After the nightmare in Miami I was very excited to arrive at my destination; Barcelona. The flight wasn’t too bad, I took a ZZZQuil to nod off for the 9 hour flight. When I awoke, I was well rested and greeted by the warm Barcelona sun and my brother Richard. We quickly went through customs and boarded a shuttle to the city center of Barcelona.
We still had a couple of hours before the apartment we rented for the week was available so Richard took us to a small cafe where I had one of my favorite Spanish drinks. Cafe Con Leche.
After getting a little java in my system we had a couple beers until it was 3 o’clock and time to head to the apartment where I took a much needed shower. Richard made us a quick lunch with Jamon Iberico, and traditional Spanish salad with tuna and hard boiled eggs.
Refreshed and satiated it was time to hit the town for some sight seeing to avoid taking a nap. That is one major tip when you are traveling to a completely different time zone. Make sure that you stay awake until when you would normally go to sleep to stay away from the dreaded jet lag that could ruin your trip.
Our first stop was the fountain near the Musea Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. It was too late to visit the museum and really soak in all of the art so we just enjoyed the cool breeze and took some photos. Next, we stopped by the Olympic stadium where I saw this particularly horrendous piece of vandalism.
Who knew the Beliebers in Barcelona were just as annoying as the ones stateside? After catching some sights it was time to grab another beer and prepare for a dinner of tapas. I was able to drink one of my favorite brews in Europe, The Punk IPA from Brew Dog. We were pretty famished from walking all day so we made the mistake of stopping in a touristy area for our first true meal in Barcelona.
The restaurant we chose was called Bar Universidad and they served up some of the blandest tapas I have ever had in Spain. The portions were ridiculously small (even by tapas standards) and the inexplicably expensive. After some disappointing Patatas Bravas we were filled up enough to find a better restaurant.
The second place we visited really hit the spot with soft albondigas, delicious anchovies, and raw salmon; yum! Unfortunately, the light wasn’t very good in the bar and I couldn’t snap any solid photos.
With a belly full of tapas and beer it was time to pass out. Check in tomorrow for our visit to Gaudi’s Cathedral!
