The Continuing Adventures of Bungalow Jeff and PoJamma

Day 25 Barcelona

Hoey & Ruthie arrive this morning. We hang out until they get to the apartment. Hoey forgets the “left door” part of the instructions and so it takes a few minutes to coordinate. Open the door say, “Welcome home” and they’re in. We throw together a brunch of ham, a firm goat cheese, a mild sheeps cheese, orange, strawberries, azul tomato and some of the orange, nut & raisin pizza pastry we got in Valencia. Spend a little time catching up, apparently America is still there, and then plot a course of action. First we head to Syra because they have good coffee then into the market for some amazement. A couple of tomatoes are purchased for the “Ultimate Tomato Throwdown” to occur at some later date. Outside Pam takes Ruthine into the Oxfam store she had found the day before and I take Hoey into the bar next door that I had found the day before. A Voll-Damm Doble Malta Marzenbier and an accidental order of fried calamari later and we are ready to go. It’s still kind of morning for them so let’s go have a Bloody Mary at Bloody Mary Cocktail Lounge. Mostly just exploring the neighborhood walking by Plazas and down streets. Nope. Closed. Well, Bodega Bonavista looks open. We let the proprietor choose a white and 3 reds. He serves us Altolandon White a 50% Chardonnay and 50% Petit Manseng from the highest winery in Spain, a 2013 Marques de Murrieta Rioja Reserva from a Ygay Estate vineyard dating back to 1870, a 2015 Navaherreros Garnacha de Bernabeleva 100% Grenache that had much more body than it’s color would indicate and a Juve & Camps 2011 Casa Vella d’Espiells Cab made in D.O Penedès just outside of Barcelona. Hoey & I start asking him about the beer selection in bottles. He and a customer start picking out local IPAs (we are back to the real world where people don’t say Eeepa, We decide to get a six pack after all acknowledging beer is a natural for multiples of 6. There is a fair amount of this one OR this one going on. We settle on 6 and they are trying to close for siesta so we head off. Food is required so I know that La Cervesera Artesana right around the corner has some food. I saw it on my scouting mission. Closed. OK, well I got some tasty food at Beerket the other night. OPen but they had a party the night before and it must have totally debilitated their kitchen or more likely kitchen staff who is probably just one person. Pam and Ruthie try the taco joint across the street without good results. There are patatas bravas somewhere and then H&R need naps. They have been up a long time and we have dinner plans. We have a Tapas Tour scheduled thru Devour Barcelona. Time to start Metro-ing. H&R have a Metro Pass but I knew we wouldn’t be using the metro for the first few days so we just did a single trip when we arrived. Now it’s time to get a card. We catch the L4 at Diagonal and take it all the down to Poble Sec. Pop out of the station right on time right by the meeting point and there is our guide Lior and another Devour guide named Jamey. She is originally from Israel but moved to Barcelona to attend culinary school. Jamey moved from Ireland to Sevilla and does the same kind of tour there. They were awesome people to wander around to 4 very different tapas bars and sample tapas and drink with. They do these in other cities and I can’t recommend them enough. Tapas in Barcelona is relatively new compared to other parts of Spain. Dinner was a family gathering and people stayed at home to eat not go out. Bodega in Spain is a wine store, a wine bar, a winery,It began in the bodegas where locals would stop in to fill their jug with wine for the evening’s meal. Stop in to fill their jug And have a glass of wine or Vermut. Which turned into stop in to fill their jug, have a drink AND get a small bite to eat before dinner. We started at one of the oldest and most traditional tapas bars in Barcelona, Bodega d’e Rafel at Carrer de Manso, 52. We got hot and spicy ‘patatas bravas’ which was the best that Pam and I have had so far and croqueta filled with stewed oxtail. Pam was good with the patats bravas. They made sure there were veg options everywhere we went. Our drink was the iconic sweet artisan vermouth, the perfect aperitif. Next was a visit to a modern Barcelona tapas bar, Els Sortidors del Parlament, Carrer del Parlament, 53, fits the bill. They serve us a cured Catalan goat cheese, artichokes with nutty Romesco sauce and an I Tant Brut Nature Reserva Cava. The Romesco is a better, smoother version of what we had with our asparagus at Pages the other night. Next on the list is a traditional Basque Pinxto bar called Anardi at Carrer del Parlament, 48. I was all like “Yeah, we’ll see how it measures up” world traveller snotty. It was the vibe and food of what we saw in traditional spots in San Sebastian. There was a wide variety of delicious freshly prepared ‘pintxos’ served with an unlabeled dry Basque cider. I had probably the most iconic tapas in the world, a toothpick skewer with olives, peppers and anchovies. There was also one that was a piece of bread covered with what Hoey called “sea worms” and a sliver of tomato. We asked what they were and the bartender explained it to Lior. Obviously not “sea worms”. Well... she didn’t really know what exactly they were and she knew food. She said “I don’t know what they are but you should eat them. So “sea worms”? Turns out, yeah kind of, we think. They were delicious. You have a really hard time putting something in front of me and saying try this and me passing. Pam had a goat cheese with blueberry and also a tempura fried avocado. Now it was time to eat at the funky and eclectic side of Barcelona tapas culture. Bar Ramón located at Carrer del Comte Borrell, 81 is just that. It is supposedly hard to get into and I tend to believe it more than just thinking it is tour guide hype. It was full except for a table for 6 reserved for us and there was a wait to get in. It has been in some part of the same family for years and years. The decor is very heavily American blues and jazz oriented. The current family member to head the place is a hoot. The food was great. We started with a Red wine from DO Penedès. Catalan ‘botifarra’ sausage with foie and also Garlic and chilli prawns (gambas al ajillo) were served along with something yummy for Pam but my camera skills were deteriorating and it has been too long for me to remember. We took our leave of our guides and decided against going to see the Magic Fountain and opted for a stop at Barna Brew. Catch the L4 back to where we started and take a swing by Bloody Mary Cocktail Lounge for some cocktails. There were a couple Bloodies ordered and a gin or vodka drink with a gigantic blackberry in it and something that was orangey. One of the Bloodies was a Mediterraneo with a touch of dried tomato, basil and rosemary. The other was an El Ahumadito, a smoked “spicy” bloody with mezcal and chili habanero. It was put under a glass bell jar and had smoke pumped into it. They brought it to the table and pulled the jar off. We were taking pictures and the smoke was billowing out when suddenly it exploded! Turns out it didn’t really explode, it just looked like it did. Ruthie took a picture and her flash was on and… well you’ll see. Time to go back to the house. Pam and Ruthie go to sleep and it has been a successful night. Now for a successful late night. Hoey and I head out and return to La Cervesera Artesana, beers were drank, they remembered me from a few nights ago and we had fun. Did I mention I met the brewer? We got served a BDN Celia, a low carbonation sour, in a copper mug. Like a Moscow Mule mug. It allegedly simulates carbonation. I don’t know about that but it was interesting. We may or may not have, we did, get invited by the brewer I talked to the other night on my scouting trip to come back on Monday and help brew. Now that is a successful late night. Go home crash hard.

Day 27 Barcelona

Time to get up and at it. Today we are shopping, eating and going to see “the reason”! I don’t know what breakfast was but a good guess would be our usual. The walk, and today there will be a lot of walk, starts out following about the same route as yesterday except we veer a little more southeast and attempt to stay on Diagonal. I love roundabouts and the way blocks have their corners clipped to form nice open intersections. But when there is a street cutting at an angle and the crosswalks are pushed back from the corners it is easy to get a block down the wrong street. Keep moving and making slight midcourse corrections along the way seems to get us places so we stick to that procedure. The one thing we haven’t seen is on the route or at least it should be on the route and will be if we just take a left here and go 2 blocks and take a right and… The Monumental Bullring of Barcelona is just that, monumental. It is city block, football stadium big with blue and white onion domes. There is a museum there and they hold concert events there as far as we can tell. We are venturing a few blocks further to Mercat Fira de Bellcaire Els Encants Flea Market. There has been some sort of flea market has been held here since the 14th century. This is the kind of 2nd hand junk flea market Pam has been looking to find. It is held in a multi level structure with an amazing mirrored canopy. Hoey and I opt to go hang out in the cafe and drink coffee. After an hour it is getting difficult to remain conscious but we can’t get them to bring the check. It begins to get critical. We need to be moving. We have to get up and act like we are about to leave before they respond. The next task is to find the rest of our troupe in this sea of barga I post up in a conspicuous spot at the top of some stairs and Hoey goes on a search. There is a guy standing on a pile of junk below me reciting the same thing over and over. It is something about “Everything for 1 Euro” or so I imagine. It is strangely hypnotic but luckily not rhythmic enough to suck me in. Hoey finds them and off we go. It should only be a 2.2km walk of