Today we were super tourists on the double-decker bus again. Unfortunately, the plan to get up early backfired. Again. We headed to breakfast aka lunch at La Boqueria, a marketplace full of fruits, meats, candy, fish and anything you could want to eat. Not that I´d want to eat fish, but some people might.

Afterwards, we took a nice stroll down La Rambla (as the guide books say) where there are various vendors selling flowers and live animals! That´s right, in the middle of Barcelona, on one of the main streets/pedways, there are vendors selling live birds, rabbits, turtles and even roosters! I really wanted to buy a cute little bird, but apparently it´s not that easy to transmit a bird oversees. Oh well!

Once we actually made it to the tour bus, our first stop was La Pedrera – Gaudi´s famous apartment complex. Again, this Gaudi structure looked so surreal and cool. The open courtyards, the imaginitive chimneys, the awesome roof  – I don´t know where else you can see a building like this! And there are about five lucky families that actually live there and rent out the apartments. Although I suppose living in one of Barcelona´s main tourist attractions has its drawbacks, namely the tourists.

Our next stop was Placa d´Espanya, which led us to the National Museum of Catalonian Art. After a long hike up many stairs, we reached the museum at the top of the hill, only to find…that it was closed. Nevertheless, it was an awesome view of Barcelona from the top!

Next up, we stopped by the Olympic area, which included the stadium for the 1992 Olympics. I can see why broadcasters loved filming divers in the pool area doing their routines with all of Barcelona in the background. You couldn´t have planned a better view!

 

“If I´m not eating, I don´t want to be awake”

After a long day of sight-seeing, we headed back to the hotel to rest for a minute before dinner. I was hungry, cranky and tired. After I dozed off for a bit, Adrian woke me up, to which I said, “If I´m not eating I don´t want to be awake!” We promptly headed to a restaurant.

We staggered over to a nearby restaurant on La Rambla called Attic. It seemed a little bougie and not quite so lively, but the food ended up being delicious! We started out with some really good pan con tomate and an appetizer of goat cheese rolled up in thin slices of some squash-like veggie with pistachios and piquillo sauce.

Then, Adrian and I inadvertently ordered the same entree. He ordered in Spanish and I ordered in English, so imagine our surprise when our plates arrived and were the same thing! Regardless, it was amazing – veal tenderloin with these brie puffs on top and fries. It was so good!

And then we topped that off with a yummy desert of some kind of green cheesecake with blueberries. That was all accompanied by a bottle of rioja wine. And the binge eating continues!