1 August - Walking and Shopping

Our first day in our new neighborhood on Passeig de Grácia had been a busy one. There was a lot of activity outside out apartment. But early in the morning, things were very calm.

Allie started her day in a familiar way.

We decided to do some walking and shopping today. We started by walking to Mauri for some breakfast goodies. Then we took the Metro to Ciutadella Villa Olímpica for a walk along the Mediterranean and some shopping (and eating) in the El Born neighborhood.

It was a bit hazy along the beach in the morning, but we enjoyed the walk. There were a lot of local people enjoying the summer holiday season.

The Port Olímpic is very familiar to me, since I typically stayed at the Hotel Arts on my HP trips to Barcelona. The 1992 Summer Olympics resulted in massive improvements in that area.

Funky fish sculpture ...

After walking along the beach, we headed through La Barceloneta neighborhood ...

... and then into El Born. There is a beautiful church there - the Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar.

There are also a lot of unique shops. This one encourages people to climb the stairs.

A watch dog ...

We had heard about a really good restaurant, Cuines Santa Catarina, in the Santa Catarina Market. We decided to stop there for lunch. It turned out to be our favorite Barcelona restaurant.

You can choose to eat tapas in the bar or outdoor terrace, or you can have tapas plus an extended menu inside the restaurant. We went for the indoor experience.

The menu is in Catalan, Castilian (Spanish), French and English. Here are the English, French and Castilian versions.

There's something for everyone!

What set this restaurant apart from the others for us were the ambiance, the quality of the food and the presentation.

Even our familiar escalivada with goat cheese was made unique by placing it on a bed of olive tapenade and serving it in a different style. It was the best I've ever had.

As I said, there was something for everyone ...

As you can imagine, there was a scramble for the crema Catalana!

It was time to walk again ...

... then take the Metro back to our VRBO.