about 25 minutes but I manage to make it longer. Finally, we arrive at Poblenou Cemetery. We are getting close to the genesis of this journey. The crypts here are above ground and stacked 7 or 8 high. It looks to be a very efficient method for storing your dead. Each niche, and there are thousands of them, has a recess that loved ones have used to hold momentos and decorations. Some have glass doors and even rain gutters to protect the memories.There are ladders all over the place. At first I was annoyed that there was always a ladder in every picture I tried to take. But then for a brief instant I thought about people other than myself and realized they were there for family members to easily access the upper tombs. Some of them appear to be individuals and some are family crypts. Most are adorned with pictures and flowers but some are more personal. Children’s toys were especially poignant and Barcelona Football Club memorabilia was pretty amusing. None of them, however, are what we came to see. That would be the Jaume Barba statue “El Petó de la Mort” (The Kiss of Death) on the tomb of Josep Llaudet Soler created in 1930. A winged skeleton kisses a young person’s face, a really powerful depiction of death. An image of this is what I sent Pam with no explanation and said “We should go there.” and she said “Yes.” It is beautiful and spooky as hell. It’s not the only sculpture in the cemetery. There are a bunch of angels. One in particular looks pensive. And then there is the tomb that bears the names of Antonio Roman Heredia and Juan Luis Roman Heredia. It is peculiar even by my standards. It is a glass box with a statue of a man standing upright in it. He is wearing pants, a short sleeved shirt with the top button undone and a pair of aviator sunglasses clipped into his shirt. He is holding what I am going to make a leap and say is a bottle of booze and has a pack of smokes in his shirt pocket. Rock on Antonio and Juan Luis! It’s getting to be lunch time and we are near the beach so that means a visit to Xiringuito Escribà is next. Eating paella and drinking sangria at an acclaimed restaurant right on Bogatell Beach in Barcelona. You can see windsurfers and sailboats on the water from our seats. It may not get any better than this (it does). We order the Asparagus and Mushroom Paella and the Escriba Special Seafood Paella. The seafood has large pieces of firm white fleshed fish, mussels, clams, langostinos and small meaty chunks of something I can’t identify. They were both delicious and the sangria was near the top of the list that we’ve had. Hoey generously says that the paella I made one night was as good but he was being kind. This stuff has a depth of flavor and texture that I haven’t achieved yet. After lunch we go and stick our feet in the Mediterranean. Except Ruthie just goes in with a hand. It’s 3:00 and Pam and Ruthie are done. Hoey says he is going to walk back so i join in for an adventure. An Uber comes and whisks the ladies away and we start to walk. We walked all the way there so it isn’t a Herculean task to walk back. It should take about an hour. Pam tells Ruthie as they drive away “We won’t see them until late night.” I’ll just cut to the chase… it took us 9 hours to make an hour walk. We were constantly heading in the direction of home it’s just that we are easily distracted. Very easily distracted. The walk down the boardwalk towards the Casino is cool with a marina full of sailboats and their forest of masts. Above the Casino is a large whale/fish form sculpture of interwoven broze colored metal strips. At some point you have to cross over the railroad tracks leading into the Franca Station that our train misleadingly told us we were headed to. We just happen tp unwittingly cross over at the last spot to do so before it becomes the long way around. Pass by the zoo and see a horse procession that is half ceremonial red jackets and feathered helmets and half cops in yellow safety reflector unis. Check out a couple places that are closed but we want to come back to with P&R at a later date. Then we set off to slack this thirst. Cat Bar is the first stop along the way. They have some good beer and are a vegan burger bar. It is what you could describe as quirky cat punk. It should be noted that we did walk right past a Metro stop, Jaume I (L4) that we could have taken to 10 minutes from home but the whole point was we were walking. And besides Craft Barcelona is just a block or two past that. Again a great selection of local craft beers. They have tapas but the paella is still providing sufficient energy. They are also a blues club and there will be a blues jam tonight but we will be long gone by then. Not home but gone from here. We stumble (figuratively not literally) across the Cathedral of Barcelona. That info will come in handy as well. My phone is fading so Hoey takes over navigation and is actually using directions. It directs us to turn here and then there and there and suddenly we are in a garden. We knew we were in the University neighborhood