Ok, we generally winged it on restaurants. Barcelona has so many small restaurants in their numerous alleyways that it’s fun to walk by a place,check out the vibe and walk in. The three star michelin was closed the evening we were planning to try it, our bad for not checking. Everyone said do a paella meal and we did. Well done but we get good seafood in the Mid Atlantic so I wasn’t wowed by what we had. We sat at the bar at Cecconi’s Barcelona on the waterfront for a good meal. Marlon our bartender was great. We did a Context tour of Gaudi’s Barcelona which was fun but they didn’t tell me there was a marathon near our hotel and no taxis so we had to scramble to get to the meeting place. We also walked to the castle, took the funicular, and then the tram up for great city views. Overall, DC has gotten so expensive that I found prices reasonable and cheap for wine (Spanish of course). Also, the euro was close to parity with the dollar which helped. Many eateries seem to acquire well aged Riberos for excellent pricing. Pennybanger was a fun bar with good live music. Marvin Gaye, Al Green and 70s Motown are very popular based on what we heard around the city. We though our hotel in the El Born neighborhood was well located. Barcelona is a great city to visit and November meant crowds were reasonable. A good trip though flying BA codeshare on Iberian from London was the cheapest service I have ever experienced, they charge you for water!
jay
could you have done the gaudi stuff without a tour and been ok, and are there any restaurants/tapas bars you particularly enjoyed?
As I knew little about Gaudi, having a prof of art history who is from Barcelona discuss his work, his role in Barcelona’s society, and point out all the little things (roof top not flat to allow water runoff etc) that made him ahead of his time, was valuable to me. YMMV.
Ok, my wife reminded me Tapeo for tapos but seats were incredibly uncomfortable, still the food/wine was excellent. Arcano was good as well (nice setting and they had a 2007 Ribero for about $45). Gorge yourself on the Iberian ham. I did and I’m not a ham fan in general. We brought back some from 5J and Joselito. At one of the bars we visited, the bartender was grooming (I can’t think of a better descriptor) the ham. Unique.
thanks jay. gorging on ham sounds like a “when in rome” thing even if you don’t generally like it.
one last question. how long was the gaudi tour? i’ve barely got 3 full days there so trying spread myself around without making it unbearable.
Tour was three hours. They have shorter ones. Wear comfortable shoes suitable for standing and climbing stairs.
Forgot to say the Picasso museum is well worth it and also pay for the temporary exhibition.
Fantastic meal at Cocina Hermanos Torres
Yes.
Reminds me of what Woody Allen once said about a speed reading course he took. He said after taking the class he read War and Peace in 5 minutes. It’s about Russia.
Depends on how in depth you want to get.
i only have 3 days howard. i think i’ll take a guided tour of sagrada familia, but just casually visit the other gaudi highlights
thanks