Have Tapas, Sangria And Paella In Spain

My taste buds were so thrilled to try some Spanish food while traveling through Spain.  The foods I was most looking forward to were tapas, sangria and paella.

Tapas-  We had our fair share of tapas while in Spain.  Tapas  are a variety of small dishes that come cold (ie. cheeses and deli meats) and warm (ie. fried).   The beauty of tapas is that you can pick a few to make up a meal.  In some areas of Spain, tapas can come complimentary with a drink order.  My favorite place was an outdoor restaurant in Sevilla called Vineria San Telmo.  The ambiance was fantastic, and the food was so savory.  The tapas served were also very unique from other tapas joints that we tried in Spain.  Mmmm...I would love some chiporones (deep fried small squid) right now.

Pinchos (or Pintxos)- I know this wasn't on the list of things I had to try, but I ended up adding this onto the list just prior to my trip after a friend recommended them to me.  Pinchos are more prevalent in Northern Spain, and are similar to tapas because of their tiny portions.  The biggest difference is that they are often spiked with a toothpick accompanied with a piece of bread.  It is often eaten while  standing and surrounded by shelves filled with pinchos.  You then grab the pinchos you want, and collect the toothpicks on your plate.  At the end of your meal you are charged by the number of toothpicks you have accumulated on your plate.  Shortly after we were robbed in Barcelona, we went to my favorite pinchos place called Golfo De Bizkaia. 

I was obsessed from that point on.  I hunted for pinchos everywhere I went in Spain, and if I couldn't find pinchos then I would settle for Tapas.

Sangria-  I've had my share of good and bad sangria.  Sangria is like a Spanish punch filled with fruits, red wine, and sometimes brandy.  I asked my Barcelona friends to take me to their favorite Tapas place for some Sangria.  They took me to La Bombeta.    My friend and I were the only foreigners in the entire place.  Sangria isn't my drink of choice because I prefer white wine, BUT, during hot summer days sangria with that twist of fruit is just what I need. 

Paella-  Paella is a dish made with rice, saffron, veggies, chicken and seafood.  I love rice.  I grew up eating A LOT of rice, and my mom would make a huge pot of it every day.  While traveling in Malaga we decided to look for a good paella joint.  Since Malaga was on the coast, I was very hopeful that we would get some fresh seafood for my Seafood Paella.  I was wrong.  My paella was served in a paellera (a pan that the paella is cooked on and traditionally served on).  I ate a few spoonfuls before I gave up.  It was awful.  It's not a good sign when you prefer to munch on the stale bread in the middle of the table over your overpriced main entree.  

You can't win them all, but 2 out of 3 isn't half bad!

Date Accomplished: October 27th, 2011

Have An Unforgettable 30th Birthday

I've had a lot of forgettable birthdays.  I guess it's partly my fault, historically speaking, I'm not one to make a big deal out of them.  I've just never been one of those people. If it weren't for my photos, I probably would not have memory of many of my birthdays, including some of the more "monumental" ones.

My Sweet 16th Birthday I got an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins and had some friends over to celebrate.

My 18th Birthday I had a small get together with my closest friends.  We were in college at the time, and decided to crash our high school's homecoming dance.

My 21st Birthday was so forgettable that I could only recall it through photos, and it wasn't because I was drunk either.  I was pretty sober, unfortunately.  I went out with friends to Dave and Busters, had a few drinks, and then went to a friends house to open presents.  The End.

In recent years I have decided to embrace my birthdays, and have fun with it. 

My 28th Birthday I spent wine tasting in Santiago, Chile, and then literally took over a local bar at night.

My 29th Birthday I spent in a suite in Las Vegas, with two nights of clubbing, and a helicopter flight to the Grand Canyon.

I was determined to have an unforgettable 30th Birthday, so I booked a trip to Europe, and planned to have my birthday in Barcelona to celebrate with friends.

On my balcony in Barcelona with a pink frosted cupcake and a bottle of Cava.

We decided to have dinner the night before my birthday.  Since the Spanish love having late dinners, we headed out to the El Born area to look for a pintxos place that someone had recommended to us.  Hours prior, we had met with some other friends that were native to Barcelona.  They warned us excessively to be careful of pickpocketers.

As we were walking down a busy street, I heard my friend who was looking at a map suddenly scream.  I turned around and saw a man sprinting down an alley with her bag.  Oh my god.  Were we just robbed?   Two locals ran up to us and pointed to a police man just a few feet from us.  We ran up to him and told him our sob story, and he just kinda shrugged and gave us a "Tough Luck" look.

We were convinced the man followed us for awhile, specifically waiting till we passed the alley to give him the best opportunity to rob us.