but we now find ourselves in the Mathematics and Information Technology Department complex. And they have a beautiful garden. A beautiful garden that has a locked gate where Google Maps says we should walk thru. Maybe if we go left and around the building and … Nope, that’s a dead end. Except we walk thru one of the buildings. Not sure how much we looked like Catalonian mathematicians but nobody tries to stop us. Back on track we pass thru Plaça de Catalunya. It is the BIG public plaza. We are on our way to a Bang & Olufsen store to see if we can score a stylus cartridge for Hoey’s B&O turntable. They are closed. Nothing to do but go to Garage Bar. Where once again they have a great selection of local craft beer and a pretty cool shirt. We may have a winner. I am still kind of bummed I didn’t snag a Califa Brewery shirt back in Cordoba. I may still try and get Berni, our host there, to send me one. Just because it is right around the corner we venture into Mikkeller. Not my favorite brewers and maybe my least favorite of the many many craft beer bars I have been into on this trip. It was ok but not real inviting and a bit too modern. It has now been a while since that paella on the beach and I need to eat. We don’t have anywhere picked out so we decide to just walk and see what we find. We aren’t all that far from home when we get to Bodega Joan. It looks like it will provide some good tapas so in we go. The first official person we see we ask about a table for 2 and she immediately starts to seat us… Not so fast. We get waved off by the bartender/man in charge. We very politely and smilingly back off and he tells us just a minute. There are two open stools at the bar and we ask him about those and he says sure. Heck, this will do just fine. A couple glasses of a very fresh 2017 Vina Eugia Rioja and we are ready to eat. He comes back and says he has a table and we say we are fine there and he is appreciative. He immediately seats someone else that I don’t think would have been satisfied with bar stools. We order some patatas bravas because well, patatas bravas ya’ll. We get a link of some fatty chorizo and some meaty fried pork snout that crunch then melt in your mouth. Next is the croquette sampler of 6 different ones (spinach, salt cod, chicken, mushroom, blue cheese and another I can’t remember) and fried brie coated with almonds and tomato jam on a stick. As we are eating we notice some rather large trophies on display? We ask using mostly points, face gestures and “Whaaas?” Our bartender, who is a big fellow with a quick smile goes “Ahhh…” with the just a second finger, reaches behind the Hendrick’s Gin and pulls out a plastic bag. He pulls 2 pins out and hands them to us. Seems we have found ourselves in an official Barcelona Football Club sponsor bar. The owner apparently is a HUGE fan and those are BCF La Liga trophies. I’m sure they are replicas but they sure do look real, I am also sure they are held in just as high esteem as the real things. Except by our bartender, he’s a Real Betis fan. After a couple of cafes it really is time to go but first he pours us shots of Xantiamen, a 29% herbed liquor digestif. All in all one of the most pleasant meals I have had. This was nowhere near the normal tourist path. It really was just a good neighborhood joint serving really good, not great, food in a friendly atmosphere. So now it really is time to get home. After another block or so we are back in our neighborhood and we know the streets. Straight home from here… oh look it’s Brewer Jeff! “So have you come to help brew?” “Yes we have!” Ruthie quit answering texts an hour or so if not more ago so what the heck. They brew in a space the size of a closet in the back of the bar. We get led thru a cold storage room into a beer sauna. It is time to pitch the hops. Secretly I am hoping Pam wakes up when I get home and says “You smell like a brewery.” “Why yes, yes I do!” will be my reply. We have a fun time talking beer production and brewing techniques and terminology with him. This is awesome. The beer in the kettle is their IPA which is an English style. They are using Citra hops and a Spanish variety if i remember correctly but I wasn’t really taking notes at this point. It may have been a Citra clone grown in Spain since there was only one variety we added. They were using whole flowers not pellets. He said that pellets would completely clog the system. They have to use an immersion style heater to heat their water. The brew closet and bar are the ground floor with apartments above. No open flames allowed. Also since there is no direct outdoor access from the brew closet everything has to pass thru the bar. So when he is finished the spent grain gets loaded into a garbage can and toted on a hand truck thru the full bar and out the front door. You can’t just walk in a place, brew a beer and then walk out. That would just be rude. So of course not wanting to appear boorish, or coarse as it were, we stayed and drank a beer. Or two. NOW it’s time to head home. Pam called it.

