… for an overnight stay in this city of incredible architecture and fabulous public art. We’ve been to Barcelona a few times, so we opted for the hop-on bus to get around the city, and headed first to the Spanish Village (Poble Espanyol de Barcelona). We had been there once for a flamenco performance, but wanted time to explore this made-up city thoroughly. Built for the 1929 World’s Fair, it replicates buildings throughout Spain, and includes shops and handicraft demonstrations, as well as restaurants. It was as fascinating as we hoped it would be. Glassblowers created puzzling globe-shaped items which we learned would become dinner plates, while another workshop made unique glass dishes by melting glass. In a small knife shop, we watched a video on damasquinado, the inlaying of gold into a dark steel background. Unfortunately, photos were prohibited at most shops. There was even a shop selling the caganer, the inexplicably popular figure mostly used at Christmas. Why?!
We visited the excellent Museum of Contemporary Art, whose finest pieces were by Miro and Picasso, and ended our visit to the Village with a great tapas lunch – fascinated by extra-long straws in our sangria, and ogling our neighbor’s jumbo seafood paella.
Next stop: La Pedrera, the apartment building designed by Gaudi. Unfortunately, my vertigo made the rooftop portion of the tour even more thrilling than usual …
The ticket line for Gaudi’s nearby Casa Battlo was long, so we sat across the street to marvel at the exterior and have another sangria. Continuing on to Las Ramblas, we meandered the entire length among the many craft stalls and shops, stopping for a look (and a snack) at St. Josep La Boqueria, a bustling market. Spanish ham is king here, even sold in chunks in paper cones for immediate consumption, or but everything else edible is also on display.
What is it with these straws? You can drink your sangria from inside the restaurant!
We were determined to have paella this trip, so Mia located Cheriff in the old part of Barcelona, an excellent restaurant known for its lobster paella. So delicious!
We headed back to the ship, happy and full!
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