Day 13 – it started with a short run along the harbor in Cadaques. Damn, I wish I could say that every day. We then had lunch at a place that had matched the wonder of a slow, leisurely Spanish lunch with the persuasion of manicured, proud French cooking. The view was stunning, the food good and the pace emphasized the vacation part of the “vacation lunch”- we were tapping a foot to get on the road to meet our AirBNB host in Barcelona. Poor us! Thanks to all of you who prayed for us in our suffering.
Barcelona: Such a gem. Chris found an amazing rental in the center of the old Gothic city center, Bari Gothic. We could live here.
It has creates a bit of a war of wills. One of our wishes is to find a quieter more rural pace where we can run the business, have a yard and grow food. The other is to merge into the noise and grind of a magical city like NY, SF, Paris, London, and Barcelona. Paper, rock, scissors- here we go! Decision by RoShamBo!
Our host suggested a dinner spot that sadly couldn’t exist in the US. It is designed so seating is just barely one seat deep along the bar. There are four sets of doors where you can choose a spot along the bar to enter and a few bays of seating on each end. On warm nights and days, the doors would be swung open so patrons could spill out on the street, netting passerbyes. The process of moving from one end of the bar to the other includes either popping out in the street and entering through another door or bumping your way along the wall and the other patrons. Sound horrible?
Quite the opposite! And they have Fois Gras. And Steak. And Padrons. If I was asked for a last meal of choice, this would be it.
The pictures may not look like much, but they seer a steak perfectly and smother it with flash-fried Fois Gras and butter sautéed onions. It is a magical heart attack on the plate. The bartender serving us took a shine to us – seemingly motivated by our desire to have the steak “rare” – which is harder to order in broken Spanish than you would think. We chased our dinner with a small cervasa and a shot of Oruho- a typical digestive (which the bartender decided to double) – and a walk around Barcelona.
Our other plans- the Mercat, La Rambla, Sagrada Familia, The Catalan Museum, see a friend and sleep in. I’ll rent a bike to explore, go for a run or two and smother myself in more Fois and olive oil.
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randy marcotte - uncle randy writes here 