Back from Barcelona: Nikki's trip report

I'm enjoying your report. I've always wanted to visit Barcelona.

We leave for Barcelona on March 9th. Timely report!

Nikki, how fabulous!

I'd been worndering where you were these days, and I'm so glad you posted about Barcelona. I think it's great you were able to put this trip together so quickly and that circumstances permitted you to take it. Do you and/or your husband speak Spanish?

More please!

Thanks,
BC

Hi Nikki

You are making me want to go back to Barcelona! I really enjoyed my time there and would love to return to see the things that I missed the first time around.

I'm looking forward to the next installment of your report. Glad you had a great trip and safe flights!

Johanna

I also read "Shadow of the Wind" and enjoyed it.

You might also like "Zorro" by Isabel Allende. Part of the book is also set in Barcelona. It's a wonderful book.

Thanks for the comments and encouragement. I want to keep writing until I'm done, so I don't forget anything. I forced myself to begin this morning, knowing that once I posted the beginning, I would have to continue.

No, bookchick, neither of us speaks Spanish, although I did learn a few words while lining up outside my elementary school in New York in the 1950's. And I can count to ten. But I brushed up on the phrases in the back of the guide books in both Spanish and Catalan. Unfortunately, what was more likely to come out when I was flustered was the Italian I tried to teach myself a couple years ago.

Now, where was I?

Ah, lunch. We ended up in a nondescript looking place with the word “cafeteria” in the name around the corner on carrer Provenca. The menu was entirely in Catalan but we figured out enough to order lunch. I had a beautiful plate of shrimp carpaccio with green pasta, and Alan had some wonderful fresh calamari. It’s that first meal in Europe that makes me look at Toto and realize we’re not in Kansas any more. By now it was after 2:30 but the place was filled with workers on their lunch break. So we were already getting into the rhythm of the Barcelona day.

Which we followed with a siesta back at the apartment. We awoke in time to meet a friend for drinks at the Ateneu, a private cultural club and library in the old city which had figured in “The Shadow of the Wind”. The building is a beautiful old world relic. The café (members only) is reached by going upstairs and through a room full of old men playing chess. We brought our drinks out into the garden, where we sat and talked until it became too chilly.

We wandered through the streets of the Gothic quarter, passing the cathedral, which is surrounded by scaffolding. The cathedral is the site of a series of pictures I still have somewhere from my summer travels in 1972, when a friend took a picture of me taking a picture of a second friend who was taking a picture of a third friend. A moment recorded for posterity in triplicate. I did not attempt to recreate the shot on this occasion, although we did stop to sit on a bench and contemplate a map.

It was around 8 PM, and the narrow pedestrian streets were crowded with people leaving work. The shops were closing, although we stopped into Art Escudellers, a small branch of a larger store selling crafts from all over Spain. We purchased a set of beautiful handmade glasses.

Our goal was dinner at Set Portes, where I had a paella and grilled fish last summer that I had been tasting in my mind ever since. When we arrived there was a line of people waiting outside. We spent about half an hour waiting and were then seated. Everyone around us seemed to be getting paella, and we did too, filled with meat and seafood. We started off with a plate of jamon iberico, salty and sweet and melt-in-your-mouth good, and a dish of escalivada, grilled eggplant and peppers, smooth and smoky. Too full for dessert, we took a taxi back to the apartment and called it a night.

The food at Set Portes sounds great. (I just ate a power bar at my desk for lunch.) Set Portes was listed on someone's list of "faded glories" so I've been concerned about it being a tourist trap.

Olé, So that's where you've been. Welcome Back!!

Nikki, loving your report and your writing style. Thanks for posting.

Nikki, I was just there for the first time last month and fell in love with it. What a great city!

Loving your trip report.

Muchas gracias Nikki as we'll be there in May.
M

Enjoying your report Nikki. Particularly the detail about the restaurants. We leave on March 16 for Barcelona so I am interested in all the details. I guess I should get back to finishing "Shadow in the Wind", just haven't had time to pick it up.

Am too enjoying your report. Last time in Barcelona was 2003 but am in the beginning stages of a planned move there. So I'll be hanging on every word of your report. Wowie-Love the apartment!

It seems like Barcelona is a hot destination these days. Hope you have a great trip, missypie and mikemo.

and jgg.

Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early. And went back to bed. Around noon, we decided it was probably a good idea to get out of the house so we hunted up some lunch. Around the corner was a tapas bar that looked wonderful and had been recommended, but there was a long wait for a table. So we decided to try that place later on, and we grabbed a table outdoors right outside our apartment, at La Bodegueta, Rambla de Catalunya, 100. Inside, there was a crowded basement wine bar, and outside, there were tables set up along the center island of the street. We ordered a sandwich of chorizo sausage, an order of patatas bravas, and an order of tortilla. The tortilla is a potato omelet, and I was surprised that it arrived cold. We didn’t know if that is how it is supposed to be served or not.

