Eatind sans frontiers - part II - Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona at eight in the morning not realizing that our check-in time was two in the afternoon. Important tip: always confirm check-in time before booking your ticket.

The hotel had a restaurant attached to it, called Top Tapas. Their menu had illustrations of what they were serving, and the breakfast menu had fried eggs sunny side up with thick slices of bacon, hash browns, crispy bread with butter and coffee. This was our first hot breakfast since we left home. The Bacon was divinely crisp or crisply divine and possibly the best I’ve tasted. Our plates were wiped clean, egg yolks, bacon fat and all.

After our brief indulgence, we found we still had some time to kill. Our hotel was right on the Ramblas, the most famous street in Barcelona. We walked along the kilometer long street, stretching from the Columbus monument to the Plaza Catalunya. It is a vibrant street, always crowded with tourists and lined with souvenir shops and Tapas bars. What I loved about this street though, were the painters and caricaturists displaying and creating their art, right there on the street. Street artists amused passers-by with their antics. There were guys in different costumes, right from Edward Scissorhands to the Joker and a Flamenco dancer. There were break dancers, magicians, jugglers, all so talented, it made me wonder what they were doing on the streets. At night, the street takes on a different avatar and is vibrant for different reasons.

After finally checking–in at the hotel, we went for lunch. We had steak, tapas and shawarma for my fussy son. The tapas were grilled chorizo, potato, meat croquettes and stuffed olives. The shawarma was the best part of our meal.

Back at the hotel, breakfast was included, and it was quite a spread. Cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurts, juices, cheeses, chorizo, two types of ham, jamon, croissants and a variety of other bread, and my favourite: an automated coffee maker. The kids were not enjoying the tapas, and neither was I. Maybe we hadn’t eaten at the right places.

So with kids in mind, we had shawarma--which was very good, and KFC a few times. The kids loved it. We tried out paella at a few places and frankly, it was nothing to write home about. I was not happy with the cuisine in Barcelona, but then again maybe we ate at the wrong places.

Just off the Ramblas was a market called the Mercat de la Bouqueria, a colourful place with fruit stalls, candy stalls, chocolate stalls, cured meats, and fresh produce and of course there are legs of Jamón Ibérico all over. The vendors really displayed their stuff well and we felt like buying everything.

The best way to see the sights in Barcelona is on the hop-on, hop-off tour bus. It gives u a choice of two routes, covering everything that needs to be seen.

On the first route we visited the Barri Gòtic district, where stands the La Seu cathedral. The construction of this beautiful gothic cathedral commenced in 1298, but due to civil wars it was finally completed in 1913. What followed were all of Antoni Gaudi’s weird yet beautiful masterpieces of strangely shaped buildings with stranger décor and beautiful mosaic tile work. The Batllo house and Guell park are a must-visit, but I’ve never been more amazed by architecture and detailed sculptures and carvings, as was when I saw the Sagrada familia, Gaudi’s pièce de résistance. Its construction started in 1884, is still on today and, we learnt, is going to take another thirty years to complete. It truly is one of the most awesome structures.

The second route took us to Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona, indeed a grand stadium. We visited the zoo--which was quite impressive--and the aquarium. The kids enjoyed themselves.

The weather was great through the duration of our stay, except for our last day, when we were caught in a small rain shower as we got off the tour bus to return to the hotel. Barcelona didn’t do much for my culinary sense. It was time to fly to Madrid.

To be continued .............