A Surprisingly Good Lunch

After wandering around El Born for a few hours, we decided that since it was close to 2 pm, we'd better have some lunch soon.

We happened upon Morelia and their outdoor tables and the girls decided they liked it. So we sat down and ordered the Menu del Dia - an amazing deal at 12 euros. This included a starter, an entree, a drink and coffee or ice-cream. Our best lunch of the trip.

We had a fabulous arugula salad and an empanada with jamon y queso that was so good that we had to order a second one immediately. Then we had linguine in tomato sauce and a curry chicken risotto. Both were excellent. This was surprising to me - no research, just wandered into this place and the food was not only a good deal, but extremely well-prepared.

I couldn't recommend this more, plus the kids got to run around the square for a couple of hours. Because that's how long the meal took. Do not try to eat in a hurry in Spain (or in most of Europe actually).

Chocolate Museum

Most people wouldn't bypass the Picasso Museum just because of a short line and head to the Chocolate Museum instead. But that's just what we did today. We can always go to the Picasso Museum in Malaga next week ;)

The Chocolate Museum was small but cute. The entry ticket was a nice bar of dark chocolate. Inside it was very cool (to preserve the chocolate), which was a nice respite from the heat outside.

There was an interactive display about the history of chocolate, as well as the process from cacao bean to finished product. The main displays were from their Easter chocolate contest, with some very complex pieces.I really liked this Gaudi lizard in white chocolate.And I thought the Tin Tin scene was very realistic. Other highlights were Ben Hur, Star Trek, various religious figures and Homer Simpson. Yes, chocolate seems to be an equal opportunity medium!

The museum also offers chocolate-making workshops for kids, but alas, they were all booked up for the day.

Espadrilles everywhere

The nice Scot who checked us into our apartment made it a point to tell me that women's shoes were an excellent buy in Barcelona. I wonder how he knew...

We went to a famous espadrille shop today, making espadrilles by hand since 1902. La Manual Alpargatera is a crowded little place with rather unprepossessing window displays. Inside is a nice selection of espadrilles in different heel heights and designs. Apparently they also make custom orders. It was cute to see the old ladies hopping on the ladder to get different sizes from the big wall of espadrilles. My lady kept speaking Spanish to me, I think I understood most of what she was talking about - ah, the international language of shoes.

Three pairs - a very successful outing. No, clearly they weren't all for me :)

Churros and Chocolate

Churros are not a Catalan specialty, and are supposed to be better down south in Andalucia. However, I read a blog recommendation for a churros place in Barcelona that was supposed to be up to Andalucian standards. This became a bit of a quest for us, especially since the first two times we went by the place, it was tragically closed - with no posted hours.

But when it comes to food, I am nothing if not persistent. Today - success!Xurreria (Banys Nous, 8) is a single little storefront that specializes in churros and other fried goodies. We went in and ordered 3 orders (100g per order at 1 euro each) - we had to wait for 5 mins as a fresh batch was fried up. They were placed in a paper bag, weighed and about a tablespoon of sugar was added to the bag and it was shaken up.

We then went a few doors down the street to La Granja (Banys Nous, 4), a milk bar and ordered our xocolata and suisa (a Barcelona chocolate that's less thick but smothered in an enormous mound of whipped cream). We brought our churros out and began consuming them at a very rapid pace, pausing only to dip them in the viscous hot chocolate.

The 3 orders disappeared very quickly. So I ran back to Xurreria and bought 2 more orders. This seemed to be very amusing for the little old man - you'd think this happened fairly often!

Finally, we had our churros and chocolate. Lots of it. Yum!

Overeating again....

We headed out to dinner at the relatively early hour of 8 pm and only had a few minutes wait for four seats at the counter at Tapaç24. And we all had stools at the bar right away! This was where we had tried to go two nights earlier.By now, we've figured out the kind of classic tapas that we like. So we had a number of the same things we had last night at Inopia. The standouts here were the patatas bravas covered with scrambled eggs and jamon - yum! The Bikini sandwich was fancier here - ham, cheese and truffles (of course the kids preferred the simpler version from Inopia). But the croquettes were good, as were the Bombes de Barcelona (meat and potatoes, breaded and fried).The girls pronounced the prawns as being better tonight. Oddly enough, when we ordered, the waiter said the prawns hadn't been delivered yet and we would have to wait. The same thing happened last night at Inopia - apparently, all the prawns get delivered to tapas bars around 8:30 pm?! Then the waiter returned later to tell us that they were now available to be ordered.
The service was good and our waiter was very nice to the girls, who tried almost everything we ordered, which made me happy! Finally, a great dessert - chocolate mousse-like pudding, served with olive oil, sea salt and crackers. Sweet and savoury - it was strangely addicting (reminds me of Sketch's soft serve vanilla ice cream with olive oil and sea salt).Another great meal and we rolled back to the apartment, happy and satisfied.

Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi

We spent a good part of the day at Parc Guell, a park designed by Gaudi in the hills of Barcelona, which also featured a Gaudi museum in the house in which he used to live. It was a nice day and the park was pretty crowded.Older daughter really like the lizard fountain. Younger daughter just liked all the mosaics in general.

After lunch we split up. Hubby and girls went to CosmoCaixa, the Science museum while I went shopping. This happens a lot (see earlier Paris blog). It keeps everyone happy!

La Boqueria Market

I awoke before the rest of the family this morning and headed out to La Boqueria, a famous market here in Barcelona. I enjoy markets a lot. After our Provence trip two years ago, I really enjoy country markets more, but La Boqueria was still fun.
I wandered up and down the aisles for a while - what struck me the most was the sheer variety and quality of the seafood. It was incredibly fresh - there was no smell at all, and there were many odd-looking things that I didn't recognize.Unfortunately, I wasn't really cooking at our apartment in BCN so didn't need any of the fresh things. The produce was nice and I bought some cherries and bananas. The meats looked good but the hanging hams were truly impressive.
I had breakfast at a small but very famous tapas place called Pinotxo Bar. I actually walked past it a few times and on the third pass, saw one seat open on the side. So I sat myself down, ordered what my neighbor was eating and a capuccino. It turned out to be a Spanish omelette (tortilla) with aubergine and another with potatoes and onion. Served with the traditional BCN accompaniment of toasted bread rubbed with fresh tomato and drizzled with olive oil. It was an excellent breakfast! I did notice a few plates of squid going past, accompanied by glasses of beer - 9 am seemed a little early for that...
I deigned to bring my family back a few pastries for their breakfast - they just don't know what they missed ;)