Monday Night in Barcelona

All that sightseeing can make you hungry, so on our way back home, we stopped at  Ciudad Condal Cerveceria on Rambla de Catalunya, just north of Plaça de Catalunya.  Ice cold beer, sangria and tasty tapas fueled us up for the walk home.

 
That night, Ali decided to stay in.  She was getting off the tapas train for a little chillaxin at the apartment.   That did not stop the rest of us.

(image via Google images)

We headed back out of the neighborhood around 10 pm and back to the Eixample for a small local tapas bar called La Bodegueta.  Four seats for us at the bar, no English, busy staff behind the bar, you know the rest.  Those tables out on the sidewalk or alongside the square may look inviting, but if you want the real experience get to the bar.   One of the bartenders at La Bodegueta, a woman probably in her 50s, began to refer to us as “la familia” and said “adios, la familia” as we left.

(image via Google images)

We got back on the Metro at 11:45 for a two transfer trip down to the Barceloneta stop.  The boys were going clubbing at the beach, specifically Icebarcelona, a club that is all ice inside.   Jenny and I walked back to our apartment, stopping for a little ice (cream) of our own at Tomos II.

Tapas Crawl Barcelona

The Sagardi Euskal Taberna is a stand up tapas bar that runs on the honor system.   It serves pintxos - tapas on top of slices of baguette - each with a toothpick in the top securing whatever deliciousness is on top to the baguette slice below.  The pinxtos are displayed all along the bar on two glass shelves open on both sides.   All night servers bring plates of pinxtos out from the kitchen and place them on the shelves. 

You order a drink from the bartender and pick up a plate to serve yourself.  You then walk along the bar, picking out whatever you’d like.   Secure a spot at the bar or one of the stand up tables and enjoy your tapas.  But save your toothpicks.   That is how the bartender knows how much you’ve had and what to put on la cuenta.

Amazing how quickly you can get to 25-30 toothpicks with five people!

The environment was great, because you are continually interacting with other customers as you pick tapas off the bar shelves.  Very fun and another contender for best tapas bar.

Just across the square from Sagardi is Taller de Tapas, a bit more formal tapas bar.  The food and service were good, but it would not contend for the best.

Our mini-crawl complete, we headed out into the neighborhood again for a little more exploring.   We returned to our apartment and Liam learned that cousin Danny Harper would not be able to make it to Barcelona from France, as he couldn’t make the train trip work for the time we were there.  That put a little kink in the boys’ plans to go clubbing Monday and Tuesday nights (or, rather, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings).

First Night in Barcelona

Our first dinner in Barcelona was at Tapaç 24, recommended as a go-to spot in our Ramos guide.   This is the tapas place run by chef Carles Abellan, who trained with Ferran Adria at El Bulli.  Abellan runs an even better known restaurant called Commerç 24, where he puts his molecular gastronomy training to work.   But getting a table there requires advance reservations, especially during high tourist season.  We tried, but they were booked.  Another to-do for our return trip.

Tapaç 24 is in the Eixample (eye-sham-plah) neighborhood in Barcelona, a few metro stops north of our apartment, or a 20 minute walk.  It was jammed when we arrived, but after a brief wait with a drink barside, we were able to get a table on the street.  We had our first serious rival for best tapas bar.   The tapas were a bit more inventive, like you might expect from the kitchen of an Adria-trained chef.  Had we been able to sit barside, or even inside, Tapaç 24 might have narrowly edged out Bodega Castañeda as best tapas bar.

patatas bravas

grilled squid

effect on tongue

On our way back to El Born we stopped by the cathedral, to see if we could figure out when masses were held on Sunday.  The cathedral is currently under renovation, so there are limited mass times.   We also strolled through the neighborhood a bit more, stopping by Tomo II, an artisenal gelateria and crepe shop, which, of course, we sampled.

crepe with gelato on top

"Dining in a Postcard"

Thursday evening we took a bus over to the Albayzin district, the Moorish hillside quarter that is opposite the Alhambra and offers incredible sunset and evening views of the Alhambra from the San Nicholas viewpoint. When we arrived, it was jammed with tourists and several TV crews, who were setting up long-distance telephoto shots of the Alhambra to peek in on Michelle’s evening visit to the Alhambra.

Just down from the main Alhambra viewing spot is a restaurant called El Huerto de Juan Ranas Bar. We planned to just have a drink and watch the sunset on the Alhambra, but ended up getting a table and having dinner. The food was very good; the view was spectacular. Dylan called it "dining in a postcard."

We decided to walk back to our hotel from the Albayzin. Again, all downhill, except for the last 100 yards that goes from the Plaza Nueva to our hotel, which heads up toward the Alhambra. On the way, we went exploring the Albayzin, looking for a restaurant that had been recommended to us by the Lipfords. After some back and forth and up and down, we found it. We made a reservation for the next night.


The walk back started to build up the boys’ appetites again. They wanted to go back to the Bodega Castañeda. Jenny went with them, while Ali and I stayed on the Plaza Nueva - she eating ice cream and me having a nightcap.

Jenny and the boys can use the comment section to talk about their late night experience at Bodega Castañeda. Suffice to say, it was as great as our lunch there.

Best Tapas Bar?

Bodegas Castañeda was the first place that Carmen, our proprietor at Hotel de las Puertas de Granada, recommended for tapas in Granada. We had not noticed that Steves also recommends it, but looking back at his review, while it's very positive, it does not do the place justice.

