Weekend in Barcelona

Anthony Bourdain names Barcelona as possibly his favorite spot in Europe for food, but after our Rich Man's Paella dinner at the 7 Portes restaurant, I couldn't shake the memory of the odd creature I found on my plate. I don't know how to describe it--it looked kind of like a tiny manta ray with a scorpion-ish tail.  I thought I'd be open-minded enough to try it, but halfway through my meal I had to put it back on the serving dish, hidden out of sight under the rice. Later I did a Google search-- "what was the odd creature in my paella"--which didn't produce an answer but did produce someone else's comments about the very same restaurant!

  

Mark and I met for a weekend in Barcelona when I got back to Spain after my trip home to California at the end of February. One of the perks of being in Morocco is that it's easy to travel to Spain.  The problem is that when I'm enjoying the heated hotel rooms, well-developed infrastructure, readily-available information, excess of attractive cafes and restaurants, absence of hassle and hustle, and general orderliness, I feel like I'm cheating on Morocco.

A street in the old city

My paella-surfing revealed other blog posts on Barcelona (it must be one of the world's favorite destinations), and I found another cyber-soulmate who said her favorite attraction was the Boquería fresh food market. (That was mine too.)  I might not have wanted to eat everything in the bustling Boquería market, but it was wonderful to look at.

Strings of peppers in the Boquería market

Amazing array of fish

Ready-to-eat fruit

Spain's beloved ham on display

We bought juice, empanadas, and ready-to-eat cherimoyas that we carried to the Plaça de Catalunya for a sunny picnic lunch. Then we continued walking around, checking out the streets of the old city.

The Catalan Concert Hall

Balconies in the Barri Gotic

Building in the Ribera district

Our Air Arabia flight back to Tangier didn't leave until late in the day on Sunday, so we had most of that day to acquaint ourselves with Antoni Gaudí's Modernist architecture...

Gaudí's unfinshed Sagrada Familia, a Modernist Gothic cathedral

New twist on buttresses at the Sagrada Familia

Block of Discord

...and to ride the metro + funicular to Montjuïc, the base for the 1992 Summer Olympics. We wanted to return to the waterfront by gondola, but we couldn't find the terminal.

View of the waterfront from Montjuïc

Sculpture on Montjuïc

We didn't go to any museums--we'll have to save that for next time, along with riding the gondola.