My Trip To Barcelona

My trip to Barcelona was the inspiration for this blog.  I am really interested in food, wine and travel.  Especially combining all three.  So here is my "official" guide to Barcelona.  Click here to see my photos.

My boyfriend and I went to Barcelona during May 09.  The weather was fantastic, sunny, hot days but not too hot.

We stayed at Hotel Zenit Borrel in L'Eixample which I highly recommend.  It was affordable and very nice.

The thing I most love about Barcelona is the cafe seating on the street corners.  There are countless numbers of cafes and all are good.  Anywhere you go, you can get amazing cafe con leche (espresso with steamed milk) and bocadillos (meat and cheese sandwiches).  Femi and I did this every day for breakfast.  Dos cafe con leches y dos iberico jamon bocadillos.  Iberico jamon is the best thing on earth!  I wish it was more readily available in the U.S.  Chorizo bocadillos are also great as well as manchego too.

My first "real" meal in Barcelona was at Inopia.  This place was really good.  At first, we were really skeptical because of the decor and loud American music playing in the background but we gave the food a chance and it was amazing.  We got the Croquetas caseras de jamon iberico (which were great!), the Patatas bravas con salsa mixta (their specialty and my personal favorite), the Bomba de l'Eixample (because we were staying in l'Eixample we wanted to try it), Pork Belly (not what I was expecting, it was like pork rind with some soft pieces, but was really yummy nonetheless), and Lamb Kebabs (Femi's favorite).  They have a really extensive menu which we didn't even make a dent in.  

After dinner, we went to Minusa, which became our favorite bar in Barcelona.  It was cheap, had great music, and was close to our hotel.  A Estrella was like 3 euros.  Some people danced but contrary to my blog title, we just sat at the bar.  We went back to this bar three more times during our trip.

The next day we went up to Gaudi's Parc Guell which was beautiful but full of tourists.  That day for lunch we decided to budget and made our on "bocadillos" with bread, jamon, and gouda from the grocery store as well as some Sunny D.  That night, we got dinner at Cocina a la Antigua.  This place was okay for Barcelona, good compared to any place in New York.  I ordered octopus but instead got fried calamari (meh), mussels (yum!), mushrooms in olive oil and parsley (meh), and a meat place with jamon, chorizo, and blood sausage (which by the way, I had never had before, and now I am a total believer.)  I really want to find blood sausage in Brooklyn so I can eat it at home.  It is sausage made from pigs blood and rice.  It really is the best thing ever.

The day after, we went to the beach (my favorite part of Barcelona!)  There are some really cute cafes and restaurants along the pier and boardwalk.  After the beach, Femi and I got a traditionally big lunch.  We just happend to come across it while we were walking back to our hotel.  We got macarones a la bolognesa (Femi's favorite dish of the trip I think) and I got some chicken dish and Femi got lamb.  Both dishes were really great.  They served some jalapenos that were cooked and weren't spicy at all.  The jalapenos were really good.  The reason that the maccarones were so great was because the pasta was homemade, the tomato sauce was fresh and creamy, and the parmasean was fresh and real.  Catalan food is so basic but is so good because of the amazing, fresh, local ingrediants.  Sunday for dinner, we went to Taller de Tapas. It was okay for Barcelona but good for New York.  Another tourist catered type of place.  The one place we were going to go to was really crowded, Cerveceria Catalana.  And the other place, Taktika Berri, was closing.  We got chorizos in red wine, espinicas a la Catalana (spinach, chickpeas, pine nuts, and raisins mmmm), langostine two ways (one grilled with aioli and the other served cold), we also got some creme brulle.  Good meal all in all.

Monday was wine country day...off to the Penedes region where they produce cava!  We were scheduled to go to dos wineries but only made it to one because we took the wrong train (we went down the coast and past Sitges instead of in the country).  And Google Maps gave us the wrong directions, they told us Codorniu was in one location when it really was not and was very far away.  We finally made it to Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, had a picnic lunch of homemade "bocadillos" and went to Freixenet for our only cava tour of the day.  We learned a lot about how they made the cava.  They crushed three different kinds of grapes, Macabeo, Xarello, and Parelleda, and stored them seperately.  Then they mixed them in different amounts to create different types of cave.  They added something to make the cava sweet for the different levels of sweetness.  Then they store these bottles of cava in slanted holders and turn them every day until they lie in a flat direction.  Then they move them to another cellar where they are stored for a while.  A lot of the bottles were broken because of the pressure from the cava in the bottle.  Then we got to taste cava which was the best part!  I bought a few bottles home.  I am a fan of semiseco.  I don't like brut cava too much.  That night we just got some late night pizza around the corner called Trattoria Pizzeria Genova Milano.  Pizza in Spain is really thin and crispy...just the way I like it.

Tuesday, we walked around the old town, saw MACBA, went into the Boqueria Market, saw the Catedral, and hung out in the park.  We had a fantastic lunch at a restaurant that was right on the park.  We got paella which was very good.  I can't seem to find the name of the restaurant, but it was across from the park and had outside seating.

Wednesday was our last day.  We walked around L'Eixample and saw some Gaudi.  We got gelato.  We got a fantastic dinner at Arenal near the beach.  Femi got Paella and I got Arroz Negra (squid cooked in its own ink with rice).  Such a great end to a fantastic trip.  Oh yeah and Barca won the Copa de Fira that night so that was awesome too!