Day 29 Barcelona

This is it, we have to make it count. Hoey’s late night grocery shopping for breakfast ingredients was a success. So much so that this morning Ruthie makes PANCAKES!!! Pam has been craving pancakes for days now. Mighty fine breakfast but we need to hustle. The L3 from Diagonal carries us to Plaza Espanya to catch the once a hour R5 to Montserrat. Upon arrival at the R5 a decision has to be made. Do we want the ticket to Montserrat-Aeri and the cable car or to Monistrol de Montserrat and the funicular? Do we want to add the funiculars to Sant Joan and Santa Cova? Include lunch? How about the Museum? AHHHHHHhhh!!!! We know what we want, and even get assistance and yet we still manage to bungle it. We do get the tickets to Montserrat-Aeri and the cable car but only one way as we find out later. We make it to the train in time but not in time enough for seats. Pam and Ruthie promptly claim space on the steps while Hoey and I stand for the hour long ride. P&R are both “looking down into the abyss” challenged so a cable car is a big deal for them. Both handle it admirably and don’t freak out. Ruthie just looks out the window laterally and at the ceiling when necessary. Pam is in for the whole watch the ground drop away under you experience which somewhat surprises me. Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey is a spectacular sight. It would be especially spectacular from a helicopter or from across the gorge. It sits perched on the side of a 4,000’ mountain and when you are there the views out from the Abbey are awesome. But it is hard to see the whole complex just hanging there when you are part of the hanging there. After resolving our ticket confusion by buying another one way back down the mountain on the cable car and back to Barcelona we head out to explore. We immediately ride the Funicular further up the mountain to Estació Superior del Funicular de Sant Joan. This is a steep ride, 65% grade steep, up a defile in the mountain. Paths lead away from the station in multiple directions to different chapels, overlooks and peaks. The word “montserrat” means “serrated mountain” and it is an apt description. We are more into casual mode than exertion mode so we just pick a path that leads eventually to Sant Jeroni peak. We only walk as far as the Sant Joan Chapel and enjoy the views from there. It is a spectacular landscape. Do you remember the Rock Monster scene from Galaxy Quest? It looks like this is where it grew up or spends its weekends at least. Easy return to the station past some impressive rock faces that are studded with climbing pitons marking routes up the face. The whole mountain is a pinkish conglomerate stone that formed as seabed in some ancient alluvial delta. The path leading up and away from the other side of the station promises some long distance views so that is our next destination but not before Pam spots a cat. The majority of my photos, and there are thousands of them, are of food and booze and ceilings and selfies with Pam. Meanwhile, the majority of Pam’s photos are of cats. She travels halfway around the world, more like a quarterway, to take pictures of stray cats. I suppose she has abdicated the photo documentation portion of our trips to me. I’m ok with that, but cats? At least Spanish cats are pretty laid back. This one allows belly rubs. Other cats we have met in our trips have demanded a Euro for every picture you take and belly rubs are 2 for 5 or 3 for 10. It is a short walk up a gentle slope. Cresting the ridge gives you a huge view with the snow capped Pyrenees mountains as a backdrop. Simply majestic. After trying to go in the out door we figure out the procedure and ride the funicular back down to the monastery. Well, all of us except Hoey. He decides to walk. Feeding that FitBit and it is a grand walk from the looks of it. Wishing I had joined him. After the 9 hours to make a 1 hour walk I’m not sure that P&R would have allowed that. I mean how much boozy trouble could we possibly get into on a mountain trail leading to a monastery? I’m under the distinct impression that they were not willing to take that chance and rightfully so. If anyone could do it we are the prime candidates. Waiting for Hoey allows us enough time to fill up the water bottle with some cool spring water flowing out of a fountain at the head of the little valley under the statue of the founder. Honestly, he doesn’t look all that well. I’m hoping it wasn’t the water. There is a little shop where we stop for coffees and cokes and split a croissant. Hoey makes it down the mountain without straying from the path and meets up with us basking in the sun. Basking in the sun applying sunscreen which, by the way, is called heliocare. Of course it is! An archway leads under and thru a building into the main plaza in front of the Basilica at Montserrat. The plaza is actually the roof of a two story building underneath it. Hard to comprehend when you are standing there. The entrance to the basilica is across the square and when we get there a line far longer than we wish to wait in stretches out before us. I say let’s bail, we have better things to do than stand in a line so we abandon that entrance. Hoey spots another entrance just to the left of it behind some construction and we head that way. It is the entrance into the actual basilica. The other was the line to get up close and perhaps personal with the