Barcelona is now behind us and that is both good and bad.
The food in Spain was excellent for the most part, the exception being one place that was recommended by an old man at our Barcelona Hostel. Culinary highlights of Spain included a tapas bar called "Casa de Abuella" in Madrid where we had excellent garlic prawns, bread and shots of spicy wine for under 8 euros- a bit strange but open at 11:30pm so, me gusta :). The waiters at Grandma's house were surly which, as I later found out, is to be expected of Spanish waiters as they are usually old and underpaid. The other notable restaurant in Madrid was "Casa Mingo Sidar." It's a 100+ year old cider house near the Royal Palace, with young and old waiters (more friendly than at Grandma's House), and following in the Spanish style of meat + bread + alcohol= meal, we were served an ENTIRE roasted chicken, two pieces of bread and shots of incredibly good cider. We tried to order a bottle but that was lost in translation and instead were served numerous shots. There was a sign inside the restaurant that said "No Cantar" and after Jack pointed that out, I realized that was why the waiters would not stop whistling... they found a loophole!
Our roommate hotel in barcelona was very, very nice. Clean, organized and quiet. We were pretty close to the port and La Rambla so we were able to walk everywhere except the last day when we took the metro up to Guell Park. The street performers were gimmicky on La Rmabla, which is not to say I wasn't mesmerized by them- I was, but the real jewels were in the metro and in Guell Park. One guy in particular was playing a steel drum type of instrument that was unlike anything I've ever heard- a bit spooky but beautiful as well. Guell park was the perfect setting for this guy as we both had a similar impression of Gaudi architecture. It was raining on and off but still beautiful and definitely worth the intense hike/never ending stair climbing. Oh, and there was a nice, semi-feral kitty (who was very fond of Jack) that greeted us at the top of the stairs so that made for a well rounded, excellent experience.
Other highlights included the Picasso museum, the chocolate museum (tickets were a bar of chocolate) and this great vegan restaurant we found called Juice Jones. The chef is from India and makes both Catalunyan and Indian food as well as a variety of fresh juices, hence the name, well the juice part anyway. I don't know who this Jones guy is. We shared the "thali" plate of the day which was served raw and cold, with a small glass of wine (not spicy this time). Most importantly, it was the first non-meat meal of our Spain endeavor, so we were very glad to put our scurvy worries to rest.
Barcelona was so upbeat, it definitely felt like more of an active city than Madrid, which Jack and I decided felt like plaza after plaza (pronounced "platha after platha"), where cars and pedestrians amazingly navigate the streets as a single entity almost. One thing is for sure, the prostitutes are a lot more subtle in Barcelona. I was fascinated by the prostitutes in Madrid who looked like men and hung out in the entry ways of sex shops and other businesses along main streets like Calle Mayor, because they were almost threatening in their sollicitous stares and THEY LOOKED LIKE MEN! But I was intrgued by the prostitutes in Barcelona who advertise discreetly by sticking a manequinne's leg out of the window. So much to ponder!
We ended our stay in Spain with a lost hotel reservation and decided to embrace adventure and spend the night in the airport. We were not as prepared as some other travellers who laid out sleeping bags and were snoring at some point, but we snuck in a few hours of sleep and do not wish to repeat the experience :) We've made it to Paris safely and LOVE our apartment. So far, we've been taking advantage of the goverment regulated price of plain baguettes (about 80 cents) and made a huge, much needed pasta dinner. We've more or less relaxed today, catching up on lost sleep and icing my ankle I sprained in Barcelona right before we left. We'll update with a shorter post soon. :)
Love,
Cynthia