After lunch, we walked to La Pedrera, the apartment block designed by moderniste architect Antoni Gaudi. We waited a short time to buy tickets, which included an audioguide to the exhibits. First on the tour is a museum in the building’s attic explaining the principles of Gaudi’s architecture. Alan’s reaction to the vaulted space was that he wanted to live there. From the exhibit area, there are stairs up to the roof, which is ornamented with fantastic shapes covering chimneys and stairwells. The last part of the tour is an apartment on the top floor, which has been furnished in the style of the time. Curves are everywhere in the building, outside and in. There are few if any straight lines or right angles. We spent hours exploring this building.

When we left La Pedrera, we stopped into a pharmacy across the street. I was surprised to see bags of herbal teas touted as cures for everything from high blood pressure to wrinkles. I thought those might be fun gifts, but I wasn’t sure what U.S. customs would think of bags of dried leaves. There were also all sorts of creams and lotions bottled under the pharmacy’s name, but I didn’t really know what I would do with such things, so we left without purchasing anything.

Our next stop was a small grocery store, where we picked up fruit and other provisions for the apartment as well as some odd canned goods (octopus! squid!) and paella seasoning to take home.

For supper that night we went to Cerveseria Catalana, carrer Mallorca 236. This was the place that had been too crowded for lunch, and it was crowded again in the evening, so we waited and ended up at an outdoor table. While it was getting cool, there were heaters which kept it pleasant to eat outdoors. We had seen the exciting array of food lined up on the bars inside, and decided to eat a meal consisting of many tapas.

With the waiter’s help, we figured out the menu and ordered a fabulous assortment: small hard-shelled clams with two feet, artichokes sliced thin and fried, wild mushrooms sautéed in garlic and olive oil, long green onions called calcots with romescu sauce. The ubiquitous pa amb tomaquet, which is grilled bread rubbed with garlic, tomato and olive oil. Prawns skewered and grilled. Small pieces of rare grilled beef fillet (called veal on the English menu but called solomillo in Catalan), served on small pieces of grilled bread with a whole small pepper (not a hot one though), all held together with a toothpick. A plate of fried sardines. And for dessert? One crema catalana (like crème brulee) with two spoons. Alan said the good part was it was just Tuesday.

Hey, Nikki! So far sounds so good. It was awesome seeing you and meeting Alan. I am glad you had a week of beautiful weather. Today is also incredibly sunny.

I was reading the column "la fatxa" in BCN WEEK (http://bcnweek.com/fatxa36.html), which talks about "guiris" (foreigners. . . not despective. . . just a qualifier) and how they dress for summer when it is "winter" here. Hilarious!

Glad you got away from the cold for a while and looks like you enjoyed yourself. Keep writing!

Wednesday morning we got out of the apartment at a more reasonable hour, with the goal of taking the bus turistic. The bus stopped in front of La Pedrera, just a block from our apartment, and we bought tickets on the bus. We took the southern loop, which goes to the sites on Montjuic and the waterfront. The top of the bus was somewhat chilly when we were moving, and a black cloud threatened rain, but the sun won out by the time we got off the bus at the monument to Columbus. There was a jovial group of men having their picture taken holding a banner proclaiming the glories of the Liverpool Football Club. We walked along the waterfront toward an old sailing ship that turned out to be the Santa Eulalia, a three-masted schooner maintained as an exhibit of the maritime museum (Museu Maritim). After enjoying the view and the sunshine for a while, we walked back past the Columbus monument to visit the museum.

The Museu Maritim is housed in the Drassanes Reials, the wonderfully preserved medieval shipyards. An audioguide is included in the price of admission. Old ships, replicas, models, maps, dioramas, and figureheads comprised the exhibits, which were interesting and well displayed in the great space.

We got back on the bus and rode around the waterfront, getting off again at the Pla del Palau, near the Born neighborhood. We walked through this neighborhood, which is rapidly gentrifying and filled with small, interesting shops. I wandered in and out of several jewelry stores and escaped without actually purchasing anything. Whew. I wanted to go inside the Santa Maria del Mar church, but it was shut tight. We passed an internet point, the first I had noticed since we arrived, so I ducked in for half an hour to do some e-mail.

