A long weekend in Barcelona, part 2

All right, the second day falls to me. No random photo today, as this post will be epic enough as it is.

After forgoing our original plan for a short run in favor of sleeping in, we headed out into another day of sunlight with plans of getting breakfast at the world-famous Mercat de la Bocqueria, which Danny neglected to mention we spent bunch of time drooling over the day before. But we were still quite full from dinner the night before (see photo of glistening pan of cheese in post below), so we headed back into the old city to explore the old Jewish Quarter, or Call. Obviously, all the Jews of Spain (my ancestors!) were kicked out in 1492 after living there for centuries, but the Jews of Barcelona mostly left after riots in 1391 (for more information, check out this quick review), and it seems that the city has only recently begun excavating some areas of the ancient Jewish neighborhood. We looked in at the ancient "Major Synagogue" that was excavated in the 1990's, bits of which are through to date back to the 1st century. You can see some good photos and read more information from the Call Association of Barcelona. Then we went to the small but informative Call interpretive center, where Danny was pleased to discover that he could mostly understand a Spanish exhibition on Shlomo ben Adret, a Medieval rabbi.

I should add that even though we were still full from dinner, we did manage to find room for a "breakfast" of chocolate churros that we purchased from a hole-in-the-wall churreria. And all I can say is, I fear for what would happen to my coronaries if we lived near this place. They were somehow chocolately, sugary, crispy and chewy all at the same time. We munched on them happily as we walked around the quiet, narrow streets of the Call. And on that note, it was almost spooky how quiet and chilly it was in this neighborhood. The streets are extremely narrow and winding, and the stone buildings rise 3 stories on either side, so almost no sunlight or noise seems to penetrate, at least in the morning. So it was quite a jolt to emerge from this neighborhood onto Passeig de Gràcia (see photos of Danny for instructive difference).

This day, we had decided, was to be our main Antoni Gaudí day, so from here we headed up Passeig de Gràcia, a wide street lined with orange trees and sidewalk cafés, to scout out some of Gaudi's famous houses before arriving at our final destination, the Sagrada Família. We feasted our eyes on Casa Batlló and Casa Milà and enjoyed the feeling on sun on our backs. After a quick lunch up in the perfectly-gridded and stately neighborhood of Eixample, we emptied our wallets to see the inside of Sagrada Família, Gaudi's most famous, though unfinished, creation. I won't go into the whole history (why should I when Wikipedia has already done it for me?), so I'll just stick to our opinions. I thought it was awesome. I loved the stark, raw emotion of the Passion façade. I wasn't as big a fan of the chaos of the Nativity Façade, but it reminded me of drip sandcastle, so that was cool. And the inside...to me that was the best part. The canopy of tree-like columns, the unbelievably bright colors streaming through the stained glass at sunset, the lack of anything gold-encrusted, it was all great. I also love catching glimpses of it from all over the city, towering over everything else...like a 7-tier wedding cake sitting in the middle of a table of cupcakes (not that there's anything wrong with cupcakes!). We'll have to go back in 30 years to see it when it's completed! Danny, ever the historian, also points out that seeing an unfinished cathedral is really nothing distinctive. All of the enormous, medieval cathedrals we take for granted today were, for long periods of time, unfinished simply because they took so long to build. So by going to Sagrada Família we can start to imagine what it was like during the creation of those cathedrals. History is magic!

















Okay, our hope was to complete the Gaudí tour with Parc Guell, but it was getting too late, so we settled for heading further north to the Gràcia district to explore and keep our noses open for more chocolat and churros. Gràcia used to be an independent town, and it certainly feels more maze-like and understated than Eixample. We stumbled into a lively square with a church on
one side and cafés on all the others, with a group of teenage boys kicking a soccer ball around the middle. It all felt very...Spanish. So even though there was no hot chocolate we decided to stay, and we settled for tea and a plate of patatas bravas. From there we ducked into a small wine bar that our book recommended, and my butchering of "tres creus" (the delicious red wine I ordered) prompted Danny to give me a helpful lesson in Spanish vowel sounds (bottom line: easier than French!).

From there we raced back to Granja Viader to try to get more hot chocolate before it closed, but sadly we were too late. After this disappointment, even though it wasn't even 9pm, we decided we were ready for dinner. After checking out a few menus, we settled on L'Antic Forn (the old oven), mostly because they advertised Calçots, which we had read about in our guidebook. Basically, these are large scallions/small leeks that are seasonal in this region and consumed "in massive quantities" from January-March. The traditional way to serve them is battered and fried. So we obviously ordered these (turns out they are also served with a spicy, creamy sauce!), and rounded it out with Spanish omelette, a veggie pizza for Danny and a plate of spinach with raisins and pine nuts for Becca. So full, but so worth it!