Barcelona
Our luggage arrived this morning around 11:00am which was great, so our 'loss' was brief. Unfortunately, the phone call telling us that they had our luggage came just after eight o'clock and woke us up. A bit early after our late night!
José Luis and Joaquin picked us up about 1:00pm and we drove up to Tibidabo, one of the small mountains (large hills?) in Barcelona. We had a drink overlooking the city then proceeded to a fantastic restaurant (Porvenir) where José Luis is well known. We had an amazing lunch: the tiniest possible calamares, clams, and some shellfish whose name translates as switchblade. They were one of the most delicious things either one of us has ever eaten. After that there was a platter of cold meat and then our main course which consisted of merluza (hake) and rape (monkfish). Both were wonderful, especially the merluza - a very delicate white fish (very much like halibut). Both were extremely fresh and very well prepared. All of this was washed down with a very nice rioja (Ondarre Reserva 1998) and the meal was completed by a plate of several desserts and three versions of a liqueur called orujo - one plain, one with herbs and one with coffee. Lunch took about four hours altogether and afterwards we drove to the old part of the city and wandered around looking at the sights.
José Luis and Joaquin picked us up about 1:00pm and we drove up to Tibidabo, one of the small mountains (large hills?) in Barcelona. We had a drink overlooking the city then proceeded to a fantastic restaurant (Porvenir) where José Luis is well known. We had an amazing lunch: the tiniest possible calamares, clams, and some shellfish whose name translates as switchblade. They were one of the most delicious things either one of us has ever eaten. After that there was a platter of cold meat and then our main course which consisted of merluza (hake) and rape (monkfish). Both were wonderful, especially the merluza - a very delicate white fish (very much like halibut). Both were extremely fresh and very well prepared. All of this was washed down with a very nice rioja (Ondarre Reserva 1998) and the meal was completed by a plate of several desserts and three versions of a liqueur called orujo - one plain, one with herbs and one with coffee. Lunch took about four hours altogether and afterwards we drove to the old part of the city and wandered around looking at the sights.