By the time we arrived at the Picasso Museum, which was our goal in this neighborhood, my feet were shot. I had visited this museum 35 years ago, and it seemed bigger now. Most of the galleries had no benches, and I wasn’t able to enjoy the exhibits very much because of my need to sit down. I did get to look at many of Picasso’s childhood works (signed P Ruiz rather than Picasso) and several paintings from his blue period and rose period. Next time I would hit this museum when I was fresher rather than at the end of a day of touring. It is housed in a beautiful set of mansions on an evocative old Barcelona street.

We left the museum and walked down the carrer Princesa. While Alan went inside a store to deal with a malfunctioning sim card in his phone, I sat outside on a bench in front of a store selling many types of carnival masks. While I waited, I heard and then saw a demonstration on the nearby Via Laietana. Honking horns, people marching and chanting, carrying signs. I couldn’t tell what the demonstration was about, though. The demonstration had passed by the time Alan came out, and he probably thinks I made the whole thing up.

We walked up the Via Laietana and passed a store selling kitchen appliances in the colors of the Football Club of Barcelona. Then we passed a bar with a sign advertising the televised match that evening between Barcelona and Liverpool. That explained the men with the banner down at the Columbus monument earlier. We went back to the apartment and rested up for our 10:00 dinner reservation at Cinc Sentits.

Enjoying your report. Gotta pack those dark colors, I guess.

Dark colors?

Thanks for all the comments. In answer to some I might have missed:

Set Portes does not seem to me to be a tourist trap. There are indeed tourists there, but there were plenty of locals as well.

Zorro? Really? I'll think about it.

Great to see you too, Claire, and after reading the article you referenced I can reassure you that neither Alan nor I went barefoot in shorts or miniskirt.

I hope everyone enjoys their upcoming trips (and relocations!) to Barcelona.

After reading the description of my dinner at Cinc Sentits, still to come, you will see one of the reasons I want to return.

Ole indeed, Mimi, I wouldn't mind some more.

We had reserved our table at Cinc Sentits by telephone the previous day. At that time there was only one opening for the entire evening, so I would recommend reserving further in advance. This restaurant is located at carrer Aribau, 58, and the telephone number is 34 93 323 94 90. The website has menus, photographs of their dishes, and on-line reservations: www.cincsentits.com. Both Alan and I agreed that this was one of the best meals we have ever had at a restaurant.

We decided to make this our all-out splurge and ordered the chef’s tasting menu. For about two hours, they just brought us one exquisite small dish after another. The first thing was a welcome shot with layers of maple syrup, chilled cream, cava sabayon, and rock salt. We were given instructions to drink the thing in one gulp. While it was much better than it sounds, and my husband liked it a lot, it was not my favorite thing. Next was an individual porcelain spoon full of foie gras, perhaps crushed nuts, and violet marmalade. After that came the foie gras coca, caramelized on a thin pastry crust and sprinkled with chopped chives. We both agreed we could have had a lot more of that.

There were walnut rolls, olive rolls, and white rolls. Then we were served exquisite prawns from the Costa Brava, cooked simply with oil and salt, and we were instructed to eat the tails, then to suck on the heads. The next course was rockfish suquet, potato puree, and artichoke heart in a dark fish broth. Then came the Iberian suckling pig cooked “sous vide”, in a bag under water, for 24 hours, then grilled to crisp the skin before serving, and served with two textures of apple in a red wine reduction. We both took one bite of this and thought it would be great to come back the next day and just order a full plate of this for each of us.

The cheese course was a Catalan goat cheese with crystallized ginger. Then came the first dessert: four textures of lemon, including cake, cream, ice cream and lemon foam with vodka. Next came a chocolate crocant with praline ice cream. We were instructed to alternate the chocolate with the ice cream in order to cut the richness. It sort of worked. The final item was a chocolate truffle and sugared passion fruit.

We did not make it back to this restaurant to try the things on the menu we had missed, although it did occur to us. The lovely woman who described the dishes to us (in perfect English, since reportedly she and her husband, the chef, lived for many years in Canada) said that a significant number of people actually do come back for that reason.

My, my , my, what a meal! Do you care to share the price of such a feast?

Yum!

Nikki,
I'm really enjoying your trip report. Can sympathatize with you about your feet--mine "went out" in Barcelona too--so much walking, but it's such a great way to see the city.

Thanks for sharing your adventure.

Missypie, we paid something like 200 euros for the two of us, including wine for Alan and sparkling water for me. This is possibly the most we have ever spent in a restaurant. It was possible to eat there for significantly less by choosing a less expensive tasting menu or simply ordering a la carte. Our tasting menu incurred a supplement for the shrimp.

