Barcelona, Spain
Flat White
Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke!
Satan’s Coffee Corner, Carrer de l’Arc de Sant Ramon del Call, 11, Gótico
Power Tourist Mode: Engage.
Unlike Chefchaouen, where we didn’t strain to fill the day, Barcelona is stringing you along with one thing to see, do, or eat after another. Barcelona is like that one friend that goes HAM on a Tuesday; it just won’t quit.
We started our day - where else, Satan’s Coffee Corner, which was a few hundred meters away from our walking tour meeting point, at the Plaça Reial. Our walking tour (free, BTW) focused on Antoni Gaudí, Barcelona’s very own. We ran through Gaudí’s greatest hits: Palau Güell, Casa Batlló, “La Pedrera”, and the Sagrada Família. Our tour guide, Zoe - a Greek expat, who originally moved to Barcelona to study architecture, was incredibly knowledgeable about Gaudí’s architectural style and engineering.
What we’ve decided about Gaudí is that he is so hardcore - as a “geometrician,” a naturalist, a Christian. His dedication, whimsy, madness, and fervor was so deeply inspiring. There was no such thing as pragmatism for this guy. And, he didn’t care about the haters. Go big, or go the f*ck home. 💯 This walking tour was an appetizer for us; we planned to go into La Pedrera and the Sagrada Família another day. But, the hype was real. We were so excited for más Gaudí.
Our plan was to go to the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in the afternoon. But of course, it was closed. What to do, what to do. Museu Picasso! We learned from the Prado that Picasso lived most of his life outside of Spain. And, as a result, a lot his works are not owned by Spanish museums. We were had a sense that the Museo Picasso wouldn’t be eye-poppingly amazing, but we had already paid for admission in our ARTICKET BCN - LOL.
We powered through Museu Picasso, since it was irritatingly crowded with tourists. We give credit to Picasso for going HAM throughout his life. He was incredibly prolific, producing some 58 paintings in his Las Meninas series - much less at the age of 76. 😳 Picasso’ Las Meninas was in reference to Velázquez’s original Las Meninas. The study and interpretation made for an example of IDEO’s “building upon the ideas of others” IRL. 🙌
By now, our feet were aching and we were hooooongry. Both Goop Guide and our little Walk With Me guide of the Gótico and Born neighborhood told us to go to El Xampanyet. And, we’re so glad we did. This was the best feast of tapas we’ve ever had in our life (that doesn’t say much - 😅). We boss b*tched our way to a standing table and feasted on olives, white asparagus, tuna and leeks, jamón, and cava 🍾. The little plates kept on coming and the cava flowed. We were basically beaten up in a flavor mosh pit of acid and umami. 😍😍😍
Because we hadn’t had one cocktail in Barcelona, we trekked it to the Poble Sec neighborhood, where we camped out - early (i.e. no one was there, except for us) at Bitter Cocktail Bar. Yennie had a Greyhound - an homage to Café van Kleef back home. Bryan drank a potpourri of drinks and ended up having our bartender mix cocktails off menu. One of these cocktails was Negroni Chingón, the bartender’s own take on the Negroni. “Chingón,” as we were instructed, means “fucking great” (See: Urban Dictionary for more explanation). And with that, a fucking great day.
Negroni Chingón
Mezcal, Campari, Cynar, Dry Vermouth, Orange Zest
Bitter Cocktail Bar, Carrer de Viladomat, 17, Poble Sec
