Day 2 in Barcelona
Today we took the Barri Gotic self-guided walking tour of the Cathedral district and the old Roman city section. There were geese in the cloister area of the Cathedral. We were thinking “this looks very nice,” then Nathan noticed a skull and crossbones on the floor.
Betsy guessed that was probably because of the various burials done there. But we associate the skull and crossbones with pirates, so ….
After the Cathedral we were walking the tour and reading the book in the Placa de Sant Jaume, when Betsy heard a lady behind us reading the exact same passage I was reading to them. They were using the same book — “RIck Steves’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports.” They were trying to figure out which left to take, and we were able to show them that they were facing the wrong way on the square, which is why the left they were seeing wasn’t making sense.
It was fun seeing them follow us on the tour for the next couple of stops, through the Temple of Augustus, until our pace moved faster than theirs — their group had younger children.
After finishing the walking tour, we wended our way back to the Ramblas. On our way there we stumbled across the best find of the day. We didn’t realize that the best place to get Tex Mex cuisine is in Barcelona.
Probably one of our nicest finds was the La Boqueria Market. Just off the Ramblas, it was a square the center of which was aisles of meat markets, fresh fruit vendors, and baked goods, etc. sellers, while the out edge was ringed with restaurants whose tables extended onto the sidewalk.
Sidewalk tables for restaurants are very common in Barcelona, but the density of them in the Bouqueria was very interesting. The area was very live. If we had felt like spending more it would have been great to eat at one of the seated restaurants. I saw a lot of excellent seafood being consumed, among other items.
Instead, we picked up a Calzone and some Empasadas at one and very fresh, very pulpy juices at another. We then went outside the market to find a place to sit (actually lean against a rail) to consume our repast. Then we went back in and picked up a plastic cup of cherries to consume on the walk back up the Ramblas and to the apartment.
Just a block before the apartment we stopped at pastry shop we had window-shopped on the way out. Betsy continued on walking back, while the kids and I chose a few items to have for a mid-afternoon “tea time.” We picked up something that looked to me like a flan, and was cream filled; something that looked like a filled long-john (and did have a filling, but not the type of Bavarian cream we are used to at home); and a chocolate coated croissant with a small band of chocolate filling in the middle; a flat round pastry, sort of flaky like a croissant, with slivers of nuts on top with a crunchy sugar glaze. These we divided into fourths each and had for tea around 4-5 p.m.
We also picked up about 16 mini-croissants, half chocolate drizzled, which we intend to consume during breakfast tomorrow morning.
Right now, as I am writing, it is our usual evening snack time. During our touring from the Baric Gotic back toward the Ramblas earlier today, we walked by a sweet shop that offered us these very good lemon-filled buscuit/cookies. We didn’t buy any of those, but we did buy three squares of nougats (I would call them caramels). I divided each square into quarters, so each of us could have a piece of each for our evening snack.
We are having snack after having gone out to dinner with Amah and Poppa at a nearby restaurant. We ate inside instead of outside, which is apparently cheaper. The outside seats are a premium — if you get waited on at them, at least. They don’t hurry you at any restaurants here, and you actually have to find someone to signal to bring you the check. That may be nice. The thing to get used to is the lack of free refills on beverages. With our sodas they come in cans, and we were pleasantly surprised tonight to find that they only cost EUR 1.70 instead of the usual EUR 2-4 found at many other restaurants.
At The Rainbow 