Barcelona

About a month ago, I spent 4 days at Barcelona with mom. It was hot there and we enjoyed ourselves. We bought this 2 days pass for the open top tourist bus that offers 3 routes. One up north, one down south and one along the beach. With this 2 days pass, we boarded and alighted as and when we like. So it was really cool.

Las Ramblas is the main street that leads from the center to the port and along the street, there is an old market which sells lots of fresh food. There are tropical fruits which I can't find in France and fresh seafood and meat and dried sausages. It was always crowded with tourists but I have to say the prices are reasonable.

Sagrada Familia, a cathedrale that started to be built in 1882, is still under construction. It is the only cathedrale in this world that is under construction. Does this mean that there are no other cathedrale being built at this moment? I have no idea. It may just mean that this is one of the last cathedrale that is not completed from the 19th century. This temple is really amazing and is the main attraction for sight-seeing tourist in Barcelona. In the cathedrale's museum, explanations of the design really made me understand how the architecture use nature to its best. You really have to see it to understand it.

Of course, during the 4 days, we had visited many other places like Park Güell, the Barcelona FC stadium, the old city, Poble Espanyol, Miramar Park ....

As for food wise, we tried the different tapas, tortilla(different variety of omelette), paella but the most impressive food is the bread. We had breakfast each morning in a cafe which serves sandwich with sliced chorizo. The interesting part was that the bread were spreaded with a tomato paste that tasted fresh and unique. We asked if we could buy this tomato jam but after some language difficulty, we understood that this tomato paste can be easily made.

First, cut a big juicy tomato in halves. Take one of them and rub it on the bread. After that, cut a garlic into halves and rub it on the bread as well. Sprinkle some salt and olive oil and that's it. It is so easy.

When we were having lunch at Poble Espanyol, we noticed that on each table, there were 2 tomatoes and some garlics. Of course, we had fun making our own tomato bread to go with our main meals.

All good things must come to an end so after a short 4 days, we packed up and headed back to Paris. In fact, I think mom enjoyed Barcelona more than Paris. The weather was warmer, the people were friendlier, things are cheaper and the food tasted less foreign for her. :)