Our Lady of Montserrat or the Virgin of Montserrat statue of madonna and child. She is another of the black madonnas.. There are apparently 400-500 of them in Europe depending on how you classify them. The really outstanding feature of the Montserrat Basilica, other than the Black Madonna which we can see in the distance, is the abundance of lamps. There are probably 8 ornate lamps hanging from the ceiling for each of the dozen, give or take, chapels. They are all roughly the same size and all are completely different. They have all been donated by cities and organizations in Catalonia. Pam spots the last one on the left side as having been donated by Football Club of Barcelona 1947. I feel like everywhere we go we could stay longer. Everywhere gets short changed but Montserrat is a special place and I hope I can come back here sometime and walk these trails more. But if we are going to accomplish what we want to today we have to leave. We take the cable car back down to the station with plenty of time to wait for the hourly train. You don’t want to be late for that. The alternative is to wait on a bench for the next one. The cable car is the only thing at this station I think the people that work the station arrive by train or cable car because there isn’t a road or path as far as I can tell. The train arrives on time and we hop on fast and all find seats. Ruthie declares nap time and uses her Hoey pillow. The ride is uneventful back to Plaza Espanya, the L1 To Urquinaona and then the L4 into the Gothic Quarter and Jaume I station. Decision point is: Should we get something to eat or do things? It is a short walk to our next destination, the Picasso Museum. We will reconsider the food question after we, hopefully, tour the museum. HOORAY! It is open this time! H&R have discounted tickets so we get shuffled to the discount ticket window. We tell the shuffler that Pam & I don’t have the discount and he assures us that it doesn’t matter and they can do all of them from the discount window so we don’t get different entry times. The lady at the discount window doesn’t see it that way. Strictly against the rules… But we asked and he said… Sir, if you will let me explain the rules… But we asked and he said… SIR, If you will allow me to continue… And she finally against her better judgement did us the great courtesy of issuing us two non discounted tickets which she was perfectly capable of doing the entire time. The museum is laid out chronologically and the the tour begins as quite the surprise to what I would assume is the vast majority of the visiting population including myself. Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso’s early years, and we are talking about 1895 or so, were spent learning classical painting primarily from his father. By the age of 13 is father said he had so far surpassed him that he was unable to teach Pablo anything else. The paintings from this time are portraits and landscapes that bear no resemblance to everything you know about PP. They look… normal. He was a terrible student and essentially got put into permanent timeout where he sketched. He attended the Barcelona School of Fine Arts at the unheard of age of 14 but became bored and moved to Madrid at 16 to attend the Royal Academy of San Fernando. Boredom with the classic methods led to skipping classes to wander and paint the city. At 17 he moved back to Barcelona and began a shift away from realism that culminated in what we typically regard as “Picasso”. Those early years from age 13 -17 are heavily documented in the museum and the vast majority come from the years 1890 and 1917. For some very un-Picasso Picasso check out “First Communion” from 1896 when he was 15 and 1897’s “Science and Charity” when he was 16. There are diminishing numbers of Pink period and Blue period and Harlequin paintings and then a big gap until 1957 and a series that I appreciated more than anything else. We viewed “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez at the Prado in Madrid. It is one of the jewels of that museum and we spent considerable time viewing and discussing it. That was time well spent. In 1957 PP painted a series of 58 paintings dedicated to Las Meninas. The entire collection is housed here at the Picasso Museum. There are 45 direct representations of the Velázquez work along with nine scenes of a dove, three landscapes and a portrait of Jacqueline. I grew up knowing of Pablo Picasso and his status in the art world. I just accepted that he was “genius” level and that it didn’t matter if I understood his paintings or not. People with more art smarts than me said he was and so he was. But looking at one of his radical cubist paintings and telling me it was a lady sitting in a chair… Yeah, ok if you say so. This series was awesome to see in its’ entirety. He started with easily recognizable representations of the original painting. All the elements were there and we had studied them with a charming art historian just weeks previously. You could then watch the subjects and settings evolve and change into almost chunks of color, angle and light. If presented with some of the later works and told they were Las Meninas I would have struggled to find the semblance. But this was enlightening. So yeah now I can kind of get how that is a lady sitting in a chair. Super cool. There was also an extensive survey of his ceramic work. I have to admit the entire time I was walking thru the museum in the back of mind was the John Cale version of Jonathan Richman and the Modern lovers song Pablo Picasso… “Some people try to pick up girls and get called assholes. This never happened to Pablo Picasso. He could walk down the street and girls could not resist his stare. Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole. Not like you.” I wasn’t booted from the place so I think that i did not actually sing out loud during any of our visit. I rushed Pam thru the gift shop because we still have things on our agenda to accomplish. Time to reconsider that so far today we have had some awesome pancakes for breakfast and that is it aside from the 3 way croissant. It is only a quick hike back a few blocks to the Gaudi Exhibition Center Museum, the last real thing we have planned. Let’s do that and THEN we will eat. We get in just before closing. The first portion of the museum is dedicated to the influences of Gaudi. Audio Guides are part of the ticket price but they confuse us and slow us down. We are more interested in seeing work by him not so much the religious symbolism and themes he revisited time and time again. There are multiple depictions of St George slaying that dragon over and over. Is that all that guy did? Kind of a one trick pony if you ask me. But he must have been pretty efficient. He drew heavily from nature as well. The branching tree columns in Sagrada Familia, the spiral of a snail’s shell, flowers, dragonflies and dragons are all design elements he used. His stained glass is trippy as anything and his pure complex geometry is brain twisting. I am pretty 3D adept and this is challenging for me. There is great beauty in this geometry to my eye. Church of Colònia Güell is a project begun prior to Sagrada Familia as a place of worship in the Barcelona manufacturing suburb of Santa Coloma de Cervelló. It was never finished as funding from Eusebi de Güell ran out as his fortunes in the business world diminished. However, it did serve as the birthplace for all of his ideas that would result in Sagrada Familia. The museum has some crazy 3D models of both structures that were produced by a university project that I can’t remember. You can find the programs online to 3D print your own miniature Sagrada Familia. There is also more of the upside down gravity structural studies done with string and tiny bags of lead shot. Then there is a virtual reality headset you can wear that has you hovering over the plaza in front of the cathedral. Ruthie is not a fan. I asked her if levitation would be her super power. She said no. There is also a crazy mirror arrangement that has you reflecting into infinity that is pretty vertigo inducing. They are closing down the museum and we have to leave. There is so much cool Gaudi stuff here in Barcelona to see. We only grazed the surface. One could spend a whole week here just on Gaudi tour… Or move here and see it all gradually… Just sayin. No kidding it is time to eat and that means a return visit to El Xampanyet! What a hoot! It is crowded when we wedge our way inside and claim a space at the skinny bar. If this is how we have to make this work then so be it. Drinks are ordered, 3 glasses of red and a cava for Pam. The guy behind the bar starts firing questions at us. “You like anchovies?” “Uh, yeah… kind of but..” “You like…” ”Wha?...” “How about you like…” “Yes?” I’m not sure what I’m being asked but suddenly food starts to appear. Almost at the same instant the table right behind us opens and we jump into the seats with drinks and food following us. Without ordering anything we have Cantabrian Anchovy Fillets in oil; Grilled Calamari with Chimichurri; Tortilla (wet version); Pulpo Gallego, the Galician staple of Octopus and Potatoes with Olive Oil and Sweet Paprika; and Grilled Bread rubbed with Garlic and Tomato and drizzled with olive oil. The waiter comes by and asks about drinks. Sure! That is another 3 reds and another of the excellent house cava. When he fils those he asks if we want more. Sure! But we have a vegetarian. Not to worry he will make something special. The next batch of food arrives without actually ordering anything specific. It all falls under the category of “more”. We are on a roll here. As near as I can tell the whole bar is on the same roll. They are slinging food according to some mystic formula that seems to work. Next batch brings Mashed Potato with a sunny side up egg and something else that I am not sure what it was but our waiter attacked it with a couple of big spoons turning it into a slurry of deliciousness that Pam jumped on but I couldn’t swear it was 100% vegetarian; bite size pieces of OMG tender Iberico Pork Shoulder with Blistered Padron Peppers and sea salt; Grilled or Smoked Mussels afloat in a Charred Tomato and Olive Oil Sauce; and a Chickpea dish that I didn’t get a picture of before it was gone and don’t recall the details of. Oh yeah there was a third round of 3 house reds and a third house cava. Do we want dessert? I’m not really sure we have a say so in the matter so whatever he thinks. He thinks yes and brings it to us. It consists of 2 small glasses of moscato (?); a dark crunchy biscotti with hazelnuts which he informs us are for dunking; pieces of custard filled super flaky pastry topped with a ridiculous amount of powdered sugar which are NOT for dunking; and a preserve (peach maybe) topped sort