Not real big, a local crowd, we squeezed along the bar. No bartenders work harder than the ones at these tapas bars, especially this one. The kitchen is immediately behind the bar and chefs there can make eye contact with patrons at the bar. (You can almost make out the kitchen behind those shelves next to Liam in the photo above.) It took about 10 minutes to get into the swing of things, but after our first drink order, we were there.

Bodega Castañeda is an old-school tapas bar, meaning that with each drink you order, the bartender prepares a plate of tapas, that are included with the price of the drinks. The first might be something small, like seasoned almonds or olives, but it can include tapas a bit farther up the scale, like patatas bravas. That, plus the tapas you order on your own, make for quite an experience. It also helps when the chef decides to make a personal impression - coming out from the kitchen to talk to you and bring you a tapas plate.

In Madrid we had been at tapas bars with fancier, more intricate tapas. But not one that seemed as authentic. No English in this place, but we definitely communicated. Best Tapas Bar.

Sunday night tapas “crawl”

After the adventurers returned from the bullfight, we cleaned up and decided to try our first tapas crawl, since it was Sunday night in Madrid. A tapas crawl is similar to a pub crawl, you go from taberna to taberna having one or two tapas at each. There is a perfect street in Madrid - Cava Baja - to do such a crawl.

We headed out in search of Taberna Tempranillo, one of the suggestions in the Ramos guide, also recommended by Rick Steves. We thought we would start there.

OK, so we learned right away that we weren’t prepared for a tapas “crawl”. More like a tapas sit-down. Also, that you really should take a piece of paper with the place you are looking for written down. Because we didn’t find Taberna Tempranillo (at least not until after we ate at Taberna de Los Lucio). Here is what we had there:

Jamon de jabugo

Chiparones andaluza

Solomillo especial con cebolla fonfitada y foie plancha

Croquetas

Esparragus trivera

Solomillo iberico

The star was the solomillo - perfectly cooked chunks of steak, with a nice size piece of grilled foie gras, accompanied by onion confit. The croquetas were so good we ordered a second plate. And of course, the jamon was fantastic.

As for the crawl part....we crawled away from our table, stuffed, and headed back toward the apartment, after a brief walk down the rest of Cava Baja. There we saw Taberna Tempranillo, perhaps we’ll visit there before we go. On the walk home we did find room for some gelato. Good, but not quite what you find in Florence.

How the Madrilenos handle the late night eating and drinking is something I need to figure out.

Monday in Madrid

After our late Sunday night dinner, we rose the next morning wanting to explore the neighborhood, check out the "free" internet and possibly get a pastry.

Liam and I headed off to Plaza Mayor, the major square about 30 yards from our apartment. We found that while there was internet access, it wasn't quite free. So we quickly set up our FONero accounts and for 3.99 Euro per day had access to the wonders of the internet. For Liam, that mostly meant Skype chats with Anna (she's in Greece); for me, checking email, attempting some blog activity, uploading photos, etc.

After about an hour at Plaza Mayor, we re-grouped with the rest of the family at the apartment and headed out in search of the Napolitana pastry at La Mallorquina - favorite Madrid bakery highlighted in the Ramos guide, located just a couple of blocks from our apartment on the Puerta del Sol. Sadly, the proprietors had decided to take the month of August off and the bakery was closed!

We quickly regrouped and headed off to Chocolateria San Gines for chocolate con churros. Churros are 8 inch lengths of fried dough and the chocolate is a coffee cup of warm chocolate, just this side of pudding in thickness. Dip the churros in the chocolate and you have one fattening breakfast.

We started our sightseeing in Madrid by heading to the Reina Sofia modern art museum, about 15 minutes walk from Puerta del Sol. We realized that our apartment location was nearly perfect - walkable distances to most of the major sights in Madrid. While there are great modern masters at the Reina Sofia (and some modern art that leaves you scratching your head), the highlight by far was Picasso's Guernica. It is an amazing work, with great supporting detail nearby, like the photo study of various stages of its creation. Seeing it was worth the price of admission alone. I tried to take a photo (they are allowed, but not from inside the room where the painting is hung), but it did not turn out very well. You'll have to come see it for yourself.

It's amazing the appetite that you can build after just a couple of hours of wandering through a museum. We left the Reina Sofia in search of a place in the neighborhood for lunch. Taberna de Dolores (as found in Rick Steves) hit the spot. Cold cerveza, jamon iberico, in a cozy little tavern. We were ready for our next sightseeing venture: the Bernabeu!

The Bernabeau is home to Real Madrid, number one enemy of our beloved Barca. After a short metro ride (Madrid's system is great), we were at the stadium. The tour is well organized, starting you near the top of the stadium for a panoramic view, winding down through a museum with the history of the team, their trophy room, visitor dressing room, press conference room, and down next to, but not on, the pitch. Took a ton of photos which can be found under the Madrid link. Here is just one, with the kids sitting on the bench:

After an exhausting day of sightseeing, we headed back to the apartment for a late siesta. Naps and showers completed, it was time to eat again. Ali decided to stay in, so the boys, Jenny and I headed out to find another recommended spot near the Santa Ana square. Guess what? Closed for August. This was becoming a trend. So we started to wander a bit, and came across a relatively new restaurant called Lamucca not too far from the Prado.

Lamucca was an incredible find. It was open and airy, more like something you might find in San Francisco in terms of ambience, including the music. The food was spectacular: blood sausage & apple pizza, jamon iberica and pear pizza, padron peppers, phenomenal Sangria and my own bucket of Hendricks. Giant glass, ice, cucumber spear, and Hendricks poured from the bottle tableside. Check these out: