We arrived in Barcelona yesterday to a beautiful day with the sun shining and around 20 degrees. The city is busy, but magnificent.
Our boutique hotel with around 10 rooms is in a fantastic old building with a cafe and supermarket outside the front door and a terrace outside our room where we ate breakfast this morning. 
Within two hours of arriving in Barcelona, we set off on a food and wine tour (this is after a 20 hour flight – some might say foolhardy. All the Americans who made up the rest of our group seemed to think so.
Here are some shots of Barcelona on the way to our tour. The busker was playing some flamenco.
Gaudi is also everywhere…
And like many food and wine tours we have joined, this one was a lot of fun with Lior being a great host. All the other people were from various states of the USA, thanks largely I suspect to the power of TripAdvisor.
Here we are enjoying some sardines and a sausage tapas on tomato bread, washed down with a local red poured into a bottle as required from barrels above the bar.
A highlight for me was the spread at La Pineda – manchego and other cheese, jamon and more, accompanied by a glass of vermouth. Vermouth here, we learnt, is something of a craft exercise, with each tapas bar favoring a different supplier. A very refreshing drink, and a world away from Cinzano.
Finally, we visited what is apparently an institution in the tapas scene in Barcelona, Bodega la Palma. Empanadas, tortillas, croquettes and a pork cheek dish that was fantastic. And another local red – this time a sirah.
And that pretty much finished us off. We headed for the hotel and some overdue sleep.
Today was all about Gaudi, which I will report on next time, after I get some of Sally’s photos. Someone souvenired my camera on the Metro – fairly talented these Spanish pickpockets. They will be very disappointed, as it was a very old Panasonic which I was planning on replacing – just not on this trip. Such is life. Adios for now.
Colin and Sally
