Barcelona: End of the Eurotrip

My morning flight was a bit too early for me to take advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel.  In another couple of hours on a cramped flight I was in Barcelona.  Finally after arriving in Barcelona, I got the chance to break out the shorts and sunglasses, a welcomed change from the moderately kind of cold hoodie weather that I had in the rest of Europe.  I don’t know much Spanish, but I knew enough to help me get around quite a bit which made navigating around the city a bit easier based on how much of the language I do understand.

Inside the room at Barcelona Hilton

I took a bus out to where I would take the train from.  I had downloaded all of my directions in advance to make things easier.  I bought a 2 day pass for the train, but in hindsight a 10 trip pass would have been cheaper and gotten me through my entire visit.  My hotel for my trip in Barcelona would be the Hilton Barcelona.  The directions to get there were pretty simple.  A bus ride, then a train ride and then it was a short walk to the hotel.

It proved to be slightly more complicated than I imagined as I walked back and forth past the hotel several times.   It only had a couple of blue Hilton flags to identify it that were recessed a bit from the actual street.  I felt a little silly when I finally found it.  I went to the front desk to check in and I was behind probably the most annoying person in the world go get behind for checking in.  I waited in line for about 20 minutes in order to check in.  When I finally checked in I was offered the choice of a room on the third floor or waiting for a room on a higher floor.  I just wanted to check in so I opted for the lower floor.

Pan Con Tomate

This hotel has that numbering system where even numbers are on one side in one hallway and odd numbered rooms are on the other side.  I didn’t notice this when I first got off of the elevator and it lead to few more seconds of aimless wandering.  Once I made it into the room I turned on the TV to watch a little bit while I freshened up and as I was changing channels I came across that iconic scene from Back to the Future where Marty is playing the guitar at the dance.   Instantly I was like this is freaking awesome.  Then came in the weirdness of audio dubbed over in Spanish that made an otherwise perfect moment a little bit more memorable.

I was starving so I decided to get something to eat right next door at Piscolabis.  It is a tapas restaurant right next door to the hotel so I didn’t have to wander far.  The menu is quite large but most of what I wanted to try was absent from the menu.  I couldn’t complain too much because it was pretty early on a Sunday.  He also suggested pretty good replacements.  I mean you can’t really complain that much when you are selecting from over 60 dishes.

Tapas at Piscolabis

I had the pan con tomate.  It was simple, but you really get the freshness of the tomatoes.  It’s only charred bread that it is rubbed with tomatoes.  I know you might be thinking “what’s so great about that?”  It’s because the tomatoes have such a vibrant flavor of tomatoes.  It’s almost like eating a tomato for the first time.   The bread is perfect too.  It is very light and chewy and has this really crisp crust.

Next up I got a chance to try the ham croquettes.  They were made with the gold standard of ham.  Iberico ham comes from black Iberian pigs, which are fed a diet which is mostly acorns.  This renders a fat that has much higher HDL and lower LDL.  It also gives the ham a very rich flavor.  Being from Miami, and ham croquettes being a staple of Cuban cuisine, I’ve had much more than my fair share of ham croquettes over the years.   These were however the best that I’ve ever had.  The quality of the ham goes a long way and the fatty nature of it gives you a croquette that is most and crisp on the outside.

The richness of the food I had didn’t stop there as I ended up getting the foie gras cannelloni as well.  It was an absolute triumph as the pasta was cooked absolutely perfectly.   It also had this great rich sauce that was slightly earthy.  I also had the vegetable tempura with romesco sauce.  My favorite this array of fired vegetables was the asparagus.  The light batter that only a tempura can provide was perfect for it.  The romseco brought in the brightness of the sweet ripe tomatoes that are throughout Europe.  European tomatoes are better than any I’ve ever had in the US.

Barcelona's Beautiful Beach

I then made my way to the beach it was an absolutely beautiful day outside as well.  Up until this point I thought that South Beach was the most beautiful beach in the world.  That isn’t even close to true Platja de la Barceloneta is phenomenal.  This is coming from a person that usually doesn’t like beaches as well.   The weather was absolutely perfect.  The sand wasn’t hot at all.  It was just warm enough to entice you to get into the water but not too warm as to make it a requirement.  The beach was also pretty crowded but not to the point where it makes you feel uncomfortable.

I sat down on the beach and got some more tapas and a beer from Platja Ca La Nuri.  I was really just sitting along the beach when a waiter walked up with a menu.  I only had one item actually.  I decided to go for the Pommes de terre épicées.  They were potatoes with a spicy aioli.  They were perfectly crisp on the outside yet tender.  The aioli was spicy enough but not too hot to be overpowering.

