Day 11: Made it to Barcelona
We made it to our final stop of the trip. We were both so exhausted that we didn’t do much the first night. All we did was check out the Barcelona Catedral.
And attended an impromptu opera. We could hear this lady belting it from far away and had to go check it out. We ended up in an alley where this lady was using the acoustics to her advantage.
Day 12: Fat tire bike tour and Tapas for days
Both of us were dragging so much, we unfortunately don’t remember a whole lot from our bike tour. But we saw a lot of beautiful and some kind of crazy buildings in Barcelona.
Their legislative building
Where we could have paid to see a real Opera...
And Gaudi’s never ending Sagrada Família. He must have been one crazy guy. They say this should be finally done in 2026. Sounds like we will need to plan another trip to see it fully completed.
We enjoyed a post bike tour siesta by the rooftop pool.
Then, went out for Tapas. It was such a fun place. We were having trouble deciding what to order, so our waiter Hector asked us if we wanted him to do it for us. I thought kelly was going to say no for sure, but she immediately told him she trusted him implicitly. I was so shocked. It made it even more fun. Every time a dish showed up, it was a new surprise. We drank rioja and had such a great night.
Three of the six dishes he brought us, we would have ordered on our own. The other three were total surprises. This veggie purée one turned out so good, and so did this pork with some delicious sweet sauce.
The squid steaks were actually really good to, but niether of us would have ever ordered this in a million years. I was so glad he stretched us on this one. I still am not sure if I would be brave enough to order it again.
We missed a couple dishes because we were having too much fun diving in. It was a great night with great food, great wine, great date, and even a limoncello and herb liquor digestif.
Day 13: Paella Cooking Class and Last day
Where we could have paid to see a real Opera...
And Gaudi’s never ending Sagrada Família. He must have been one crazy guy. They say this should be finally done in 2026. Sounds like we will need to plan another trip to see it fully completed.
We enjoyed a post bike tour siesta by the rooftop pool.
Then, went out for Tapas. It was such a fun place. We were having trouble deciding what to order, so our waiter Hector asked us if we wanted him to do it for us. I thought kelly was going to say no for sure, but she immediately told him she trusted him implicitly. I was so shocked. It made it even more fun. Every time a dish showed up, it was a new surprise. We drank rioja and had such a great night.
Three of the six dishes he brought us, we would have ordered on our own. The other three were total surprises. This veggie purée one turned out so good, and so did this pork with some delicious sweet sauce.
The squid steaks were actually really good to, but niether of us would have ever ordered this in a million years. I was so glad he stretched us on this one. I still am not sure if I would be brave enough to order it again.
We missed a couple dishes because we were having too much fun diving in. It was a great night with great food, great wine, great date, and even a limoncello and herb liquor digestif.
Day 13: Paella Cooking Class and Last day
We last minute decided to do a lunch time cooking class. It included a trip to La Boqueria market and then learning to make pinchos, sangria and most importantly paella.
He talked us thru how he picks the seafood for the paella.
Then, we just wandered around enjoying the views.
Our first lesson was making pinchos, which sounds like it is basically anything with a stick it it. The one we made was bread with tomato rubbed on it, EVOO, sea salt, manchego cheese, various meats, and a blistered Parton pepper on top. Yummo!
After enjoying the appetizers, he started putting us to work. Half the group cleaned the seafood... cleaning the calamari seemed like the worst of all the jobs. He got real personal with that octopus.
I was so happy I volunteered to do the mixing together part, it was so much better.
I was expecting making paella was going to be more like risotto, where you stir and add water, and then repeat for like 45 minutes. For paella, you just put the rice in make sure it’s all in the broth and walk away. So much better! While the paella finished cooking, we learned the traditional Barcelona sangria recipe.
After we all had a sufficient amount of sangria, the paella was ready!
And was so delicious! We were so glad this was the way we had paella here. Fresh off the burner. We’re already planning how we will make it at home!
He talked us thru how he picks the seafood for the paella.
Then, we just wandered around enjoying the views.
Our first lesson was making pinchos, which sounds like it is basically anything with a stick it it. The one we made was bread with tomato rubbed on it, EVOO, sea salt, manchego cheese, various meats, and a blistered Parton pepper on top. Yummo!
After enjoying the appetizers, he started putting us to work. Half the group cleaned the seafood... cleaning the calamari seemed like the worst of all the jobs. He got real personal with that octopus.
I was so happy I volunteered to do the mixing together part, it was so much better.
I was expecting making paella was going to be more like risotto, where you stir and add water, and then repeat for like 45 minutes. For paella, you just put the rice in make sure it’s all in the broth and walk away. So much better! While the paella finished cooking, we learned the traditional Barcelona sangria recipe.
After we all had a sufficient amount of sangria, the paella was ready!
And was so delicious! We were so glad this was the way we had paella here. Fresh off the burner. We’re already planning how we will make it at home!
Well, that’s it. Our trip is over. We’re sad it’s over, but also so excited to get home to this Moosey guy.
Final thoughts: In the words of Anthony Bourdain, “It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn.”
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