La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, and Date Night Numero Dos

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As promised we made it to Sagrada Familia. It was amazing to see how much progress they have made since we were here 6 years ago. The shiny white stone work stands in stark contrast to the nearly black stonework completed 100 years ago. Since we weren't on such a barebones budget this time, we actually got to go inside. Wow, was that ever worth it! The inside is truly awe inspiring, just as Gaudi hoped. Delaney enjoyed running around inside and needs to start carrying around a tip jar for all the people that are taking photos of her. She even found a little friend to play with. The other baby couldn't walk yet, but Delaney enjoyed pretending the other baby was chasing her and they both laughed and laughed (all with a non-stop peppering of flash bulbs from onlookers). In the basement they had scale models of the cathedral as well as some of the original sketchings for the building and carvings. They think it might actually be finished some time between 2020 and 2040. Guess we'll have to come see it again.

That night it was my turn to take Dad and Glenna somewhere for dinner. I found a place called Origens that specializes in locally sourced, in season, Catalonian food. They also had a tasting menu so that you didn't have to decide which of their amazing dishes to try. The tasting menu had 7 different tapas, 3 different mains, and 2 desserts (that's 12 plates, total!). Some of the memorable dishes were: bread with roasted eggplant, roasted red pepper, and caramelized onion with romesco sauce; lentil salad with octopus; shaved zuchini with cheese and codfish; baby octopus in olive oil and garlic (so ridiculously tender you would never have guessed it was octopus if you were blind); cuttlefish and sausages; and creme catalan, the catalonian version of creme brulee. We washed it all down with cava sangria (sangria made with Spanish champagne). Amazing dinner!

The next day, I felt the need to work of some of those 10,000 calories so we headed off to Parc Guell, the park Gaudi designed for the rich. We picked up some delish sandwiches on the way (iberian smoked ham, goat cheese, mango, arugula, and balsamic vinegar) and had a very nice picnic in the park. Delaney enjoyed running around in the playground and getting as dirty as humanly possible (dirty baby=happy baby, apparently). Then we headed off to see all the main attractions of the park: the mosiac park bench, the grottos, the mosiac fountains/columns.

We decided to walk part of the way back so that we could see some of the other modernist buildings in town. We ended with Casa Battlo, an apartment complex that Gaudi redesigned (and boy did he!).

Once D was in bed, Pat and I headed out for one last date night in Europe. We scurried up to Quimet y Quiment, a tapas bar that the New York Times called "possibly the best tapas bar in Barcelona". It's about the size of my kitchen at home and is always, always packed. There are no chairs, so you must belly up to the bar and hope for the best. From bar level to the vaulted ceiling are hundreds of bottles of wine, beer, and liquor as well as a selection of tinned seafood (apparently this part of Spain produces the best tinned seafood in the world). It was a bit overwhelming, but we decided to give it a shot. Under glass on the bar is an array of the evening's ingredients and two dome covered platters of local cheeses. Quimet makes the most delicious montaditos (tapas served on a slice of baguette) from whichever main ingredient you select. Of course, we had no idea what any of the ingredients were so we order two glasses of red cava and 'quatro, por favor' (4, please). It was the best we could do 😊 Luckily he spoke enough English to ask if we were ok with everything, to which we responded yes. Soon the most delicious, gorgeously presented tapas on the planet began descending onto our little piece of stainless steel real estate. Our first was two giant mussels on a bed of tomato topped with a giant helping of caviar (too die for!). Others that we can remember (darn cava) were smoked salmon with whipped yogurt, honey, and balsamic drizzle. Pate with pickled onions and balsamic drizzle (perhaps my favorite and I have never liked pate). Other delicious creations centered around giant shrimps, dried shaved beef, and local Spanish cheeses. I could have eaten until I exploded, they were so amazingly good. We had no idea how much anything was going to cost so after 10 plates we decided to get the bill. I thought he said 56 Euros, Pat thought he said 66 Euros, but it turns out he said 36 Euros. At that point I was sad we had already given up our spot 😞

The next day we were saying goodbye to my Dad and Glenna and having a last day in Barcelona. More to come later.

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Comments

[Andy Mara]

That looks stupid delicious
Sounds incredible. If we ever get to Spain, I'm going to DEFINITELY try Quimet y Quiment. All of those tapas look and sound amazing.

[Mirm]

So hungry
The food you describe is making me weep. Even the meat loaded sandwiches sound delish! Delaney sure is photogenic, and the locations aren't half bad either.

[Andy Mara]

Van Halen
Must be hard times for Sammy Hagar, his funky glasses, and his dagger.

[Andy Mara]

Take a bow
Delaney is becoming quite the performer. : )