Plaça de la Sagrada Família

Later on I went for a drink at Zian.  I decided to go with the Sangria.  Sangria is not something I usually ordered, but after tasting this I was hooked.   There was a bit of language barrier as I didn’t really understand what I was ordering but for €6 I got an entire pitcher of Sangria.  I didn’t feel bad leaving some it behind as I felt pretty tipsy after a few glasses.

After going to sleep pretty early in the evening I woke up to do some more sightseeing.  Here’s the synopsis.  I went to see the Plaça de la Sagrada Família.  It was a church.  Looked nice from the outside, the line to get in was long so I passed on it.  Went to Casa Museu Gaudí, It was a small museum.  Felt like a bit of a rip-off.  I was done with it in about 10 minutes and €10 poorer for the effort.  Park Güell was nice, but it was so crowded with people trying to take pictures that I was getting more annoyed than anything.  All these things essentially made me wish I was still at the beach.

Park Güell

I stopped for lunch at Narin.  It was a pretty awesome place that serves Middle Eastern food.  I ended up having a falafel pita and a beer for only €5.  The falafel was fresh fried for me and was crisp and it definitely wasn’t one of those that are kept alive via a heat lamp that you can get at some places.  Here you had a perfect little bite that was fulfilling and the fresh herbaceous qualities shine through.

I got sucked into Tallers 76 next door to soak up some free Wi-Fi.  The service was pretty friendly there despite the obvious language barrier, but I do know the words “pan con tomate” and “sangria” which was all I needed to make it through.

Tapas and Cava on the Beach

Soon after I was walking down Avenida Diagonal passing by various places where I could do some serious shopping if I so desired.  The pricing was borderline absurd, so I did more looking than anything.  Insane to think but I saw a pair of Levi’s at €120.  It has to be a result of all of the import taxes.  At any rate my bags were near full and I didn’t want to spend too much more money.

My next sightseeing spot was Casa Mila.  All of the sightseeing in Barcelona seems to revolve around the beach or Antoni Gaudi.  Here there was another line to get in that was very long and for €16 to get in I felt like my pictures from the outside were good enough.  I had to get back to the beach.   After seeing so much by Gaudi, I couldn’t justify the expense, not only in price but more importantly in time.

The best picture of the trip

I got back to the beach again and sat down and had the spicy potatoes again.  I would enjoy a glass of Cava with it as well.  It was more of a triumph, more of a celebration than a meal.  The sparkling wine garnished with a strawberry and the perfect view made for an amazing day.  I also tried the anchovies, which I wasn’t particularly a fan of.  You could definitely taste the freshness of the fish, but it was more the choice of the very sharp vinegar seasoning that made it unbearable for me.

After going back to the hotel to freshen up, I went out for dinner at La Rita.  It was upscale food for a price that wasn’t too expensive.  I felt a bit underdressed in my T-shirt and jeans as it definitely was a white tablecloth restaurant.  I was conflicted about what to order, and though I really enjoyed my Iberian pork filet, I kind of wish I would have gone for the duck.  It was good but not great.  It was from the loin which is a tough piece to cook, and it came back just slightly dry and tough.  The sweet wine sauce with the tomatoes kept the dish bearable.

The star of the show was the dessert.  It was yet another fantastic one that played the borders of sweetness perfectly.  It was a mango soup with pink peppercorns that added a little bit of kick to it.  It was a dish that executed a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness.  The pink peppercorns danced on the edge of your tongue and made you want more.

In the morning I suffered from the age old flight problem.  My preferred time to fly is about 11 am, if I am away from home.  This way you don’t have to wake up early, and it gives you just enough time to get some breakfast and make it to the airport.  If it is much later when you travel you run into the problem of doing what I did in my last day in Barcelona, which was goofing off for a bit while not doing much of anything because I wanted to be on time for my flight back to London.  To make matters worse, I found out that my flight to London was into Gatwick and not into Heathrow.

I wanted to make my way back to the hotel relatively quickly and I didn’t want to spend much time traveling.  A taxi seemed like the best option.  In hindsight, I would have probably endured taking the Tube.  The taxi did save me an hour and a half over the fasted time that I researched through public transportation, but it did cost me a bit of money that was so staggering that I am a bit ashamed to admit it.

I stayed the night at the Heathrow Doubletree.  This happened to be the second hotel that does that annoying false sense of security thing by making you use a key to get on the elevator.  I only went to my room once so it didn’t bother me at all.  For dinner I ended up getting room service.   I finally got a chance to try curry in London at this point.  I had been looking forward to some good Indian food throughout my trip due to the English fascination with Indian food, I was expecting a really good version of Chicken Tikka Masala.  This one didn’t disappoint at all.  It was one of those moments where the only thing to complain of was the small portion size.  My foursquare check-in turned out to be extremely helpful as the top tip said to take the bus that picks you up on the side of the road rather than the hotel shuttle.   It does save you about £3 and comes a lot quicker than the hotel shuttle.  Once I figured out which direction to go I was on my way pretty quickly.