Thursday morning we headed out to the Museum of the City of Barcelona. Our goal there was to see the underground remains of the Roman city. This museum is extremely well done. All cameras, bags and purses must be placed in lockers before entering the museum. There is an audioguide included with admission and an excellent short film about the growth of Barcelona in English.

After watching the film, we descended in an elevator to the excavations below the streets of the city. There are walkways suspended over the ancient streets and foundations with numbered stops for explanations of the various aspects of Roman life revealed by the old stones. We saw separate buildings built specifically for processing fish, oil, and wine. We saw houses and the foundations of early churches. The most unusual fact revealed by this tour: in Roman Barcelona, people left containers in the street outside their homes with the expectation, indeed the hope, that passers-by would urinate into them. The urine was then used to disinfect and clean the laundry, mixed with ash and lime.

We left the museum and walked toward the Placa Saint Jaume. I stopped into a shop selling pottery and bought two dishes for making crema catalana, an oil cruet made of recycled glass, and a decorated plate. Time for lunch. We ducked into the first place we found with an available table, which was a tiny coffee shop with a bar and just two tables. As we were leaving, the waitress warned me to be careful with my purse in that neighborhood.

We walked along the carrer Call, the ancient Jewish quarter. Turning right onto the narrow carrer Sant Domenec, then onto the even narrower carrer Marlet, we stumbled upon the newly restored Major Synagogue of Barcelona. The entrance is tiny, and the doorway so low we had to stoop to climb down the steps into the basement space. It wasn’t until 1987 that a paper was published proposing that this was the site of Barcelona’s ancient synagogue, and in 1995, when the property was going to be sold and used as a bar, one of the people investigating the building’s history purchased it with the hope of renovating and preserving it. The space was renovated in 2002 and opened to the public as a museum. Services are held for special events. The building had been used as a synagogue until 1391, when the Jewish community in the Call was attacked. For a small donation, we got a tour and an explanation of the history of the Jewish community in Barcelona. There is a very informative web site: www.calldebarcelona.org.

When we left the synagogue, we walked toward the Rambla, and headed toward the market La Boqueria. Impossible to walk through here without taking many photos of the amazing fish, meat and produce stalls. Everything looked so intriguing that we purchased slices of jamon iberico (cut by the shop girl with a large knife from hams hanging from the ceiling), small sausages, and bread to have in our apartment. And then we stopped at the Kiosk Universal, a counter restaurant in the market, for a couple of dishes to tide us over until dinner. We had a plate of great garlicky wild mushrooms and a plate of razor clams cooked on the grill. At this point we were running short on appetite and cash, so we headed back to the apartment.

Just got back from Spain two days ago. One of the places we visited was Barcelona. It was fantastic. Being a major city, I expected everything to be pricey. I was pleasantly surprised. If you got to a tapas bar slightly off the main routes, beer is just as cheap as anywhere. Try Care del Opera in Las Ramblas for excellent value food and drink.

That should have said, "Cafe Del Opera"

Hi Nikki.

Your trip to Barcelona sounds wonderful.

I never thought that reading about sucking shrimp heads at 7:00am would make me hungry, but there it is.

Thursday night we had tickets to a concert at the Palau de la Musica Catalana. I purchased tickets on line at the venue’s website: www.palaumusica.org. We saw a twenty-year-old Catalan pianist named Lluis Grane play his concert debut in a program of music by Albeniz, Liszt, and Prokofiev. This was an absolutely wonderful night out. The hall is stunning, in a moderniste building by architect Lluis Domenech y Muntaner. The stained glass skylight kept attracting my gaze when I looked away from the pianist on the stage. The room is covered with over-the-top sculpture and so many decorative roses that it looked like someone had been practicing their cake decorating skills on the ceiling. It felt right to see a young local pianist playing music by Albeniz, written around the time of the moderniste movement, in such a space. The pianist played very well in an extremely difficult and interesting program, and was called back for three encores. A fine debut.

Friday morning we headed out toward Barceloneta with the object of taking the cable car across the harbor up to Montjuic. We took a taxi but at Placa Catalunya we found our way blocked by a demonstration. Honking horns, people marching with placards, chanting. We had to drive around the demonstration with much traffic and several blocked roads. No idea what the demonstration was about, but it ended up being a much longer cab ride than we expected. We did end up at the cable car station, however, and we bought round trip tickets to Montjuic. It is also possible to buy tickets to the World Trade Center tower, at the halfway point of the cable car.

The elevator ride up the tower was punctuated by nervous comments in several languages about how high it was. I was surprised to hear one of the people commenting was Alan. There was a great view from the top, but the windows were all closed, so it was difficult to take photos; they all would have to be through the glass. The ride in the cable car also provided great views, but once again there was only a small open window and unless one was standing right at that window, it was difficult to take any pictures. At the World Trade Center, some people entered and exited, but most stayed on until we reached the end, at Montjuic.

