The Fruits of Spain

After the onslaught of cold weather that was the beginning of our trip, we eagerly raced, or rather slowly took slow trains over a period of days, towards Spain. We assumed Spain to be an oasis of warmth, a land without clouds or windchill.  We had some serious luck in this regard. As we rolled into Spain (our train being so delayed that they recruited a bus to take us instead), the clouds literally parted and the temperature was nearly 80. Though Spain is not always magically perfect for weather, it turns out that the very day we arrived, the weather cleared, and it remains sunny all week.

Tossa de Mar was a vacation within our vacation. The ocean was a crystal clear turquoise, dwarfed by cliffs that shot straight up from the beach and lined with scrubby succulents and pines. Our campsite was situated at the top of one such cliff, and had a view over the railing all the way to the beach. On the downside, our campsite was also at the bottom of a hill. The bathrooms were on the top of the hill. The bus stop was on top of the hill on top of the previous hill. When we left this morning, to finally depart after three nights of relaxing by the ocean, we strapped on our backpacks and hiked about fifteen minutes up to the bus stop - at about a 45-degree incline, we definitely got our exercise from Tossa, but I suppose it's good preparation for the Alps.

We have now settled into Barcelona, arriving at the luxurious yet comfortable guesthouse Casa de Billy (yes, you read that correctly, an expat I believe). Thrilled to be sleeping in a bed again and spoiled by a location incredibly central to the city, we are plotting our approach to the city tomorrow.

As usual, we are targeting food and sights - Barcelona is loaded with both. The deal in Spain for food is that most restaurants have what is called Menu del Dia (Menu of the Day). It's a ridiculous steal at around 10 Euros per person, for a 3 course lunch (yes lunch), with wine included.  Everywhere does it, it's a national custom (almost a law). After a massive lunch, it may be time for a siesta - most places don't even start serving dinner until 9 PM, so we have a large amount of time to fill up.

Somewhere after siesta, we will seek out what Mark Bittman refers to as the best sandwich he's ever had, the flauta d’ibéric d.o. jabugo - at CafeViena - made from what many say is the world's best salt-cured ham (jabugo).

I suppose Jess will inform you about the architecture of Barcelona, I mainly just ramble on about food. Stay tuned for more coherent and structured posts from her, while I slip into a jabugo y cerveza fueled coma.

(Did she mention the pancakes with bacon cooked into them in Delft? Wow.)