Markets, architecture, shopping & new friends
The first thing I do when I land in any new city, is google “best food markets” & head straight there. Mercado de la Boqueria was just minutes from my apartment & definitely the hub of activity in the area. I arrived just after 9 o’clock in the morning & the place was packed with gawkers & locals buying meat, fish, cheese & eggs, produce, fruit, dry goods, etc., etc. There were many restaurants surrounding the market & a couple of places right in the middle of the action with stools you could sit up & watch the chefs cook your food right in front of you. Once I walked every square inch of the market, I decided to have breakfast at a particularly busy stall with a team of guys working feverishly & yelling out loudly to each other in a good natured way. Luckily I grabbed a stool as someone was leaving & one of the guys thrust a paper menu & a pencil at me & motioned for me to circle my choices. Brilliant! I decided on a local mushroom omelette & long espresso. Minutes later I received a tiny espresso with baby squids & fried eggs. Oh boy! I decided you get what you get
& dug into the salty goodness of the little squids. I belted the espresso like a pro, ate half the egg/squid dish & took off. $20 Euro gone in a flash!
I decided I wanted to walk & see Gaudi’s work & punched “Casa Batllo” into my GPS & headed that direction. As I walked, I quickly saw that I definitely picked the right place to change out my wardrobe…the streets were lined with shops, both local designers & more familiar international brands. I was going to wait until after the sun set to start my spree.
Casa Batllo was overrun with Asian tourists, so I continued on to Plaza Sagrada Familia, another Gaudi architectural wonderland. Unfortunately tickets to tour the cathedral were sold out for the day, but it was pretty cool just seeing the structure up close. Gaudi certainly had an amazing mind. All the architecture in Europe so far has blown my mind. From Edinburgh’s Georgian & neo-classical castles to Poland & Prague’s gothic constructions to the medieval structures in Albania, Romania & Bulgaria to the Art Nouveau/Gothic revival styles here in Barcelona, I’m always staring at building with my mouth open in wonder. But, Gaudi…he was in a class all on his own. Truly amazing & I was thrilled to be able to stand in front of it.
I went back to my apartment for a mid-afternoon siesta to rest up for the shopping extravaganza that was about to occur that evening. When I got up, I loaded up on Euro at the closes ATM…that gave me a budget to work within…& off I went chucking money around like confetti. So fun!
Dropping an arm load of parcels off about three hours later, I changed into a new dress & headed for the Mercado de la Boqueria for dinner. There was a restaurant I had read about that I wanted to try & again with my good luck at acquiring a coveted seat at the bar. Right away the two people beside me got up & left & two more people jumped up onto the stools…later 30’s, attractive & very friendly…we quickly introduced ourselves & became fast friends, talking about everything from the political air of Poland to how Canada is thought of on the world stage, to whether or not to have children. I loved them both! We shared food & laughs & instagram address!
I staggered home delirious with happiness & a whole lotta money shorter.