Just outside the cable car station, there is a café with a spectacular view. We basked in the sun, ordered drinks, and thought about how life is good. Not wanting too much of a good thing, though, and starting to think about lunch, we left after finishing our drinks and took the cable car back down to the port.

I had printed out recommendations for several seafood restaurants in Barceloneta. We ended up at Suquet de l’Almirall, at Passeig Joan de Borbo 65, tel. 93 221 6233. Sitting on the sunny terrace, we started with a plate of assorted fried small fish, shrimp, baby squid, and I don’t remember what all. This was accompanied by the wonderful tomato bread we got everywhere, and I think this might have been the best version of it that we encountered. Alan ordered a plate of something translated as pointed sea snails, which turned out to be whelks. My first experience of whelks was two years ago at the racetrack in Brighton, England. I didn’t like them a whole lot better this time and made Alan eat all but one of them by himself. We then got an order of fideu (which is like paella only made with vermicelli instead of rice) and an order of meatballs with shrimp and squid (or was it cuttlefish? and just what is the difference anyway?). More bread to sop up the gravy? Yes, please. Dessert? You’ve got to be kidding.

Oh, the Palau de la Musica is my absolute favorite building in all of Barcelona. I have attended a concert of some sort each of the three times I was there. Problem is each time I would find myself watching the walls, columns, ceiling as opposed to the show. I love the music muses on the back wall of the stage and how their faces and instuments are dimensional. Anyway really enjoying your report.

It sounds like you had good fortune with restaurant choices. Were you able to read the menu in Catalan or Spanish, did some places have menus in English, or did you use a menu translator?

I've looked up some of the websites of the restaurants that have been recommended on this board; they have an English transalation on the web site, but I always think that I'll never be able to find the really yummy stuff on a Catalan menu.

Some restaurants had English menus. Others had just Catalan, and we figured it out with a little guessing and a little help from waiters and a couple of guide books with food glossaries. None of this helped me figure out we were ordering whelks, though, even though that menu was actually in English.

I guess the problem was that they translated the menu with a bilingual dictionary . I have four..and none of them has the word "whelk" or "whelks" on it. But yes , they say "sea snails" which is a pretty easy translation of our "caracoles de mar"

We took a bus back to the apartment. Alan walked to the Sagrada Familia church, but I had seen it last summer and stayed in to get ready for the evening.

We had tickets that night for the Gelabert-Azzopardi Dance Company at the Teatre Lliure on the lower slopes of Montjuic. This theater is in a building that housed the Palace of Agriculture in the 1929 Exhibition. I bought tickets on the web site: http://www.teatrelliure.com/. We had seats in the front row, and since the stage was not raised, this was a perfect vantage point for an intimate view of the modern dance performance. The program was a new work called “Orion”, based on principles of science such as the big bang, Darwin’s theory of evolution, and cognitive neuroscience. We had fun trying to figure out just what was going on at any point in the dance. Were the two guys dressed alike and dancing the same steps supposed to be the left brain and the right brain? Was the line of dancers at the end supposed to be the emotions, the intellect, and the instincts all working together like the final number in “A Chorus Line”? Who knows, but the dancing was interesting and well executed and I really enjoyed it.

Saturday morning we planned to go to Tibidabo, the hilltop behind Barcelona that overlooks the city, for the view. First, though, we went to the pastry shop across the street from our apartment, Maury, which is a very pretty space with tables for eating inside. I ordered hot chocolate and a croissant. The chocolate was so thick that a spoon stood up in it. Is this legal? Can you drink this stuff in public? How did we wait a whole week before we discovered this place? After finishing breakfast, we went to the counter at the front and bought small sandwiches (lox and cream cheese, who knew that was a thing in Spain?) to have later, as well as bags of cocoa to try at home. Then we headed out.

We started by going into the metro for the first time. We entered at the Diagonal metro station, which was just a block from our apartment, with the intention of catching the train at the connecting Provenca station to the Av. Tibidabo station. There were automatic ticket machines at the bottom of the stairs, and we bought four tickets to go and to return. Then we followed signs through a tunnel to Line 7 and attempted to put our tickets in the turnstiles. They were rejected.

There were no visible people working in the subway station. There was, however, a box with a speaker and instructions in English to push a button for help. I got a woman who said to wait a minute, and a little while later a young man showed up and looked at our tickets. He told us that they were not valid on the FGC trains, which was our line. They were only valid on the metro trains run by the TMB. I was confused, as I had thought these lines were similar to the metro and the RER in Paris, which have interchangeable tickets within central Paris. Evidently I was misinformed. So we bought two new tickets at the machine in this station, and they worked.