My morning flight was a bit too early for me to take advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel.  In another couple of hours on a cramped flight I was in Barcelona.  Finally after arriving in Barcelona, I got the chance to break out the shorts and sunglasses, a welcomed change from the moderately kind of cold hoodie weather that I had in the rest of Europe.  I don’t know much Spanish, but I knew enough to help me get around quite a bit which made navigating around the city a bit easier based on how much of the language I do understand.

I took a bus out to where I would take the train from.  I had downloaded all of my directions in advance to make things easier.  I bought a 2 day pass for the train, but in hindsight a 10 trip pass would have been cheaper and gotten me through my entire visit.  My hotel for my trip in Barcelona would be the Hilton Barcelona.  The directions to get there were pretty simple.  A bus ride, then a train ride and then it was a short walk to the hotel.

It proved to be slightly more complicated than I imagined as I walked back and forth past the hotel several times.   It only had a couple of blue Hilton flags to identify it that were recessed a bit from the actual street.  I felt a little silly when I finally found it.  I went to the front desk to check in and I was behind probably the most annoying person in the world go get behind for checking in.  I waited in line for about 20 minutes in order to check in.  When I finally checked in I was offered the choice of a room on the third floor or waiting for a room on a higher floor.  I just wanted to check in so I opted for the lower floor.

This hotel has that numbering system where even numbers are on one side in one hallway and odd numbered rooms are on the other side.  I didn’t notice this when I first got off of the elevator and it lead to few more seconds of aimless wandering.  Once I made it into the room I turned on the TV to watch a little bit while I freshened up and as I was changing channels I came across that iconic scene from Back to the Future where Marty is playing the guitar at the dance.   Instantly I was like this is freaking awesome.  Then came in the weirdness of audio dubbed over in Spanish that made an otherwise perfect moment a little bit more memorable.

I was starving so I decided to get something to eat right next door at Piscolabis.  It is a tapas restaurant right next door to the hotel so I didn’t have to wander far.  The menu is quite large but most of what I wanted to try was absent from the menu.  I couldn’t complain too much because it was pretty early on a Sunday.  He also suggested pretty good replacements.  I mean you can’t really complain that much when you are selecting from over 60 dishes.

I had the pan con tomate.  It was simple, but you really get the freshness of the tomatoes.  It’s only charred bread that it is rubbed with tomatoes.  I know you might be thinking “what’s so great about that?”  It’s because the tomatoes have such a vibrant flavor of tomatoes.  It’s almost like eating a tomato for the first time.   The bread is perfect too.  It is very light and chewy and has this really crisp crust.

Next up I got a chance to try the ham croquettes.  They were made with the gold standard of ham.  Iberico ham comes from black Iberian pigs, which are fed a diet which is mostly acorns.  This renders a fat that has much higher HDL and lower LDL.  It also gives the ham a very rich flavor.  Being from Miami, and ham croquettes being a staple of Cuban cuisine, I’ve had much more than my fair share of ham croquettes over the years.   These were however the best that I’ve ever had.  The quality of the ham goes a long way and the fatty nature of it gives you a croquette that is most and crisp on the outside.

The richness of the food I had didn’t stop there as I ended up getting the foie gras cannelloni as well.  It was an absolute triumph as the pasta was cooked absolutely perfectly.   It also had this great rich sauce that was slightly earthy.  I also had the vegetable tempura with romesco sauce.  My favorite this array of fired vegetables was the asparagus.  The light batter that only a tempura can provide was perfect for it.  The romseco brought in the brightness of the sweet ripe tomatoes that are throughout Europe.  European tomatoes are better than any I’ve ever had in the US.

I then made my way to the beach it was an absolutely beautiful day outside as well.  Up until this point I thought that South Beach was the most beautiful beach in the world.  That isn’t even close to true Platja de la Barceloneta is phenomenal.  This is coming from a person that usually doesn’t like beaches as well.   The weather was absolutely perfect.  The sand wasn’t hot at all.  It was just warm enough to entice you to get into the water but not too warm as to make it a requirement.  The beach was also pretty crowded but not to the point where it makes you feel uncomfortable.

I sat down on the beach and got some more tapas and a beer from Platja Ca La Nuri.  I was really just sitting along the beach when a waiter walked up with a menu.  I only had one item actually.  I decided to go for the Pommes de terre épicées.  They were potatoes with a spicy aioli.  They were perfectly crisp on the outside yet tender.  The aioli was spicy enough but not too hot to be overpowering.

