BARCELONA TRIP - MARCH 28, 2018 TO MARCH 30, 2018

BARCELONA

March 28, 2018 to March 30, 2018

2018-03-28 BARCELONA DAY 1

‘This was the first place I ate when I got home from Thailand’.

Kenneth Moya, our AirBnB host is a diver (thus, Thailand) and serious eater (thus, the enthusiastic salivations out of his wiry, zero body fat elfin frame). His smile, English, and recommendation are perfect. Behind us are eight hours of window and middle seat, no meal, no drinks, no-frillness on Norwegian Air Dreamliner flight DY7050 and we are sooo ready to unfold, and stretch our legs and taste buds.

We walk down the Rambla de Catalunya under the huge trees, just Spring-ing into green down, branches airy fingers into the blue sky. Clams in garlic, grilled prawns, crisp fried sweet green peppers slide past taste buds unparched by deeply chilled beer, ready for the adventure of Spanish tapas, and thoroughly satisfied.

We've soft landed in Barcelona.

2018-03-29 BARCELONA DAY 2

Felix the tortoise stretches his Mitch McConnel neck and face in the sun. He shares the terrace with Couscous and Thomasina, languid stretches of feline blackness, and me, truly knackered hammock dweller.

Fueled by xocolate y churros (thick hot chocolate and donuts) today we walk the streets of Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, narrow streets and monuments time-sandwiched between Roman columns and baroque churches. We ramble there and back through the architectural perfection of this most beautiful city. Grilled balconies ripple the sublime dignity of block after block of 19^th century façades. The city reaches only 5 or 6 stories above the cobbles, human-scaled. Down below we join Barcelenos to watch passers-by from the benches under the trees.

“it's bitter orange, but good” she says and her homemade marmalade joins a round of manchego quartered across 4 flavors, rosemary, paprika, and 2 others, unknown, indescribable. The market fills the small square, adding another layer to this place, already rich with stony patina. We add two small loaves of bread.

Tomorrow’s breakfast is in hand.

 

2018-03-30 BARCELONA DAY

‘53 cents.’

Victor’s nimble fingers hopskotch across the keyboard at the computer bodega, press the button that prints out our boarding passes and rescue us from Ryanair Surcharge Hell. Turn up without a printed boarding pass and we pay 44 Euros---each--- to get one printed. That's the cost of Kenneth's AirBnB and twice the price of our 22 Euro one way tickets from Barcelona to Liverpool. We happily hand Victor the 53 cents for the printout and 2 Pounds for 15 minutes of the computer's labor.

Successful navigation of the fine print policy byways of Europe's most far flung no frills budget airline requires Sherlockian diligence and an electron microscope. The rewards are ridiculously cheap fares, the punishments, wallet emptying surcharges.

Barcelona holds only rewards.

First, cold beers, then random rambling towards the must-sees.. The droopy-loopy façades of two of Gaudi’s architectural confections are straight-line chewing, angle-defiant contrasts to the stately dignity of the buildings that frame them. These are frosted eye-candy, dripping mortared marzipan.

Eyes surfeited we service our taste buds street side at a place Dennis noticed pre-Gaudi. There's confine print on the handwritten ‘menu del dial’ (aka.today's special ): thick egg and potato ‘Spanish tortilla’ (aka crustless thick quiche ), tomato and squash ‘crema' (aka thick soup), and :’scrambled eggs’ (aka scrambled eggs). All come with small sides of fresh greens and a full order of smiles from the young, peppy, and startlingly charming waiter. The wine is red. The sky is blue. Gabriel, the chef, quizzes us with his eye brows from the next table. Our thumbs respond. Gabriel ups the ante: ‘Next time I make you something special’ and seals the deal: we have found ‘our restaurant’ in Barcelona. We'll be back in 6 weeks, the fine print of Ryanair willing.