We took the train to the Av. Tibidabo station, where we waited for the Tramvia Blau, the blue tram that goes up the steep hill. This tram and a house along this street figured prominently in “The Shadow of the Wind”. Beautiful mansions line the street, but most of them appear to be taken over by businesses or institutions and are no longer private residences.

When we reached the end of the line, we expected to take the funicular to the top of Tibidabo, but it wasn’t running. It was covered with scaffolding and appeared to be undergoing repairs. Oh, is that what the tram conductor was trying to tell everyone? Never mind, we went into the great bar with a view, Mirablau, and enjoyed drinks overlooking the city. An hour later we took the tram back down the hill. Since we had those metro tickets that wouldn’t work on the trains at that station, and since I was pretty sure they would work on the bus, we took a bus back to the apartment.

Sadly, this was to be our final night in Barcelona. I spent the rest of the afternoon organizing and packing up. Then we went for an early dinner at the Cerveseria Catalana, where we were able to get a table right away. Nobody in Barcelona thinks of eating at the absurdly early hour of 6:30. We tried some new things and repeated some of our favorites from our previous meal there. I asked if they had the little clams, not remembering the name in Catalan. The waiter said they did, and we were given a plate of tiny clams the size of fingernails, cooked in butter and garlic. This wasn’t what we were expecting, but that’s all right, another kind of clam to add to the repertoire. We got the wild mushrooms again, the tomato bread, the solomillos, and the fried artichokes. But this time we also ordered a plate of manchego cheese and an order of escalivada (grilled eggplants and red peppers, this time formed into a cake and covered with goat cheese). We need a place like this near home. It might be a little difficult to get the raw ingredients, though. We walked around the corner to our building but sat outside for a while watching the people starting to go out for the evening.

We tried to go to sleep early with varying degrees of success, since we had a taxi ordered for 5:00 Sunday morning. As we drove through the early morning streets to the airport, we passed groups of people still out from the night before. I get tired just thinking about it.

Our flights home were uneventful again, just the way we like them. And when we got back to our driveway in Massachusetts, the ice had even receded a bit. Who could ask for more?

Hi Nikki, great trip report! I'm missing Barcelona and the whole of Europe as I write. Love the pictures too. What is the loaf of bread with the fish? Makes me want to go now, if only I didn't have to deal with school and work (and that project at work).

Sigh...

You really know how to write a trip report, Nikki! Your detailed account and pictures (and, oh, that food...) helped me to relive our own trip a few years back. How lucky to have attended a performance at the Palau de la Musica - we were fortunate enough to have taken a guided tour there, and I've often wondered how audiences were able to concentrate on the show, given the spectacular setting. We stayed at a small hotel overlooking Las Ramblas and not far from the market; we stopped (I would swear...) at that very cheese stand you pictured several times to buy something to have with our evening Cava as we watched the street performers from our hotel balcony. Ahh, the memories...

I have posted photos from the trip at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=he0tnm3.b121mfwj&x=0&h=1&y=-o3uxdp.

mcnyc, I didn't actually take the shot of the sandwiches topped with fish; my husband did. But we didn't try them, and I don't know what they are called.

Beautiful pictures!

No worries, but great pictures all around!

Note to self: must seek out and try.

Great trip report Nikki!

My husband and I are going to Barcelona in September. Can I ask how much you paid for the apartment? It looks great and the location sounds superb

mcnyc, you're a braver man than I.

Dixieland, the apartment cost 120 euros per night for two people in February. I just looked at it for September, and it appears to be 130 euros per night at that time, with a discount if you stay a week.

Nikki - thanks for the detailed trip report. I will be escorting 34 high school students to Barcelona and Valencia in March 2008. You have given some wonderful ideas that we can use to fill our time in Barcelona. As I gaze out my window I see 3 feet of snow on the front lawn. I can just imagine our students will appreciate whatever warmth they find under the Spanish sun and will dress accordingly (much to the chagrin of the locals).

OK, so I know it is a small world, but in your photo "Jewish Quarter," you have snapped my friend's boyfriend. I sent him the link so that he could see how he ended up in your photos.

I ate at la Cervecería on Saturday (we did the 5 different salads, sepia, and a bunch of montaditos, of which solomillo was the best) with friends and then we visited La pedrera, Sagrada Familia and some other city stuff. Love those visits!

Excellent pictures.

And getting smaller all the time.

I just got a note from my friend. They love this coincidence! He even asked if he could order a print to be able to tell the story to guests.

