As we walked through the narrow cobblestone streets of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, we marveled at all that was around us — relics of Ancient Rome and churches from the 14th century juxtaposed with modern shops and restaurants full of tourists from around the world.
We were on a mission of sorts — an operation to find a small restaurant that we had visited for lunch five years earlier while in Barcelona in 2017.
We knew the restaurant’s name and we knew we were in the right area. With no internet on our phones since we did not have an international plan, however, we continued to wander the cobblestone lanes of this famous Barcelona neighborhood that is a must-see anytime you visit the city of 1.6 million that is located in eastern Spain along the Mediterranean Coast.
Some of the streets are so narrow in this neighborhood that even the tiniest car could not fit down them, and you feel as if you’re walking in a past era as you wander around.
We were about to search for a spot to connect to WiFi so we could locate directions to La Fábrica — a small restaurant in the Gothic Quarter that serves big and tasty Argentine empanadas — when my wife saw a store she remembered from 2017 that was located near the small eatery.
Her uncanny ability to navigate in a big city still amazes me, as we made a left turn and then a right turn before suddenly seeing the place right in front of our eyes.
We have spent the past five years talking about how delicious those empanadas were, and being back at the place we stumbled across in 2017 was one of many highlights of our time in Barcelona this summer.
Barcelona is by far one of my favorite cities because of its architecture, dining scene, landscape and so much more.
Last week’s column highlighted San Sebastián’s delicious gastronomy, and it’s just as easy to find as many tasty dishes in Barcelona.
We enjoyed several meals of various tapas while in Barcelona. Tapas are small plates of food, and most restaurants have as many — if not more — tapas on their menus as Ivanhoe’s has flavors of ice cream.
It’s common in Barcelona and throughout many places in Spain to go out for tapas with a group of friends and order a myriad of the small plates of food to share — everything from a serving of toasted bread topped with tomatoes to a bowl of fresh steamed mussels.
The variety of food around Barcelona is just as varied as the city’s architecture, especially because of one architect: Antoni Gaudí, who lived from 1852-1926.
Gaudí led the modernism movement in Spain as he designed buildings, gardens, parks, sculptures and more. His use of mosaic tiles in his parks and curvy, surreal design of buildings make it easy to spot all of his masterpieces around Barcelona.
His masterwork is the unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral. Work began on the church in 1882, and it could be completed as soon as 2026. More than 4 million people visit the Sagrada Familia each year, making it Spain’s most visited monument and a must-see on any trip to Barcelona.
Exploring this idyllic city is easy due to its vast system of public transportation — a metro and city buses if you prefer quick options or sidewalks and bike lanes if you prefer to walk or ride a rented bike. There are a plethora of markets, museums, parks, stores and more to visit, which means you should plan at least a week in this charming Catalan city.
Chances are you’ll like it so much that one trip to Barcelona will be the catalyst for a second … a third … or more trips back.
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