent about 15 minutes grabbing pictures of the kiddos terrorizing the pigeons that were snacking on the seeds a local was tossing about. What a PERFECT way to start the day... it was really cool.
Then we made our way down to La Rambla, a mile-long outdoor space for street performers markets, and shops/booths. Also of note along the street was a colossal foodie-wonderland called Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria. Blair Twins, eat your hearts out!! This place was AMAZING!! A collection of butchers, fresh-produce vendors, spice shops, bars, restaurants, juice vendors, fish mongers, and sweet shops. After wetting our palates with some fresh-squeezed goodness, we made our way around the market for about 45 minutes letting gravity have its way with the drool seeping from the corners of our mouths. We only bought some sweeties as we didn't know how long we were going to be out today, but MAN!, the market is definitely going back on the To-Do list.
Side note. The caliber of street performer here in Barcelona blows Rome right out of the water. I'm surprised how much the Human Statue has taken off here in Europe. Even in Vienna, most of the major plazas had SOME form of Human Statue “performance” going on. In Rome, the standards were relatively low. No one actually sat/stood all that still for very long, and most of the costumes could easily have been picked up at any costume shop. But not MY Barcelona. They have taken this thing to a whole new level. There would be 7 or 8 of them lined up right next to one another, and your only problem would be which of these fantastic displays would get your pocket change because they ALL deserved it! We ended up parking ourselves in front of a pair of guys dressed like... God... video-game demons? They were HUGE!! Just look at these costumes!! And they were FUNNY! Just having a great time with the crowd.
I ended up picking up a pair of beautiful earrings as an early birthday present (Oct 14th, 32 years... eeesh) at the market as well. I had made a promise to myself with jewelry and souvenirs... I would only buy jewelry made by a local artist, and this would be my souvenir for new cities that I've visited. Thus far, I've stuck with that theme. Here are my Barcelona earrings.
After that, we made our way down the water front to Port Vell (a huge outdoor complex and marina) to check out the boats, down to the beach to watch the surfers, and then back to El Borne to cook some dinner. Along the way, we spotted a beautiful little café and coffee roaster where we FINALLY had our FIRST stellar coffee drink since coming to Europe. Pics below. They used a Faema E61 machine.
After some chorizo and pasta, Sean and I are finishing off our bottle of red wine with the rest of the evening left open for... whatever. Thank you Barcelona for such a welcoming Day 1!
I am SO excited that you are there and enjoying it! We LOVED the Boqueria - as I recall, bought flowers there to celebrate the St. Quinton's 25th anniversary, which was around the time of our trip. That is a fantastic shot, your first one, above, of the Boqueria. What a crazy quilt of goodies. Have fun!
ReplyDelete