I wonder how many pictures I am in. . . probably thousands!

"I wonder how many pictures I am in. . . probably thousands!"

My drive home from work every night takes me across the exact place where John F. Kennedy was shot. Several days a week there are people photographing the site as I drive by-I always give a little wave.

Claire, which one is he?

Missypie, with all the people taking pictures in Barcelona, you could end up in some of those too. At least you have the wave down.

He is the redhead, hence why he is so easy to spot.

Missy: my friends and I used to love to hang out at the grassy knoll (after visiting the downtown library) and I remember once this guy came up and asked me if I could hunker down behind some bush and "look like a sniper." It was a no-go.

I happened upon a "Barcelona Must-Sees" thread from 2001 or 2002. A couple of folks mentioned that Barcelona is the dirtiest city they've ever visited and that it smells like urine. Nikki, it didn't look filthy in your pictures. What's the stench and filth level (of parts of the city that tourists would commonly visit)?

Missy pie,

I was in Barcelona in 1999, 2000 and 2002 and none of the times did I find it dirty or smelly. In fact I found it pretty clean. It's a beautiful city with a great vibrant energy. You will have a blast.

BTW- great report Nikki- and I love the pix.

I've read some stupid things on this forum but that of BCN being dirty or smelly is going to be the number 1 !!!
Barcelona is probably the cleanest city in Spain.

All I can say is that I didn't scrub any buildings or sidewalks before photographing them. And I didn't notice any particular odors other than garlic, paella, and chocolate, and I sought those out.

Living here I will admit that Barcelona smells bad a lot of the time. This past weekend a friend of mine was visiting for the first time and kept saying "God, this place smells like sewage all the time!" That is not true, but there is definitely a lot of pee and poop smells in random places downtown. Then again, they make the good smells even better.

On the www.bcnweek.com homepage there is a smells map (scroll down to services, it is to your left) and it has all kinds of stuff: poop, flowers, vomit, chlorine, fresh bread, ocean. . .

Barcelona is not dirty, but then again, one should still not walk around barefoot or sit down on the street. It gets sprayed down nightly by the incredible BCNeta (trashman) crew. They do a great job.

A smells map?! I've got to check that out.

Nikki, you posted a reply today to a question I had about Athens. Now that I know about you I'm enjoying all your trip reports. This one is now saved in my very large "future trip" file. Barcelona is on the list, and glad to hear it's a travel option in February...

Nikki- it was delightful reading about your trip to Barcelona. I could almost taste some of the food you described. We are going in May, and I can hardly wait. Thanks for all the info! Mo

Thank you Nikki! I just posted a request for Barcelona tips you have given me plenty to work with. I cannot wait to try the tomato bread! We'll be there in June for 2 weeks. A thousand times thank you! You should be a travel writer!I am ordering "Shadows of the Wind" right now. I can vouch for "Zorro". Isabelle Allende is a great story teller.

bookmarking

Excellent. Thanks. Absolutely useful since we're off to Barcelona soon!

Hi Nikki. Wonderful trip report! And, based largely on your recommendation (and photos of what I assume is La Boqueria), I have just booked the Pedrera apartment for 6 days this December, where DH and I will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, and ring in the new year!

If you have the time, would you answer the following?

1. Does the apartment have a clothes dryer?

2. I read somewhere that there is a concierge in the lobby. True?

3. IF I can get a reservation, would you recommend Cinc Sentits as a place to celebrate New Year's Eve?

A million thanks!

I absolutely adored your trip report. Can't wait to go back to Barcelona to try some of the things you did and sample some of the restaurants you discussed as well!

Oh, New Year's and an anniversary in Barcelona sounds wonderful!

I believe the apartment did not have a clothes dryer.

There was a man with a booth in the lobby, not sure I'd call him a concierge exactly but he could be helpful. He called and reserved a taxi for us the night before we left when I was afraid the language barrier would make that difficult to do ourselves. He didn't speak much English, but when he spoke Catalan it sounded like French to me so we could sort of communicate.

Cinc Sentits for New Year's Eve sounds fantastic.

Be sure to report back, I'd love to hear how it turns out.

Many thanks for your quick reply!

Nikki:
Did the Barcelona apartment have any channels of English TV? We love BBC when we are in Europe. Had it in our apartment in Belgium, but not in Germany.

I don't remember whether there were English channels or not, sorry. I will ask my husband whether he remembers.

We also stayed in a Habitat apartment. The satelite TV had shows in just about every lauguage you can think of. As I recall, every show in English was a business/stock market type of show. Late one night we stumbled upon the NBC Nightly News but we couldn't find it a second time.

