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Published: August 24th 2014
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La Boqueria The past couple days went by in what feels like the blink of an eye. So much has happened I'm not sure I can properly recall everything, but here it goes... I last left off the day we went to the market for the first time. It's called La Boqueria and is amazing/completely insane. They have rows and rows of stands with fruits, veggies, nuts, candy, ice cream, empanadas, pastries, cured meats, bars... I mean just about anything you can think of consuming, and every row is completely packed with people trying to taste all the best items. I'm pretty positive that none of the stands would have passed any food inspection I would have done back home, but everything I ate was so good I tried to ignore that fact. I've come to learn that everyone just lives by different rules in Europe, most of which I am very okay with (especially the one where you can buy alcohol and just walk around in public drinking it), so I just roll with it 😊 The market took up the majority of that day because there was so much to see/eat. One thing I had no idea about, is how popular
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La Boqueria jamon (cured ham) is here. There were so many stands/shops selling meat cups or meat on a stick and although that sounds kinda gross, they are probably some of the most common items to see people walking around with. That night we went to Bilbao Berria, a restaurant in the Gothic area recommended to me by a friend, and the style of food is called Pinxtos. They are kinda like tapas but are all individually sized and served in buffet form. You keep the stick from each one you eat and at the end they total them up for the cost of the meal. Each one is just under 2 euro, so it's very reasonable. The majority of them came on bread so it was a little heavy, but I did not try one thing I didn't like there. We drank our first Albarino of the trip there and I'm coming to find that it is difficult to order a wine I do not like over here. The next day we had plans to go to Park Guell, and architectural garden designed by Antoni Gaudi. So we woke up early and metroed/walked the 4 miles there only to to find
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La Boqueria out that all the tickets for the entrance times until 7 that night had already been sold. That completely threw us off and while we made the trip back to our apartment, we decided it was a good time to look into getting the tattoos we had been thinking about. In Florence there are different versions of a little black silhouette holding a red balloon all over the city. They are done by an artist referred to as Banksy, but no one really knows who does them for sure. Since we felt such a strong attachment to Florence we both wanted to get Banksy's artwork as a reminder and symbol of such an special trip. We were able to find a great place close to us that had good reviews/prices and got our permanent souvenirs... they only hurt a little 😉 Of course the next day when we wanted to go back to Park Guell it was pouring rain with thunder and lighting. It was our last day to be able to see this famous park, so we busted out our umbrellas and went any way. The rain was slightly miserable but Park Guell is gorgeous and the architecture along
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La Boqueria with the mosaics are really a sight to see. Well worth the trip, even with the terrible weather. That evening we had our best meal in Spain. It was at El Merendero Della Mari, a restaurant that was recommended to us because of their paella, and was right on the beach in Barceloneta. Obviously we ordered the seafood paella and it was as just good as we were told it would be, but we also had the best seafood croquettes I've ever had. After dinner we went to one of the more popular clubs in Port Olympic called Opium, which was fun and interesting as all the European clubs have been so far. We left around 3 am to head back to the apartment, but there happened to be a casino next door to the club so we made a quick pit stop there first. Gina actually had pretty good luck on a couple of the machines and won about 200 euro, I had absolutely no luck and cut my losses after 50 euro. Our last day together was low key, did some shopping, drank some cava (Spanish champagne), then got ready to head to our Flameco show in El
Poble Espanyol. This Iberian village is about the size of the main strip of dt campbell, so relatively small but has all sorts of small shops, restaurants and workshops along with tons of eye catching architecture. The show started at 9:30 pm and there were tapas served before. For being a set menu and not very expensive, the food and sangria were awesome but the show itself was better than we could have imagined. The dancers are beautiful and the speed in which they move their feet while continuing to look so graceful but intense at the same time is mind boggling. Gina and I were completely mesmerized during the one hour show and did not want it to end. We went home right after the show so she could pack and prepare for her journey home, then this morning we said our tearful goodbyes. I am so thankful to have had her spend these last three weeks with me and will never forget all the adventures we had. Now I have a couple days alone in Spain then am off to Dubrovnik. Adios until my next blog.
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