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This turned out to be a very good choice. When we arrived, the
staff was friendly and accomodating, and the menu looked great.
I ordered vegetables "antique style," salmon en papillote,
and flan. The vegetables—potatoes, beans, carrots, cauliflower,
and leeks—were stewed with sausage and salt pork. Dan got
seafood paella, filletes of pork, and cream cheese with honey for
dessert, a local specialty. It was all good, though the vegetables
and the cream cheeese with honey were especially tasty. The whole
meal cost us just 15 euros—such a deal.
After lunch, we decided to go back to the hotel for a little rest
before doing any more exploring. We managed to change rooms while
we were there, The new room was larger and somewhat cooler, but
also closer to the kitchen, and so a little noisier. Dan took a
siesta, and I ended up doing some laundry in the sink. Our grand
plans for afternoon exploring turned into a five-hour sleep. Dan
really needed it!
By the time we woke up again, it was time for dinner. We headed
out to Qu Qu, a tapas bar around the corner on the stylish Passeig
de Gràcia, for tapas. I had not had much experience with
tapas at home, so these were a delicious adventure. The Gazpacho
Andalus was the star of the meal, a green version of the soup with
ground almonds and grapes.
I didn't sleep as well the second night and woke up a few times.
I finally decided to take a bath, and discovered that the hotel's
complimentary bath soap smelled just like stinky French cheese.
This is a rather curious aesthetic for toiletries.
At about 4:30am, I woke up for good. Since we were planning to
spend the day in Montserrat, I studied up in the Rick Steves' and
Lonely Planet guides. I woke Dan up at 7 so we could get an early
start. We had another pleasant breakfast in the sitting room overlooking
the plaça.
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I was thoroughly charmed
by these paper cones of tiny, colorful flowers
Detail
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We left the hotel 9, and stopped at
the TI for train information and then moved on to the Ramblas for
a morning photo shoot. I started to feel my eye "warming up,"
and got some good shots of the flower market, which you see on this
page. Many of the flower stalls have displays of little paper cones
filled with very tiny flowers dyed in in bright colors. The animal
stalls had some very cute baby animals for sale:
itty-bitty chinchillas and tiny tortugas (turtles).
Soon, it was time to get on the Metro and navigate to the Plaça
Espanya stop to catch the FGC train to Montserrat.
We made it just in time! |
