Gaudi: a stunning discovery

Monday, July 12 – Barcelona: [Deb here] We slept in until 9am after the World Cup match last night, went for our breakfast which always includes freshly-squeezed orange juice, and visited the Casa Mila, designed by Antoni Gaudi, who was clearly the Frank Gehry of his time. B and I were just thrilled to see this masterpiece apartment building which featured a tour of the top floor apartment with period furnishings. The interior spaces were illuminated by exterior and interior windows in all of the rooms.

Here’s the exterior of the building:

As a bonus, architectural models for his other structures (most are private spaces) with films of the interiors were displayed on the top floor/attic of the Casa Mila so that one could clearly see the design drawings and slices of architectural models to grasp how Gaudi had designed each of his buildings. B and I think that Casa Mila is among the 10 best architect-designed buildings in the world and may not receive the attention it’s due.

B and I had the 9.50 euro menu at the cerveseria in our neighborhood. Here are the two main dishes, baccalao with red pimento:

and a tuna and egg tortilla:

Fish tapas and World Cup victory for the locals

Sunday, July 11 – Barcelona: [Deb here] A quiet Sunday morning in Spain (nothing is open except the establishments operated by young Asian couples making their way in this city). We had our typical breakfast: freshly-squeezed Valencia oranges, croissants with light sugar frosting, and caffe con lecce.

B had located a fine family-run fish restaurant in our neighborhood for our Sunday meal of fish tapas and a bottle of cold cava. The menu:

The many dishes included (following some disastrous oysters) fish croquettes:

fried bacala (the usual paste this time) with the most common local pepper:

fried squid:

mussels:

langoustine:

octopus salad:

what can only be called a grab bag:

and shrimp:

Probably the highest value meal we’ve had:

Tonight was the World Cup match between Spain and the Netherlands. We watched the match on the big-screen in the local cerveseria with a local contingent very happy with the outcome.

Exploring the market and restaurant scene

Saturday, July 10 – Barcelona: [Deb here] After a quick breakfast of freshly squeezed oranges, croissants, coffee, we went off to the market in the center of town, off of the main street, La Rambla. B was particularly impressed with the skill with which they filleted anchovies:

We bought some pistachios from Iran, some aged Manchego, and some fine acorn-fed jambon (95 euros per kilo). As we’d hoped, we found a fabulous selection of olives at the market as well. Then a break with olives and cappuccino:

We had lunch at a small neighborhood trattoria between our hotel and the much-needed laundromat. On the way to the restaurant, we spotted this apartment building with an awning of plants:

Our lunch was tuna tartare (with guacamole):

and octopus on potatoes:

Then we hit the laundromat:

We had dinner near the beaches and the port of Barcelona that evening. Among the folks having drinks and watching world cup soccer after a day at the beach, we found this restaurant where the chef had worked at El Bulli before it closed. The meal was only acceptable but the dishes sure looked fine.

The salt cod balls, unusual for having a cube of fish instead of a paste:

the pimentos with anchovies were terrific:

the fried fish (somewhat a cross between an anchovy and a sardine):

and finally, some marvelous squid with a superior onion jam:

[B here} We’ve left out the pictures of the creepy crawly things that Deb left on the plate: we thought of entitling this post: “Deb goes to seafood restaurant and goes home hungry.” But, in fact, she ate a lot.

Day One in Barcelona (recovering)

Friday, July 9 – Barcelona: [Deb here] We decided that the Hotel Abbot was such a terrific place for the price that we asked whether we could stay for 5 more nights. They were booked solid for the week-end, but after some searching, the manager said that they had a double room without air conditioning, although she seemed reluctant to even offer it. I said that that was alright, and she said that she would offer it to us for 60 euros per night. I took a look at the room; it was essentially the same as the one we’d had for 80 euros. Since it had a refrigerator and we could keep cold wine, beer, and water in the room, it was a no-brainer for B. His reply: “we could eat very well for the difference.” So, here we are, exploring Barcelona for the first time.

The museum of Catalonian music had a wonderful tapas bar in the lobby:

and the exterior had columns of ceramic tile mosaics in many different designs and colors:

Back to the Cerveseria in our neighborhood for a quick lunch of carpaccio and gazpacho: