Lauren tries to be a foodie...

As we all know, I am not a foodie (and clearly, Jordan might be the epitome of a non-foodie).   But while visiting Barcelona,  I made it a point to start trying new foods. After all, they invented tapas and food is basically what everyone thinks of right after SUN when you say Spain. Plus, the hotel in Switzerland was a disaster for food; so I had starved for a week.

I have tried:

-Potato cake with chorizo & Brie

-Spanish omelette

-Chicken Croquettes (fried meat)

-Catalan style bruschetta 

-eggs over fries with various toppings(they love this dish)

-fried Brie, other cheeses

-Spanish 'gelato'

-Spanish omelet (veggie)

-various pastries, some filled with a cream I cannot place

-every white wine a bar offered + cava

(Lots of Italian pizzas & pasta)

(Best waffle outside of Belgium)

(Even La Hacienda!)

I did not try the pimento peppers, olives or anchovies -I have limits.   But, since I have a hard time making menu choices, I love the tapas attitude!   Also, they have a market for every part of the world in our neighborhood.  Of course my favorite was the Russian.

Just a little more information about our trip, until next time.

See you again soon Spain!

Enjoying the last bit of Barcelona

Today we woke up rather late for our typical European trip and didn't even get out of the room until 11 local time; it was luxuriously fabulous. We have completed the full Barcelona itinerary and have a complete free day to burn. With it we headed to the beach and ate a leisurely lunch along the water before walking down the beach to see the sites, grab a beer or cava here and there, and at the moment ending up in an Irish pub (which we can never resist) near the Mediterranean. The rest of the day is likely to be similarly squandered but we will certainly make a new post if we find anything exciting. For now we are simply relaxing and enjoying the side of Barcelona that most Europeans see; the beach, while we rest up for our flight home tomorrow. Unlike our previous trips we have a lot more reason to come home and are very much looking forward to seeing D.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Plaça de la Barceloneta,Barcelona,Spain

Mountains & Beaches, Oh My!

On Thursday, we ventured out of the city to see a church built onto the cliffside.  It is said to be the source of the region (Catalan) pride's and has had a history going back to the 800s.

We had an interesting train ride with Brazilians & emigrated Cuban-Americans.  I was even serenaded in the train. We then had to take a steep ride up a cable car, which always makes me cringe. (Again, thanks Murren.)

Beside being built on the mountain, this church is famous for its Virgin Mary statue & it's choir.  Even after waiting almost an hour, the statue, church & choir were memorable and moving.  

Then we went hiking, after another train ride straight up the mountain.  The original monastery & church was built into the sheer cliff higher up.  You cannot beat the view.  Great job Monks!

After that, we decided to end our day with  a walk down a few of the city's beaches & enjoy this view.  I got to stick my feet in the (cold) Mediterranean Sea.  I promised myself I would come back to the Mediterranean when it was warm enough to swim.  

I found my shop (eyescream & friends) & had to get a plate.   We ended this hike at the goldfish statue where the 1992 Olympic village was built.

To end our day we made a few other  rounds in our neighborhood, in which we went to the fancier part which is upscale.  We had to end the night at Dow Jones for the wifi.

A Relaxed Wednesday in Barcelona

Wednesday we took off early again for an appointed 9:00 am entry to one of the more famous landmarks in Barcelona; the Sagrada Famila. This is a church that has been under construction for at least 100 years and isn't finished. It's another building largely designed by local architect Gaudi, and it's actually quite interesting. The exterior is extremely detailed with scenes from Christ's birth, life, and death; each one being represented on a different side of the building. The interior is also interesting as the traditional buttressed ceilings are absent and the architect was able to find a way to keep them much more open to allow light to stream in from above. All in all, an unusual and interesting place. After touring the church we had tickets to t our one of the towers which loom over the neighborhood. A short elevator ride up, some amazing views, and then a long winding walk down the towers followed.





























Next, a ten minute walk up hill on Avenue of Gaudi to see another of the famous architect's calibrations. This time a hospital (Sant Pau Recinte Modernista) which we did not enter. It was still very interesting and much prettier than some of his other works (see the ille de discord neighborhood from our earlier post).





From there we were largely done with the day so we tried some local tapas near our hotel in the Eixample neighborhood; literally an example neighborhood for how the rest should be built.








Finally we went to the hotel's rooftop pool for a little relaxing.

We ended the night out in another section of the neighborhood to do the nightly bar & food crawl. This time we started with a craft beer shop, headed to another Irish pub for drinks and snacks, and finally revisited the Italian restaurant we found to be so good on Sunday.









Thursday will be a journey up Montserrat which is a natural landmark that may be among the most unique, at least in Europe.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Barcelona, Spain

Rick Steves would be proud (Barcelona style)

As Jordan keeps insisting we actually have a vacation, I agreed to be done with my city tourist sites by lunch on Wednesday.  He made me change my original plans, so I felt the need to depend on Rick. (Yes, we are on a first name basis.). This meant cramming so much into one day.   We started on the edge of town at a church that was outside the original Roman walls from the 200s.   It was truly a spiritual place, especially as the monks were practicing their choir songs.  After we sat for awhile & watched the neighborhood wake up, we had to get going for our first Rick Steves walk (he is an American EU travel writer/guide for those that don't know him).

We began our first walk with the Roman part of the city, which was named Barcino.  The neighborhood is now called Barri Gotic. The walk included the city walls, some still intact-

The churches we saw were La Cathedral of Barcelona, Santa Maria del Mar (Church of the sea- not near the sea by the way) & my favorite stop, the oldest Synagogue in Europe.  

The walk ended with the palace where Christopher Columbus returned home from his 1492 voyage.  I stood where he returned!

This was one of my favorite Rick Steves walks ever.  Then we had to kill two hours before our Picasso museum timed entry so we wandered around the neighborhood for a second time, with stops including an Irish bar & La Hacienda (Mexican).

We went through the Picasso museum, which is in chronological order. He designed the museum himself before his death.  I was glad I had seen the more famous works in Paris to appreciate this museum.  He's not my favorite artist, but he's original.

We then walked to the famous Las Ramblas, our second Rick Steves's walk.  This was the main avenue down the city.  As this picture shows, it was the entry for the Romans into town.  The highway from Barcelona to France is still used, with the layout based on the original Roman layout.

And it is a busy place full of shops & tourists.  The highlight was La Boqueria, the largest city market.  It was lively & I saw foods I have never seen.  But, I had to leave once I saw a whole skinned chicken with the eyes staring into my soul.  I made Jordan guide me out.

After that walk, we went back to our neighborhood to relax because we were exhausted.   We wanted to eat dinner but most things were closed at 6pm.  So we settled for burgers at Bar Amsterdam because our feet were swollen.

We had to be up by 8am on Wednesday to see the most famous building in Barcelona, so we fell asleep watching the BBC news.