Wednesday, 14 May
After a comfortable night’s rest, Dolora and I dined at our hotel breakfast. Too many choices, bread, pastries, meats, cheeses, cereal, yogurt, eggs, bacon and more. After a hearty breakfast it was off to the Picasso Museum. On the way we walked past the Mercat de Santa Caterina. This is much more of a local market compared to the market along Las Ramblas that we visited yesterday.
The Museu Picasso was fascinating. Picasso lived in Barcelona from the age of 14 to 23. During that time he was in training and his art was traditional. Paintings made when he was only 14 look like classical art works. The museum follows his timeline and is interesting to see the evolution in his artwork. I was only aware of his abstract art before. Picasso donated many paintings and sketches to the museum. The museum was getting crowded as we finished around noon.
As we were strolling in the El Born area near the museum we came across the Artesania Catalunya Center which had an exhibit, “The art of paper sewing, Paper dresses”, There were about a dozen dresses on display, all made out of paper. One or two clearly looked like paper, the rest would pass for traditional fabric. Paper was twisted to make some of the fabrics. In the back of the center was a small Roman archaeological display.
Since we were getting hungry we headed to Bilbao Berria La Barra, a traditional tapas restaurant. Here you were seated at a table and then went up to the bar, grabbed a plate and went down the line, putting tapas on your plate. The toothpicks in each tapas determined the price, There are straight, curly topped, and flag topped toothpicks. The table had a small holder for the used toothpicks. When you were done eating, they counted toothpicks and totaled up your bill. Coming back from the water closet, I noticed a whole side of the bar and a selection of tapas I had missed. Another visit required?
The tapas restaurant was on the cathedral square which was busy with school kids, musicians and a mime. On the way back for our siesta there was a stop to pick up licorice mint toothpaste that we had seen earlier in a window, for Dolora, not me! But we did stop in a Carrefour grocery for a selection of Spanish chocolate bars to feed my chocolate addiction.
Today’s dinner choice was more tapas at El Drac De Sant Jordi. The special included four tapas, a drink and a small dessert, creme brulee. It was grab your plate, go down the bar and pick up your tapas. There was a nice selection including vegetarian. The food was tasty but not as good as at lunch. I was looking for a little gelato after dinner but Dolora twisted my arm and we headed back to Cafe Granja Viader for churros and hot chocolate to dip. The weather is a little cooler today, did not hit 70 and breezy this evening so the hot chocolate was a good replacement for gelato.
Our tour officially meets tomorrow evening at five. We still site see on our own but will meet some fellow travelers who will be with us from location to location.