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Published: October 23rd 2023
A much-needed bit of sleeping in is how the day started. I naturally still woke up at 6:30 but refused to actually get up and after getting Jerry to stop snoring I fell back asleep until 8:30 when Jerry’s alarm went off. Then snoozed for an hour. We went down to breakfast before we started getting ready for the day.
Jerry tried the eggs benedict, it was ok, but not enough hollandaise and they serve it basically cold except the poached egg. I had jamon, cheese and mushroom omelet, it was pretty good but paper thin almost more like a crepe instead of an omelet. We of course supplemented with the buffet. I ordered a café con leche, but knew I was going to need more than one cup, so also went to the buffet to make my own cup. This proved to be very complex since it took me 4 attempts to get one cup. The coffee maker was just too high tech for me.
After breakfast it was back to the room to get ready for our final day of Gaudi and our final day in Barcelona. Today’s travel mode is the Metro, much cleaner than the
T in Boston and 100 times cleaner than the subways of New York. It is a pretty good system and got us everywhere we needed to be easily.
Casa Vicens The first stop for today was the first house ever designed by Gaudi, Casa Vicens. When it was built it was outside the city walls and not even in the city of Barcelona. It is a pretty quick self-guided tour that takes under an hour, unless you use your phone on every QR code in the house. It is significantly smaller than Casa Mila, Battlo or Palau Guell, one could actually live in the space. Nooks and cranny’s at every turn, plenty of terraces and balconies. It also had a very private courtyard. Jerry took many pictures so much more of a photo blog on this house.
Sagrada Familia No trip to Barcelona is complete without the pilgrimage to Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s last great work which he did not live to see completed. In fact, it still is not finished. The last time I visited Sagrada, there was scaffolding throughout and only 1 or two towers were complete. 13 years later, almost the entire interior is
Passion Towers
Sagrada Familiamostly complete, and it looks like there only a couple of towers left to complete. It was consecrated as a catholic church by Pope Bendict the XVI in 2010. It really is the highlight of any trip to Barcelona.
We took the elevator up the passion tower, for great views of the city and other towers of the church. Then we walked down 400 narrow spiral stairs, that took about 20 minutes. There is no choice, you ride up and walk down.
Again, this is more a photo blog than anything I can blog about.
Tapa on the Rooftop We topped off our second day of Gaudi with some tapa and cava on the rooftop bar of our hotel. The Jamon Croquettes were some of the best we ever had and the patatas bravas were also good. It was bit overcast with a very nice light breeze, it felt very pleasant after descending 400 spiral stairs at Sagrada. This is also the first real wine-thirty we have had in several trips.
After relaxing on the roof for awhile we headed down to our room to get ready for dinner. We had originally planned on walking,
Tower View
Sagrada Familia but given the day, we opted instead for a taxi. The front desk called one for us, but they were concerned that it might not arrive in time, since there was a football match, Lisbon vs. Barcelona, and traffic would be difficult. We seem to have an uncanny way of traveling during soccer events; our first trip in 2006 when Italy one the World cup or Eurocup, to 2016 in Lisbon when Portugal won the Eurocup. Turned out traffic was not an issue and the taxi arrived on time.
Cadaques Cuina Dinner was in the Barceloneta are of the city, near the Catalunya parliament and the Mediterranean Sea. The restaurant was very much a seafood-oriented establishment, serving fish fresh off the boat including the whole fish. Most was ordered by the weight, which is always difficult. Most of the fish was for two because of the size. It took us a bit to navigate the menu, even in English. Interestingly enough, they did not have any Cava by the glass only French Champagne, so instead we ordered a bottle of Cava. The cost was the price of two glasses of champagne.
We started with a trio of
tapa: grilled white shrimp (the whole shrimp an unpeeled), chargrilled leeks with romesco sauce and of course pan con tomate. They were all excellent and went very nicely with our Cava. We could have ordered a paella, but opted not to, because I could tell from the ones that walked by, again made without saffron. Instead, I had croacker (similar to sea bass) with roasted vegetables and potatoes. The fish was perfectly cooked with a nice crispy skin, the potatoes were eh. Jerry had a Basque style cod over ratatouille. Again, the fish was perfectly cooked, and it was a thick piece of cod, crispy outside, tender on the inside. We were not really sure how they managed to get it cooked all the way through and still have it so moist. It turned out to be the dish of the day.
The wine with dinner we had to rely upon the server for a recommendation as we are completely unfamiliar with white Spanish wines. He recommended a very nice white from the Galicia region. It paired perfectly with our fish.
To finish Jerry had a chocolate mouse (not Spanish) and I had a Spanish version of Baba
The trip down
Sagrada Familia Rhum. We also had our first Sherry of the trip, Pedro Jimenez. My Baba was a bit try, so I converted it from Baba Rhum to Baba Pedro. I poured some of the Sherry over the Baba, it made the dish.
With dinner complete it was back to the hotel. One of the server’s went to the main street and had a cab arrive directly in front of the restaurant. Traffic was light and we were home quickly. A final nightcap and off to a sound sleep.
Final Thoughts on Barcelona It has been 16 years since our last visit to Barcelona, and it has changed drastically. The last time we were here, almost no one outside major hotels spoke English (when I was hear in 2006, hardly anyone spoke Spanish they all spoke Catalyn). Now, everyone speaks English. It seems that the globalization of the world and the impact of the European Union has a negative impact on each Country maintaining the thing that makes them unique. While it is great for the traveler, I think we do lose some of the cultural experience of not hearing the language of the country we are in. It
Dish of the Day
Basque Cod over ratatouille also makes it difficult to practice your Spanish when they default to English. The city itself also seemed to lack that Barcelona vibe, late nights, late night tapa, etc. Perhaps it was just the area we were staying. That all be said, Barcelona is a must visit that should be on everyone’s list.
I am writing this in the morning before our train to Tarragona were we will spend the next three nights and check out if it is truly a potential retirement home for us.
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