Later on I went for a drink at Zian.  I decided to go with the Sangria.  Sangria is not something I usually ordered, but after tasting this I was hooked.   There was a bit of language barrier as I didn’t really understand what I was ordering but for €6 I got an entire pitcher of Sangria.  I didn’t feel bad leaving some it behind as I felt pretty tipsy after a few glasses.

After going to sleep pretty early in the evening I woke up to do some more sightseeing.  Here’s the synopsis.  I went to see the Plaça de la Sagrada Família.  It was a church.  Looked nice from the outside, the line to get in was long so I passed on it.  Went to Casa Museu Gaudí, It was a small museum.  Felt like a bit of a rip-off.  I was done with it in about 10 minutes and €10 poorer for the effort.  Park Güell was nice, but it was so crowded with people trying to take pictures that I was getting more annoyed than anything.  All these things essentially made me wish I was still at the beach.

I stopped for lunch at Narin.  It was a pretty awesome place that serves Middle Eastern food.  I ended up having a falafel pita and a beer for only €5.  The falafel was fresh fried for me and was crisp and it definitely wasn’t one of those that are kept alive via a heat lamp that you can get at some places.  Here you had a perfect little bite that was fulfilling and the fresh herbaceous qualities shine through.

I got sucked into Tallers 76 next door to soak up some free Wi-Fi.  The service was pretty friendly there despite the obvious language barrier, but I do know the words “pan con tomate” and “sangria” which was all I needed to make it through.

Soon after I was walking down Avenida Diagonal passing by various places where I could do some serious shopping if I so desired.  The pricing was borderline absurd, so I did more looking than anything.  Insane to think but I saw a pair of Levi’s at €120.  It has to be a result of all of the import taxes.  At any rate my bags were near full and I didn’t want to spend too much more money.

My next sightseeing spot was Casa Mila.  All of the sightseeing in Barcelona seems to revolve around the beach or Antoni Gaudi.  Here there was another line to get in that was very long and for €16 to get in I felt like my pictures from the outside were good enough.  I had to get back to the beach.   After seeing so much by Gaudi, I couldn’t justify the expense, not only in price but more importantly in time.

I got back to the beach again and sat down and had the spicy potatoes again.  I would enjoy a glass of Cava with it as well.  It was more of a triumph, more of a celebration than a meal.  The sparkling wine garnished with a strawberry and the perfect view made for an amazing day.  I also tried the anchovies, which I wasn’t particularly a fan of.  You could definitely taste the freshness of the fish, but it was more the choice of the very sharp vinegar seasoning that made it unbearable for me.

After going back to the hotel to freshen up, I went out for dinner at La Rita.  It was upscale food for a price that wasn’t too expensive.  I felt a bit underdressed in my T-shirt and jeans as it definitely was a white tablecloth restaurant.  I was conflicted about what to order, and though I really enjoyed my Iberian pork filet, I kind of wish I would have gone for the duck.  It was good but not great.  It was from the loin which is a tough piece to cook, and it came back just slightly dry and tough.  The sweet wine sauce with the tomatoes kept the dish bearable.

The star of the show was the dessert.  It was yet another fantastic one that played the borders of sweetness perfectly.  It was a mango soup with pink peppercorns that added a little bit of kick to it.  It was a dish that executed a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness.  The pink peppercorns danced on the edge of your tongue and made you want more.

In the morning I suffered from the age old flight problem.  My preferred time to fly is about 11 am, if I am away from home.  This way you don’t have to wake up early, and it gives you just enough time to get some breakfast and make it to the airport.  If it is much later when you travel you run into the problem of doing what I did in my last day in Barcelona, which was goofing off for a bit while not doing much of anything because I wanted to be on time for my flight back to London.  To make matters worse, I found out that my flight to London was into Gatwick and not into Heathrow.

I wanted to make my way back to the hotel relatively quickly and I didn’t want to spend much time traveling.  A taxi seemed like the best option.  In hindsight, I would have probably endured taking the Tube.  The taxi did save me an hour and a half over the fasted time that I researched through public transportation, but it did cost me a bit of money that was so staggering that I am a bit ashamed to admit it.

I stayed the night at the Heathrow Doubletree.  This happened to be the second hotel that does that annoying false sense of security thing by making you use a key to get on the elevator.  I only went to my room once so it didn’t bother me at all.  For dinner I ended up getting room service.   I finally got a chance to try curry in London at this point.  I had been looking forward to some good Indian food throughout my trip due to the English fascination with Indian food, I was expecting a really good version of Chicken Tikka Masala.  This one didn’t disappoint at all.  It was one of those moments where the only thing to complain of was the small portion size.  My foursquare check-in turned out to be extremely helpful as the top tip said to take the bus that picks you up on the side of the road rather than the hotel shuttle.   It does save you about £3 and comes a lot quicker than the hotel shuttle.  Once I figured out which direction to go I was on my way pretty quickly.