of short bread biscuit also NOT for dunking. When I return to Barcelona I know there is one thing I will have to do and that is to return to El Xampanyet… repeatedly. It was simple food made from quality ingredients in a convivial atmosphere staffed by friendly helpful people that don’t care if you can speak Spanish or Catalonian or not. Thinking about it that describes almost every single place we have been but all aspects of the experience are somehow amplified at El Xampanyet. It was an amazingly fun meal and I am ever so grateful I was privileged to live it with these 3 people. The bar has been located in El Born since 1929 and despite being in a high tourist area truly has retained the lively spirit of old Barcelona and not made compromises and lowered its standards. Pam is feeling the 3 glasses of cava and needs to be hustled out before she climbs on a table to profess her love for the restaurant and all of its employees AND customers past, present and future. Sounds like a good time to head to Paradiso. On the face of it Paradiso is a tiny Pastrami Bar. And it looks like they make an awesome sandwich but seeing as how we just ate I think we will pass. There is an old cooler with wooden doors in the corner. Pull on the cooler door handle, open the door and step into Paradiso Cocktail Bar. Total speakeasy style! I tell Pam she is cut off and she counters with ordering shots of Don Julio tequila. The bartender reaches for the Blanco. OH HELL NO!!! Pam and Ruthie want the Reposado. Good call. Crazy bar with a curvy wood slat ceiling. We order some wack cocktails and enjoy the show of them making ours and others. Again, I don’t think what we order has any bearing on what we are served. I am sitting here looking at the menu we ordered from and pictures of the drinks we were served and nothing correlates. One is quite possibly a tequila drink with a lemon peel, maybe sprigs of thyme and a blue disk of something to lick (we hope). Another has sage leaves, itsy-bitsy berries on a twig dusted in sugar(?) and what appears to be a tiny dandelion bud that you nibble and it paralyzes your tongue before you sip the antidote. And the other is possibly a saffron infused gin drink with some citrusy mix, perhaps mint leaves, miniature flowers and a broad desiccated translucent leaf that I presume was not edible but who knows. Those were the normal drinks. We also saw a drink made in a wooden Trojan horse that was smoke filled so that it farted smoke; an arrangement of a couple of drinks with rosemary and blackberries, an intricately decorated pitcher and a slab of wood with a softball size rock vase with a single diminutive flower in it and a smear of something green that wasn’t guacamole and may or may not have been edible with a butterfly atop it; a cocktail made in a glass horn and finally another made in a glass that substituted cthulhu tentacles for a stem. We should probably head towards home. And we do but, and there is always a but, first Pam wants to take Ruthie to see something we spotted on the first day. Bar Salvatge has a large, rideable as it turns out, wooden hippopotamus in the front window. Unfortunately it was not my camera used to capture the hippo riding. As this is a bodega a glass of red seems to be in order. I then try to make some not terrible wine decisions to purchase and bring back to the US. I have misplayed my hand and this place is a last resort. La Festival is closed as is Bodega Bonavista. I should have scored some when we were there days ago. I make a couple of purchases despite Pam’s attempt to “help.” “You can buy cheaper wine at any market.” “If you were going to buy wine in America to bring home to friends would you buy it at Kroger or a good wine store?” “They have good wine at Kroger.” “Don’t talk to me.” I select 2 bottles with assistance from Hoey, the shopkeeper, the cook who speaks even less English than I speak Spanish and anti-assistance from Pam. We have a difficult time translating the word or possibly the concept of “local”. I end up with a 2015 Vina Enebro Quercus made from 100% Monastrell grapes in Murcia and a Finca Parera 2015 'Fosc' Tinto from the very local Penedes DO made from Sumoll, Ull de Llebre (Catalan for Tempranillo), and Syrah from their Plum Vineyard in Sant Llorenç d'Hortons. They will join the Zelaia cider and the Bodega Mustiguillo Mestizaje Blanco made from Merseguera, an indigenous varietal that almost vanished that I picked up in Valencia. And after all that it is time to go home. Tomorrow we travel. BUT, there it is again, not before Hoey and I head back one more time to La Cervesera Artesana. They are shutting down for the night but of course they will pour up a couple of their IPAs. Hoey snags a shirt and we pick up a bottle of Cantillon Grand Cru Bruocsella. That will travel with me in the morning as well. Now it is time to go home with no buts just sleep.

The end.

"...the Pump Pages. A new house specialty. It is shredded beef wrapped in mashed potato, breaded and deep fried with a cheese sauce...."

Worth reading the whole thing to find that nugget!

Did you bring home all the smoked paprika?

Not as much as I should have. Some paprika and some saffron purchased at the amazing Central Market of Valencia. I thought I would get more of an opportunity at a market in Barcelona but it didn't work out.

You are very welcome. I am glad you enjoyed it. It was a truly amazing time.