One last meal in Barcelona.

We thought that we should go eat tapas again but this time with a difference from our past visits.  We had always had tapas served to us at the tables, not at the bar.  OK, the one at La Boqueria techincally does not count as a bar.

Against all wisdom and advice from guidebooks, we went to one of the many tapas bar fronting La Rambla.  We went into several and decided that this one looks great with lots of mouthwatering choices.

We ordered drinks.  Suanne had orange juice while I had beer.  The orange juice was €5.50 and the beer €6.  I ordered beer because it makes me look macho, although frankly I prefer Coke more.  LOL!

My face all flush up even with light beer although it does clear quite quickly.  Suanne thinks I am embarassing myself only.  *shrugs*

They have Jamon (that’s Spanish Ham) hanging from the ceiling like any well-respected Spanish restaurant always have.  See the little cups that hangs from some of them.  I think they are the oil catcher or sorts.

We ordered this by pointing to what we wanted and so we do not know what the name is.  So we call this the Mixed Seafood with Garlic and Parsley.  This is a delightful mix of prawns, mussels, black olives, squid, peppers and artificial crab meat.  €6.

Oh … one thing we notice so far is that almost all the tapas we had were served in the same earth clay plates you see above.  It is almost like it is tradition that tapas must be served in these plates.

From the bar, I noticed that the bar tender was taking these plates out from a box.  They must have just taken delivery of new plates.  Guess what we saw … the bartender took it out direct from the box and then placed it directly on the counter to be used immediately.  They did not even rinse it.  Gosh.

The eggplant … or brinjal … or aubergine … or whatever else you call it was stuffed with cheese.  It is served warm. €6.

We also had the delicious looking Asparagus Rolled in Bacon.  This is cheaper at €5.  Nicely done.  We noticed that the asparagus here are much bigger and fatter than the ones we had in Canada.

The total bill came up to €30.50 which is almost Canadian $50.  Quite expensive right?  Considering what we had?  The food was good, no doubt about that.

That’s what we get for going against wisdom of not going to one of these tourist traps on La Rambla.

So … here it is … our series of our vacation in Barcelona.  Right after this meal, we made our journey to Seville for the second leg of our vacation where the highlight of that leg was bulls … El Bulli and bull fighting!

We love Barcelona.  The people were great and friendly.  We experienced more than we had planned for.  Barcelona is such an easy place to visit even for the first time tourist.  The food was fabulous, particularly at Alkimia.  The bonus was Le Tour de France.  In summary, here is what our trip took us through:

• Day 1 (Theme: A Taste of Barcelona)
  • Getting Around Barcelona and Our First Spanish Meal
  • Visited La Rambla and Mercat La Boqueria, the first of several visits!
  • Had Tapas at a Tapas Bar near La Rambla
• Day 2 (Museums and  Tour de France!)
  • Had a Traditional Catalonian Breakfast
  • Visited the Barcelona Cathedral, Chocolate Museum and Picasso Museum
  • Had Paella and Tapas for Dinner
  • Watched the Tour de France (Stage 6 and 7)
• Day 3 (All About Antoni Gaudi)
  • Our Version of “Savory Breakfast”
  • Saw the Jaw-Dropping Sagrada Familia
  • Visited one of Gaudi’s Apartments, the Casa Battlo
  • Bumped into Megan McCormick at Casa Mila
  • Had Cheesecake in an Unexpected Place
  • Had Cheap Tapas Near Plaza de Catalunya
• Day 4 (Eating Like a Spaniard)
  • Described the SIX(!) meals that Spaniards eat
  • Meal #1: Breakfast (known as Desayunos in Spanish)
  • Meal #2: Second Breakfast at La Boqueria (yummy squid!)
  • Meal #3: Having the “Best Sandwich in the World” (I did not say that. NYT did.)
  • Montjuic: Site of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics
  • Meal #4: Churros and Hot Chocolate
  • Meal #5: Tapas at a Neighborhood Bar
  • Meal #6 and Our Last Ditch Attempt for a Table at El Bulli
• Day 5 (Montserrat)
  • Queueing for 2 Hours for 10 Seconds With the Black Virgin of Montserrat
• Day 6 (Catalonian Fine Dining)
  • The Barcelona Flea Market
  • Contemporary Catalonian Cuisine at Alkimia
• Day 7 (Last Day in Barcelona)
  • Breakfast at Danone
  • Learned the History of Spain at The Maritime Musuem
  • Tapas at La Rambla (This Post!)

Suanne and I hope you enjoyed our little chronicle of our visit to Barcelona.  We are going to take a break from blogging about our vacation (up next is Seville and Madrid).

We are going to take the rest of this week blogging about our recent restaurant visits.