Barcelona

I arrived in Barcelona Wednesday afternoon.  I am heading to Malaga, Spain and it is cheaper for me to fly from Lisbon to Barcelona and Barcelona to Malaga than Lisbon to Malaga.  The difference is about two thirds more so as I wanted to come to Barcelona I took it as a sign and here I am for a couple of days.  I have been flying on Vueling airlines and it has been working out quite well.  Barcelona is a big city but with a friendly feel - lots of tapas bars and a huge influence by Gaudi.

I believe this is an office building - not sure how much you can see but it is really cool.

the Gothic area is the oldest area of the city with very narrow lane ways full of shops, cafes and tapas bars. 

you turn a corner and there is a little plazas

I mentioned my evening with Barcelona Taste in the previous post - I found this company on tripadvisor and I can definitely recommend them.  I was told to meet in the Placa del Angel at 7:00 and was greeted by Jo and Jill.  There were 8 of us on the tour plus the leaders.  We went to four little tapas bars in the Gothic area of the city.  We started at a cheese shop - cheese made the Catalonia way - we sampled cow, goat and sheep cheese accompanied by a glass of wine - yum.  They then showed us Catalonia and Basque style of tapas - Catalonia style is small plates served at your table - olives, peppers, blood sausage, cheese, Catalonia sausage, tomato bread (can't remember the real name).  I tried their homemade vermouth - very sweet but not bad with soda water added. The Basque style of tapas is things on a slice of baguette - all prepared and presented on platters on the bar - they all have a toothpick things include ham, sweet pepper & goat cheese, pate, crab salad, tuna, cured sausage and more.  You help yourself and when you are ready to go - you present the toothpicks and pay your bill - yes a bit of the honour system.  The final location was for dessert and Cava - sparkling wine.  Again I don't know the names but we tried a drunken cake - cake soaked in orange liqueur - yum! chocolate molten cake and ice cream - not traditional but Jo's favourite, a ricotta type cheese with honey with a pine nut and honey ice cream and a fried bread similar to french toast with honey and cinnamon.  All were delicious.  I really enjoyed the food and company - 2 Americans living in Sweden, 1 Australian living in London, 2 Australians living in Singapore, 2 Australians living in Sydney, 1 Canadian (me) and the tour leaders were American and French - a rather international and eclectic group which allowed for great conversations.  I have been very fortunate on travels and have met very interesting people.