Getting up at 3 AM so I can arrive at the airport at oh-dark-thirty is just plain punishment. And being squeezed into an airplane for a zillion hours is near miserable and no way to start a fabulous trip. OK, now that I’m done complaining, the flight to Barcelona was remarkably smooth with the one exception of a really fun roller coaster ride as we descended for landing. My sister’s friend at the airline was able to get us exit-row seats so we had lots of room to stretch out and we were able to get some sleep on the plane. We flew a new airbus which was interesting but there is a bit of a design flaw in the bathrooms. The available/vacant indicator is so small that nobody could see it and I witnessed many people open a bathroom door only to find someone else already in there -- apparently the door locking mechanism is not that intuitive. On the other hand, they had a wheelchair accessible bathroom, which was great because it is a bit larger than the normal airplane bathroom -- not nearly large enough to accommodate a walker but an improvement nevertheless. Enough about bathrooms.
We arrived in Barcelona around 8:30 AM and took a cab to our hotel, which is about a half block off Las Ramblas in the gothic quarter. A fabulous location from which to head out to a number of great destinations. Our room was not available until after 2 PM so we dumped our luggage and headed out, wearing the same clothes we‘d been wearing for 24 hours already. As with any trip where we spend a few days in the same place, we have a quest -- it’s always a fun thing to have quest. This time, our quest is to find the best hot chocolate in Barcelona. A bit of background: Barcelona (and all of Spain) is known for its thick, intensely-flavored, not-too-sweet, hot chocolate. About as close to heaven as a person could possibly get. So, with a lovely map from the hotel, we walked to the closest hot chocolate place on our list, Dulcinea, which was only about a 5 minute walk. It was a little, tiny place but lovely and we sipped our first hot chocolate of the trip and ate churros (not as sweet as churros at home) and another Catalan pastry that is a lot like lemon-flavored lady fingers. YUM. Definitely an A- to an A in my rating book.
Thus fortified, we wandered down narrow alleys of shops -- there were many tile placques on the walls with various pictures of people and little proverbs very interesting. Discovered a shoe store that sold only one style of shoe but in hundreds of different colors. Loved it but was able to avoid the temptation of buying any. Discovered an earring store with literally thousands of earrings that were wonderfully unique, many quite humorous, but again was able to avoid temptation. We eventually found the main cathedral in Barcelona -- not the Gaudi one -- and went it and looked around. Very lovely stained glass windows and lovely gothic architecture. We decided against paying the fee to go into the choir section in the middle of the cathedral, only to discover as we walked around it, that we could see into it from the other end. The wood carvings are amazingly delicate and intricate. I wonder how they maintain that wood over the centuries -- I mean, how do they keep stuff like that oiled? With q-tips?
We wandered around a bit more and discovered an interesting lunch place, so we went in. Ordered sangria, of course. We both ordered “bean salad” as a starter and were served a hot bean soup that was really good. So much for translation. By the time we finished lunch and slurped up the last drops of sangria, it was 2:30 pm and the sangria (nap juice) was working and we both felt sleepy. So we went back to the hotel, shed our clothes and fell into bed for about a 5 hour nap. We read and puttered around a bit and when it started to get dark tried to turn on the lights in our room. No lights. We looked around the room with our flashlights (never, ever, travel without a flashlight) and found the thing by the door where you have to insert your room key for the electricity to work. Aha, we said to ourselves and rushed around to turn on the lights. No lights. We finally gave up and called the front desk. It took two people and a bit of complicated replacement of fuses, but we now have lights. While waiting for the hotel guy, we were serenaded by a large group of French men (just a guess on the national origin) lustily singing La Marseilles. Don’t know the reason -- perhaps a football game. They were clearly enjoying their adult beverages but the singing wasn’t that bad.
By this time, it was 11:00 pm and time to forage for dinner (remember, we’re on Barcelona time now) so we headed out again. Night time is when Barcelona comes alive.
We only got about a half-block away and discovered 3 interesting restaurants with tables outside. We settled at the tapas place and ordered sangria (what else?) and tapas. Enjoyed a plate of that famous Spanish ham (sliced tissue-paper thin and full of flavor) and several other things. (Well OK, my sister ordered anchovies in vinegar with green olives and she reported that they were quite nice, but I wasn’t about to go near that stuff.)
We ended the evening by walking up and down part of Las Ramblas -- lots of people out strolling and vendors and street artists. Great entertainment. We finally got back to the hotel by 1:30 AM.
Final score for the day: 1 hot chocolate, 2 liters of sangria (shared). Not that I’m counting, mind you.
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