Saturday, November 10, 2007

hola from barcelona!

we made it here after a (very) long trip in the camper van through southern france and northeastern spain. the earlier french bit was beautiful, fall was sweeping the hillsides and the leaves were all golden and turning brown. most of the roads on the way were toll roads though, and we realized how expensive it can be to drive in france and spain, with gas sold by the litre as well!

but barcelona...it is a city easy to fall in love with instantly. it is much warmer here than where we've been so far, and it's right on the mediterranean sea, so there's that freshness in the air, close to the ocean, a port town. we walked down la rambla yesterday and cut off into the market...the most amazing market i've ever seen, so large and expansive and has everything you need....fresh juices in all fresh fruit flavors, like coconut, mango, kiwi, peach, passionfruit, pineapple, coconutstrawberry, banana chocolate....tropical fruits and all other fruits and fresh green herbs and lettuces of all varieties and nuts and cheese stands and fresh fish and prawns that are still moving and walking around and falling off of their displays, sausages, pig legs hanging from above that the people cut fresh slices of prociutto off of, rabbits skinned and with their hair still on whatever your prefer, chickens with their heads still on but skinned, pigs feet sold by the kilo, fresh tapas booths where the seafood is cooked right in front of you, little pots of fresh goat milk yogurt, croissants dipped in chocolate, candy and bonbons and truffles, a wandering accordian player, the smells and sounds, spice booths, organic paella and salad and savory crepes....brown eggs and white eggs and more coconut juice. it was incredible. we went there twice. :)

we walked down to the harbor where they have all of the racing sailboats poised for the barcelona world race...there were also old sailboats docked and the sun shone through their ropes....we found sweet little cafes everywhere, winding narrow streets with beautiful architecture extending up to the sky, so you want to look down and up at the same time, little shops selling beautiful funky clothes (flora we thought of you all day and how much you'd love them), great shoe stores, tapas bars, irish pubs, wine shops with spanish wine, meat shops, cheap falafel restaurants and all you can eat tapas buffets, old churches interspersed (we walked into one in the afternoon and a group of nuns were singing, like angels....i love walking into these old churches and being immersed in their sacredness). we found a little outdoor cafe by the market and had the most amazing 11E meal...large salads with balls of the sea (little shrimp fresh fish balls fried in sesame seeds)...chicken with sauteed spinach or fresh seabass with market mushrooms and romescu sauce...a glass of rose....coffee (carson) or the most delicious melissa dessert ever (fresh yogurt with honey and blackberry compote!)...bread and olive oil/balsalmic...wow it was such a great deal! later we went to a little place called la luna de jupiter and shared a bottle of local barcelona torres wine and dedicated our toasts to kira and flora who would love the day we had (earlier our rose toasts were dedicated to morgan, who carson was last in barcelona with and who he misses terribly, and to my dad, who would just love this place too, all the ships and the harbor and the architecture and the winding streets, i can just imagine all the pictures he'd take here!) we went into the basilica de santa maria de la mar last night, an enormous cathedral almost as tall as the notre dame inside...then to a wine bar with over 300 wines on the menu, sitting up stairs overlooking the square and the church through the open window drinking a glass of sparkling pinot noir...then we went to a little restaurant called mar de la ribera and had our official spanish paella, with mussels, fresh prawns with their heads still on, and white fish...dedicated to sarah tucker who always told me about how much she loves spanish paella. we've been having fun dedicating our toasts to different people we are thinking of in the moment who we'd know would enjoy what we are doing, where we are.

last night was so busy on the streets, many clubs don't even OPEN until midnight here, and go until 5 in the morning! we walked around for a while, but by then our legs were so tired that we made our way back up to our little catalonia hostel. we're in bunkbeds again, but they are so soft and cozy it's wonderful (sometimes our beds have been a little less than comfy in our hosteling experience). i think today we're going to la sagrada de la familia, one of gaudi's famous creations, and then back to the market for sure, and who knows what else! we are leaving tomorrow morning for vienna!

2 comments:

virtual nexus said...

Lovely sunset photo - hope to come back and read your blog through more carefully....

Your question about how many songs...the german's call this an Ear worm ...when a song gets stuck. It is the brain stuck in a loop trying to 'complete' something - so probably only one!

Unknown said...

OMGGGGGGGg the coconut strawberry juice is the BEST... i miss you guys! you should email me or somethin when you have time

love love, julia