Farewell to Barcelona.

What can we say? We had heard nothing but great things and the city certainly lived up to the hype. The Gaudi architecture was a favorite characteristic and the energetic atmosphere made us smile every time we stepped out the door. Additionally, some unexpected parts of the trip are elements we’ll remember most.

The Markets :

Just about every “best things to do in Barcelona” list will include a visit to the market. There are several different markets around the city and all are great. Live seafood, farm-fresh meats, homemade spice mixes, and plenty of produce fill stall after stall in the large bazaars.

Making a purchase is very intimidating; the pace everyone is moving, the foreign language, and the lack of a clear que for ordering. Make eye contact with a vendor, smile your biggest smile, and be ready to order what you want. Make an effort to communicate in Catalan as much as possible, but hand gestures and head nods were also helpful.  If you only learn one Catalan phrase, make it “thank you” and use it profusely!

We did notice scowls from many vendors as people were taking pictures, and some stalls even had “no pictures” signs posted to prevent shutters from snapping. That said, we have no pictures from inside the market except for a random lobster tank. The memories will do just fine.

The Gas man:

Some people in this region choose to heat and cook using butane tanks. The local “gas man” will make his rounds through the streets, banging on his butane tanks and yelling “But-ah-nooOOOOOH” to announce his presence. Clanging metal and an impressively resounding holler echoing through the narrow streets was not the most pleasant wake up call, but listening for him turned into part of our daily routine and we’ll remember it fondly.

Botifarra:

Although everything we tried in Barcelona was tasty, our best discovery was the botifarra. Botifarra is a traditional regional sausage that is delicious, cheap as heck, and comes in plain or with-mushrooms variations. We did a lot of cooking with this Catalan staple and it was yummy in every dish.

Pinxos:

Tapas get all the buzz, but we really enjoyed another eating experience; pinxos. During or just after lunch the bars and restraunts will line their counter with little bite-sized morsels of mini-sandwiches, ham-and-cheese rollups, stacked olives, or seafood treats. Each selection has a toothpick in it. So, you serve yourself, snack on as many pinxos as you’d like, then when it’s time to pay the waiter counts your toothpicks to add up your total. It’s simple, quick, and allows you to try a wide variety of goodies. I love to have snacks as a meal, so this was right up my alley.

Iberico Ham:

Yes the ham was delicious. Yes the ham was sold everywhere. Yes you should buy and eat as much ham as you can while you’re there. Those are the facts. We were surprised, however, and the variety of ham. You could find an entire shank in the grocery store for only $60, and then there were cuts hanging in the butcher shop that would cost you $2,000. It was hard for us to gauge if we were eating the run of the mill or the top notch, but we also never came across a ham we didn’t like.

Barcelona was a really well-rounded month for us. Amazing food, beautiful sites, and rich history. You’ll never run out of things to do in this city, you’ll only run out of time.

One of our last days here was an exceptionally foggy day down at the beach and near the W Hotel (designed to look like the sail of a sailboat). We love the magical look of the pictures from that day, so I’m sharing them with you too.