In desperate need of some sunshine and blue skies, we hightailed it to Barcelona to ring in the New Year. We were graciously hosted by our friend Nina and her parents, who were in town visiting from San Francisco. The trip was just what the doctor ordered: delicious food, good friends, beautiful sights, and lots of sun!
Exploring Barri Gotic
Right after our arrival, we took off from our centrally located accommodations to explore the Barri Gotic section of Barcelona. Full of Gothic cathedrals, narrow winding streets, beautiful balconies, and plazas, it was a perfect introduction to the city.
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| Catalonian container gardening at its finest! |
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| Plaça Reial just off La Rambla |
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| La Catredal in the heart of the Barri Gotic (Fun fact: although first constructed in the 13th century, the outer facade was constructed in the late 19th century...) |
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| Inside of La Catredal |
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| "Up on the rooooooof!" (of the Catedral) with Nina |
L'Eixample
The next day we borrowed bikes from Nina's sister and took off exploring L'Eixample, a neighborhood featuring some of the most famous buildings by the city's most celebrated architect, Antoni Gaudi
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| Outside of the (perpetually) unfinished Sagrada Familia |
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| Gaudi's La Pedrera -- more importantly, get a load of that blue sky!!! |
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| Casa Batillo |
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| Outside the Fondacion Antoni Tapies, a terrific repository of the Catalan modernist painter/sculptor's work |
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| After a full afternoon of biking and art viewing, we adjourned to Tapas 24 for a fashionably late lunch. It was so good that we forgot to take photos of all the delicious traditional and inventive small dishes we had! |
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| Linnea, always aware of the competition, eyes the other tables to make sure they weren't eating something we might have missed. Mas Tapas! |
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| Ready for siesta... |
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| After lunch it was off to the beach... |
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| Needless to say, the Mediterranean was a sight for sore eyes! |
Montjuïc and Park Guel
The next few days of our trip were action packed. First, we took the Funicular (tram) up to Montjuïc and explored the various parks and museums:
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| Gabbing at the Caixa Forum |
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| Taking the gondola up to the Castell Montjuïc |
The next day, we visited the La Gracia neighborhood in the north of the city and walked through
Gaudi's (tourit-thronged) Parc Guell
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| Maybe we've been in flat-as-a-pancake Holland for too long, but wait, when did we get to San Francisco? |
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| I spy... Linnea and Nina! |
That evening we hit La Boqueria, Barcelona's central daily market, to stock up on ingredients for our contribution to New Year's Eve dinner.
New Year's Eve!
Nina's sister Hannah and her husband Adria invited us to their home for an authentically Catalonian New Year's Eve feast. The menu:
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| Fresh mussels and clams in Saffron broth |
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| Fresh-sliced Iberian ham, tortilla de patata, manchego cheese, pasta salad (our somewhat meager contribution) |
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| Our favorite: salt-cod "pizza" with carmelized onions |
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| Sisters! |
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| Serious faces, silly hats. |
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| Our intrepid host, Adria |
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| A traditional feature of Catalan nativity scenes: a pooping man! Seriously, look it up. |
HAPPY 2013 EVERYONE!!! WE MISS YOU!!!!