My friend was obviously bummed. Thankfully we had left most of our valuables in our hotel safe.  She lost her iPhone, an old digital camera, an umbrella, about 50 euros, and a few tablets of Imodium.  We joked for the rest of our trip that we hoped the jerk took all the Imodium and couldn't poop for days.

We did eventually find that pintxos place. So we spent the following hour eating delicious food and drinking way too much cava.

We headed to the bars of the El Born area and found a bar with dance music and the most Uh-Mazing mojitos.

I rang my 30th year of life dancing with some new buddies!  We met a group of people that worked for a university that were touring a guest from Asia.  This "guest" had some crazy dance moves.  It was like a dance scene from a movie, you know, one person starts dancing crazy, and then EVERYONE simultaneously joins in.   I'm pretty sure he got his dance inspiration from PSY.

Correction, I think he is PSY.  Gangnam Style Bitches!

On my actual birthday we spent some time checking out the eccentric work of Gaudi.  The weather was not really to my liking, but it was perfect weather to enjoy some coffee and of course, more cava....

We did more site seeing, before ending the evening at a restaurant for tapas and sangria.  I spent the evening with my three witches, an inside joke that was spawned while we were traveling through Africa.  Only we could turn delicious sangria into a witches brew.....

Enjoying a fantastic meal with great friends was a perfect ending to an especially unforgettable birthday.  It didn't matter that I was half way across the world, it truly was the company that made it unforgettable.

This year I will be spending my 31st (eek!) birthday having dinner with friends, and then spending a few days in St Louis enjoying some Halloween debauchery!  Here's to more unforgettable birthdays!

Date Accomplished:  October 23rd, 2011

Visit Gaudí's Work In Spain

Casa Batlló

Antoni Gaudí was a Spanish mastermind in architecture.  He integrated all his skills such as stained glass, ceramics, ironwork and carpentry into his masterpieces.  He used architecture to express himself in a cultural movement called Catalan Modernism.  Most of his work is scattered all over Barcelona, but a few can be found in other cities in Spain. To me, it almost looks like he and Dr Seuss collaborated and made the buildings in Seuss' books come alive. 

Casa Milà

In order to not get burned out by Gaudí architecture I spread out my visits in a span of three days.   My friend and I were on a budget so we skipped out on going inside Casa Batlló and forked our money to see Casa Milà instead.  I heard that the rooftop of Casa Milà was amazing, and because the sun was beginning to set I knew our views would be spectacular.  

Casa Milà

My assumption was correct.  It was like a magical land up there with crazy sculptures, funky arched walkways, and stunning views of the city.    After checking out the rooftop we took the stairs down that lead us into other rooms of Casa Milà.  The other rooms were also filled with eccentric furniture and designs fitting to be living under a Gaudí roof.

Park Güell

The following day we hopped on the metro towards Park Güell.  There is no metro stop that can drop you off right at Park Güell, regardless of where you stop you will have to walk....uphill.  We took the metro stop Vallarca that stopped near the side of Park Güell, and on the way up they had a few escalators to help you reach the steep top.  The other metro stop (Lesseps) is near the bottom of Park Güell and is a good 20 minute hike up to the entrance.  I saw many people give up and hail a taxi to get to the main entrance.  Because we took the Vallarca stop we entered Park Güell near the top, so we climbed another 10 minutes to a lookout that gave us a panoramic view of Barcelona.

Park Güell

Afterwards we headed down towards the entrance, and stopped at the Gardens, intricate walkways, and even stopped to watch a man create huge bubbles for the local children to go nuts over!  We nestled our tired bums at a large area lined with tiled benches to people watch and enjoy the scenery.  Just mind close attention to your belongings because as we were leaving we saw a few men running away with people's bags (we learned the reality of it just hours prior!).  Definitely prepare to spend a few hours at Park Güell to see everything, and you want to hear the best part?  It's FREE!

La Sagrada Familia

Our last Gaudí stop was La Sagrada Familia, the most famous of the bunch!  Most people arrive at Sagrada Familia early in the morning for fear of the long lines.  The lines are NO JOKE.  It wrapped around the entire church, and we waited for over an hour to finally get inside.  When Gaudí passed away in 1926 the church was only 15-25% complete.  The church is still not complete as you can see from the giant cranes hovering over the church in the photo above.  The projected completion date is between 2026-2028.

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia is not only massive but it is painfully ornate.  It's no wonder that it is still under construction after all these years.  As soon as you enter the cathedral you see the countless hours, days, years, and decades it has taken to built.

In my personal opinion, you haven't truly visited Barcelona if you haven't visited something created by Gaudí.  I'd love to go back one day to see the Sagrada Familia complete!

Date Accomplished:  October 22nd-24th, 2011