Since we’re all in lockdown and not able to travel, I figured it would be best to recount some of my most memorable and celebrated trips abroad. I will begin with Barcelona because that was literally the last place outside of the US that I was with my husband prior to having kids and long before COVID. The world was a different place and we were eager to explore.
Just off of whirlwind tours of of London and France we boarded a plane on Air France to Barcelona. It was slightly overcast when we got there but the weather was perfect for strolling for a night on the town and tapas. Influenced by the Arabs, Turks, Europeans, and many others, Barcelona has the most amazing physical heritage represented through its buildings. You can visit the Park Guelle and the Sagrada Familia for inspiration and history. Or you can walk the beach and mercado for the best bars and shops around town. There’s a slower, more eclectic pace in Barcelona.
I’m not saying you can’t speed up your pace in such a city, but Barcelona begs you not to. Instead we wandered around endlessly hiking through the city steps passing the graffitied walls. We stopped in a bakery for fresh bread and found comfort in a coffee shop. The paella was as beautiful as it was delicious, we ate like royalty.
Every morning we had jamon (ham) and fresh cheeses. We ate so well, we just HAD to buy some new leather jackets. We paraded around La Rambla and discussed what life must be like to live here. Some of the locals still completely embrace siesta while others do not. With limited time in Barcelona, we decided to skip our siestas most days to walk around and feel the city. As the day progressed, we inevitably found ourselves out for tapas every night. The best tapas we had were served at Ciutat Comtal. When I am able to make it back, this will be the first stop on the list – it’s THAT GOOD. The Sangria was flowing and at one point John asked them to bring us whatever the chef would like to surprise us with. We started with jamon iberico & fresh seafood salad, enjoyed tenderloin with foi gras, delighted at mini spanish chorizo (different from Mexican chorizo) and potato croquetas, sampled Spanish Tortilla omelet, kept it health with fried artichoke and shishito peppers, and delighted in a desert of crema catalina (similar to creme brulee) and Torta de Santiago. We were full, but the plates kept coming. What were we to do? When the seafood is that fresh, you eat through the pain! As besides, we would never insult a good chef.
The next evening we went to La Barceloneta which was a cute little bar & restaurant on the wharf. We were so excited about the fresh fish sitting in the bar windows just waiting to be eaten. We ordered fried anchovies and let me just tell you, I could eat buckets of them. We ate plates of the entire fried little fishies- from head to tail. Such an amazing fish with great flavor. We also ordered the famed patatas bravas (link to recipe) and razor clams. YUM. It doesn’t get much better than fried potatoes with an amazing sauce.
As the evening closed, we enjoyed the most beautiful stroll back to our hotel. We recanted the day in full about how much we adored the city and would love to have summer holidays in Barcelona once we won the lottery. We were also ready to retire for the day looking forward to our next day’s adventure: a day trip to Monserrat.
