Eating My Way Through Barcelona

No habla! My French-speaking abilities for the first time in the last six weeks were of no use to me. That's because I was in España! Barcelona, to be exact. It was my first time in Spain and Barcelona did not disappoint. Other than the fact that I had no idea what was being said around me in Spanish and Catalan, I was completely enamored with the city. Most likely this is due to the fact that I consider myself to be a city person and Barcelona fits the bill of a large, urban city. It actually reminded me a lot of San Francisco. No complaints there.

Exploring Barcelona

I was staying with a friend of mine from San Francisco who is studying in Barcelona for the semester. She lives around the corner from la Sagrada Família and while we didn't actually go inside Gaudí's famously unfinished Roman Catholic church, I was constantly struck by its enormous looming presence.

The most important activity  in Barcelona--eating. And when you've finished eating, walking around the city in search of your next meal. It is a never-ending cycle and while your pants may not fit the next day, you will not mind. On Friday, my first full day in Barcelona, my friend and I took the metro to Mercado de La Boqueria and bought things for a picnic lunch. We bought fresh juices, empanadas, chorizo, papaya, chicken, and cheese. Where was our picnic you may ask? On the Mediterranean Sea! I had to keep pinching myself to remind me that I wasn't dreaming and that I was actually eating a picnic lunch in the sun on the beach in the Mediterranean.

Picnic lunch from the market

Papaya on the Mediterranean!

More tapas--calamari, grilled vegetables and bread

The next two days consisted of lots of tapas and wandering the streets of Barcelona. We ate fried calamari, drank sangria (lots of sangria), different cheese dishes, potatoes, and paella. And dessert. Lots of dessert, ranging from gelato to artisanal chocolate to churros dipped in chocolate, which was a particular favorite of mine. Needless to say, we did not go hungry.

Churros dipped in chocolate

My last night in Barcelona, I went to a flamenco show! At first we were worried it might be too touristy and that our 20 euros were going to some hokey, Disneyland-esque type of thing. Not at all the case. Our 20 euros bought us a free drink (read: more sangria) and a very fun flamenco show. It was a five person production with a guitarist, a man on the box drums, a female singer, and two flamenco dancers. It was loud, they were proud, and I was entertained for an hour and a half. The music was like nothing I'd heard before and I couldn't get over how fast the dancers moved their feet across the stage.

Flamenco dancing

Alas, my weekend in Barcelona had to come to a close on Sunday. It is a city I would definitely like to return to. However, it is interesting to note that I felt a strange longing for the French language while I was in Spain. Could it be that I am becoming more Bordelaise than I anticipated? Hopefully this means that sometime in the next couple months the transformation will be complete and there won't be a constant English-French struggle in my brain quand je parle français!