I just asked my husband and he remembers two or three English speaking TV stations at the apartment.

I also had a great dinner at Restaurant 7 Portes. Duck...crispy and delicious. On line I met an Irishman and his wife who just bought a house near me Jupiter Florida where I live! Small world! Nice report and pictures. I spent a month in Spain and it was wonderful.

Hi Nikki. Looks like I am nearly re-creating your Barcelona trip! As I mentioned, we're staying in the Pedrera apartment and I'm hopeful of getting a reservation at Cinq Sentits for New Years Eve, if possible. If for any reason they can't accommodate us (won't know till late Nov. at the earliest), what do you think NYE at Set Portes would be like? Is it a "fun" atmosphere? Unlike many restaurants, I do know they'll be open. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Hard to tell what the atmosphere would be like on New Year's Eve. Set Portes is a big place, lots of people, and at some point on regular evenings a piano player starts playing, but the music was nothing to write home about.

Bookmarking for our trip in December.

Nikki,
I noticed you went to the Cerveceria Catalana twice. Did you have wine or beer or water with your tapas? Were there tables there for 8?

I want one of each. (tapas, not tables!)

Beer for my husband and fizzy water for me.

There were some large groups dining together. We found that it was much less crowded at off hours. The first time we tried to go was at lunch time, and the wait was too long. We came back at the Barcelona dinner rush and waited for a table. But the second time we ate there, we arrived earlier, around 6:30 I think, and there was no wait.

The Cerveseria Catalana, unlike many restaurants, is open all day, so it is possible to eat there at off times. Our apartment was just around the corner, so it was possible for us to check and see when there was less of a wait.

just got back from Barcelona last week and was interested in others' comments. I have seen a lot of places but found Barcelona one of the most wonderful cities anywhere,
We had 7 full days and wished we could have stayed longer .. like forever.

Hi Nikki. Another apartment question, if you don't mind...Do you recall if the apartment had a telephone for use by renters (with calling card, of course)? Have a call into Habitat, but haven't heard back yet. Thanks!

Yes, there was a phone. You must be getting ready to go. Did you make reservations for New Year's Eve? Have a great trip.

Hi! We're leaving on 12/25. I was like a heat seeking missile and finally got NYE reservations at Cinq Sentits! Very excited! Happy holidays to you.

Just read through your great report again as I'll be in BCN next week. Where is the museum of the city of Barcelona located, sounds interesting.

Great trip!

It sounds like you used the ATM to get enough cash for the apt. Were you able to pull out more than the maximum from an ATM?

One of my concerns with converting dollar to Euro was we wouldn't be able to get enough cash out if we were in a bind. I did wonder if the banks would adjust that if one asked.

Laartista, oh, back to Barcelona, are you still hoping to move there? The Museu d'Historia de la Ciutat is in the Barri Gotic near the Placa del Rei. Note that it is closed between 2 and 4 PM (and closed all day Monday).

Fetchwood, I raised my maximum ATM withdrawal limit at my bank before the trip, but that still doesn't guarantee the machine will allow you to take out as much as your maximum. So we had three different accounts we could access.

Yes, still moving, leaving Thurs. for a scouting trip and to meet w/ attorney. But would love to check out that museum while there.Thanks for the info.

laartista - will you let us know how everything goes? It is so much fun to hear the details when people move to another country...

Great trip report! Thanks!

Great TR -- just found it and its so helpful for planning for our trip this Spring.

Nikki, I must have missed this TR when you first posted it. Thanks for putting the link in the other thread. What a delightful report (as usual)!

I just read your trip report because you had linked it to another thread. Wonderful!! We will be in Barcelona in Nov 2010 and you gave me many wonderful ideas for our 4 days. Thanks!

Thanks from me too, Nikki. What a wonderful report -- you've really whet my appetite for Barcelona!

Nikki:
Joining this late because I just planned a trip to Barcelona for June 7th. Can hardly wait now that I have read your trip report.
laclaire - we actually emailed two years ago when we thought we were going and had to postpone until this year. Really appreciate the tips and laclaire would love to meet you if you are still there in June.

Planner, I believe Laclaire no longer lives in Spain, judging from a posting I saw on Fodor's some time ago.

Have a good trip.

Nikki:
Thank you for letting me know about Laclaire. Really appreciate your trip report. Gave me a wealth of information.

Nikki: Which apartment are you suggesting. I am planning a mid May 10 trip for myself (I am the mom) and 3 sons ages 20-26, so we need 2 bed 1 bath..would like the balcony in a great fun area because I know the guys will be out late at night. Thanks, SJ Love all the great info on the posts