During our last few days in Barcelona, we really started to feel like locals. Of course, we were still not effortlessly chic and glamorous, but we could get around town easily and even started visiting places more than once. And we have settled in long enough to host an actual guest from another part of Europe! Cue in visit from Isha, a dear friend of mine from my hometown in NJ: East Brunswick. We met when we were young teens and have stayed in touch through the years (thank goodness!). Isha now lives in Basel, Switzerland after spending 2 years in Paris, France, which is of course our favorite European city. Our lives have oddly intertwined over the years, despite our many individual moves, which I think gives our relationship a sense of magical destiny.
As Clark mentioned, before Isha’s arrival on the 20th of July, we learned an oddly great amount of information about the seafaring history of Spain and particularly Barcelona. I loved this re-creation of the first ship to circumnavigate the world, the Victoria, which was accomplished by the Spaniards, and which proved the earth was not flat after all. Ahh nautical science!! What a crazy, dangerous, scurvy filled tour that must have been. As I admired the ship, Meera shed a single tear during our selfie as she was thinking about nautical history.
This was then followed by our own seafaring adventure, a 90 minute boat ride around the port and into the Mediterranean Sea. We all LOVED it.
We then had dinner and retired to our home as we awaited Isha’s arrival. The kids went to bed and Isha finally got in around 10pm. The 3 of us excitedly caught up on our lives. Isha and I went out for some tapas and went to bed late at night, as one is required to do of course under such circumstances. Everyone was duly impressed at my ability to stay awake and be social.
The next day we got up at a reasonable hour (9am) and got out the door in order to get breakfast at the Boqueria, something we had been trying to do all trip but never woke up early enough for. We then wandered around the Gothic quarter and went to Palau Guell located in the Raval neighborhood; this is a mansion designed by Antoni Gaudí for the industrial tycoon Eusebi Güell and built between 1886 and 1888. It was impressive although a bit dark and forbidding at times. What I also found impressive is that the house-now-museum had a baby carrier to lend to us!!! I have never seen that before. They also stored our stroller and bags and gave us an audio tour to listen to as we wandered free through the house.
The classic Gaudi chimneys were featured of course, which gave the rooftop a whimsical tone. Here we are with our personal matching chimney tops:
We then headed to Barceloneta where we enjoyed some drinks at the beach while Soren played in the sand. We tried to take the big cable car but the line was too long…as there are only 2 cars running and a long queue of people. So we headed home to re-group and found a vegetarian tapas restaurant called Sesamo. Clark was of course suspicious of any place that did not serve jamon but he actually found the restaurant to begin with and the food was delicious and inventive. This theme continued as Isha and I went onto our 2nd and final dining destination, the famous restaurant Tickets. Clark made reservations 2 months ago and since we lost our sitter (my mom was supposed to come on the trip) and Isha arrived, the two of us got to go! Thank you Clark!!! Did I mention I have the most wonderful husband? He not only got us to the best restaurant in Barcelona, he also took the kids home and got them into bed at a reasonable hour and was genuinely happy that Isha and I had such a wonderful night out on the town. Tickets is #32 on 2018’s top 50 restaurants. It is a tapas, or small plates, based dining experience that is supposed to be more accessible to the commoner (cue in Isha and Swathi) with the features of molecular gastronomy that make El Bulli the world’s best restaurant for a long time. And it was amazing!!! We were seated, and the waiter basically asked us our specifications (we said some vegetarian, seafood and little to no red meat) and told us that they will just start bringing out dishes and when we were done we just let them know. Technically we were given a menu but we returned it to them right away as it was, well, kind of pointless. We also had a sommelier who made 2 awesome cocktails for us to start off with. What an experience! So many flavors in our mouths! I guess that was the point. Here are some highlights.
We started off with a “tea” version of gazpacho, which is a cold tomato soup.
Then I got to really experience the sensation of eating an olive with…a fake olive. But it was the more “olive” than an actual “olive.” That is what they do in their magical kitchen.
And yes if you do the math…Isha and I had by the end of the night been out dining for well over 4 hours that evening. Gotta love Barcelona!
The next day we went to the Gracia neighborhood to eat at a family friendly restaurant for breakfast followed by shopping before we headed back closer to home. There were very few if any tourists in this area and we sort of just blended in and had an amazing time. As in, we literally blended in with this weird Frida Kahlo mural:
Isha and our children got along great and we all had a fabulous time!
The next day was our last full day in Barcelona. We went to the beach (Nova Icaria again) and to my favorite vegetarian tapas restaurant again before coming home to put the kids to bed and pack. We already started missing this wonderful place.
Our adventures continue as we board a flight to Hyderabad, India via Dubai. Goodbye perfectly-delicious-partially-carbonated-with-a-slight-hint-of-salt-beverage from Barcelona! Anyone know if I can get Vichy Catalan or Malavella in the USA?