Barri Gotic / Gothic Quarter on a Sunday

The Gothic Quarter of Barcelona is old, cramped, dark, and full of charm. Here is the kind of place where you hear of visitors to Europe getting lost in the winding alleyways and loving it. Every turn of the corner varies greatly - street performers here, rows of restaurants or confectioners' shops here, and deserted alleys there. As always, click to enlarge the pictures..

A typical, old Gothic Quarter street.

Lights coming through the Christmas/Nadal/Navidad decorations.

Here you can get an idea of the narrow streets crowded by the tall apartment buildings.

Clásic Gótic Restaurant, on a street leading to the seafront.

Spraypaint artist in quiet Plaza Mercé.

Colors of the walls in the sunset

One of the exterior city walls from the old Roman settlement.

Some oddly-shaped rounded plaza in the Barri

One elaborate Santa/Papa Noel!

Um... curio store? Who knows... they have Phrenology head.

What would Europe be without delicious pastries?

Papabubble confectionary

Who knew there was a market for artisan caramels? The signage is sharp.

Bar Inopia: tapas done well

This evening we went to Bar Inopia for some early tapas. Since we've been hearing about (thanks Pop) and reading about it, we were more than ready to check out this place. Heading over there at around 8pm on a chilly night, we found it almost empty so we made a lap around the block. Not fifteen minutes later, there were groups of people streaming in and the bar facing the kitchen had been filled. We took a spot on the wobbly stools across from the bar and had a second to look around this place. Tiles on the wall covered with writing and drawings from people around the world, nicely photography of the food on signs hanging from the ceiling, a multitude of circular fluorescent light fixtures, random blocks of black chalkboard with lists of specials, foods of the day, house wines, and drawings of some of the food itself. Insane! A waiter came up quickly to ask us what we would like to start with, and at that point we realized that we were not in a typical Spanish restaurant..

Empanadas Gallegas

We ordered wine, one red from the Rioja and a white from Penedès. Both were a great value for 3 euros and under per glass. According to articles we read about the restaurant, some of the best tapas to order are the jamón Ibérico croquettes (1.80 € each), patatas bravas (thin potato wedges, lightly fried and served with a spicy sauce and mayonnaise: around 3 €), and the malagueña olives (around 2.50 €). All were simple and delicious, as in so many other bars and restaurants in Spain, but these dishes had much higher quality and it's obvious that each was thoughtfully prepared. The croquettes were so good and flavorful that we had to get two orders. For only 1.80 apiece it was definitely an easy decision!

Carlos getting into some patatas bravas

White wine & patatas bravas? Hell yeah!

A can's worth of Chipirones in their own ink, with the empanada.

Next we had an order of the Empanadas Gallegas (6 €), which were golden-baked pastries filled with bacalao (cod), golden raisins, and some kind of peppery sweetness. At the same time (probably a mistake) we ordered the chipirones (squid) in their own ink (7.50 €). These had been canned, which is considered a good thing by many people. They weren't bad, but I really love the fresher grilled ones and we probably should have not had them at the same time as another fishy dish. Still, we had been curious to try the popular canned seafood ... why not try it at a restaurant famous for its quality?


Finally came dessert. One of the specialties here is also the flan de huevo (egg flan, 2.50 €), which is delivered to your table with a little "uncovering" celebration. It was very good, but even better were the strawberries with caramel sauce and Chardonnay (around 3 €). On top of this little pile of sliced fruit was a sprinkling orange zest and finely ground black pepper. What a combination, and even better with the flan to balance it and the white wine to wash it all away!

We ate up that flan before I could take a picture. Forgive me ;)

After an hour and a half, we could see that there were people waiting to get in so we decided to surrender our seats. We left a tip that the waiter had actually worked to earn (remember, this is Spain..) and let the doorman open the rope that separated us from the sidewalk. Outside in the cold was small and hungry crowd, eyeing that rope and probably our empty stools. Yes, get there early if you want a good seat, but don't expect a comfortable chair - Inopia is still in the style of an "old man" bar where you lean on the bar and talk over small bites for a few hours. Maybe it doesn't sound that appealing, but maybe that's why you should go....

August Update

It's been a few weeks since we've posted, but life is moving quickly right now...

Carlos and I are back in Texas until mid September. We're seeing our family, hoping to make time to see friends and planning for the next year in Barcelona. However, the big news is that we're now married! We had a simple and beautiful ceremony in Carlos' backyard, followed by a great dinner and a messy party back at the house....:) Though the wedding was very small and attended by only immediate family, we hope to have a real party next year when we return from Barcelona.
Click to enlarge!

FOOTBALL!

Many of you in the U.S. probably know that the majority of the world does not care about "American football." Soccer (football, in Europe) is the prime sport for this part of the world.
Barcelona is no exception. F.C. Barcelona is a successful team that has a few of the best players from around the world. Unfortunately, we missed the end of the regular season, but on Saturday we were able to catch a friendly game between Catalunya (the region in which Barcelona and surrounding cities are situated) and Argentina. Why there would be a match between an entire country with some of the best players in the world and a region in Spain is beyond me, but it still made for a good game.
One of the best players on F.C. Barcelona's team, Messi, is from Argentina, so he was playing against some of his teammates on the Catalunya team. The game was dominated by Argentina as was expected, and was a great time for everyone (except for the old dude behind us who decided to start a fight, but that was even more fun for the crowd).
"Football" here is so much fun because people get into it even more than Americans do for US football. The Argentinians brought big drums, the Catalunyans brought flares that they shot off during the anthem, and almost everyone had a flag to wave.

Here are some pictures (maybe some videos later, too):



haha :) carlos with our souvenir scarf. One half is for Argentina and the other for Catalunya (the side that you can see here). The sun was so bright we had to use this as a hat..

Carlos in front of Camp Nou, the stadium.

Before the game had started.

We were so close! #19 is Messi.

Also, I finally got enough international postcard stamps so I can send out my thank-yous! woo!

photos!

Here's an assortment of photos from the last week... please bear with me as I try to add them on this VERY slow connection! (you can click to enlarge them)

Barcelona beach wants to stay clean (and in multiple languages, too)

A wide shot of the city and the sea. It was a good day for windsurfing and sailing. Soon I hope to be out on the water in some nice sailboat...

¨The Casino Barcelona is set in one of the finest spots in the city, the Port Olímpic in Barcelona, beneath the luxury of the Hotel Arts and the golden lights of the Fish, designed by architect Frank Owen Gehry.¨

Carlos at the yacht and sailboat harbor!

just me

Two girls holding on to their ¨bicing¨ bikes. The city has a cool program that has these bikes all over town - but to rent them you have to get a year contract.

Fancy people eating fancy black ink pasta on their fancy table on Barcelona beach.