Yet another meal. Get me outta here.

One of the tactics we adopt when staying in Barcelona is to chose a hotel with wi fi and secure parking and then use the underground to get about.

Our usual choice, on the outskirts, is the Alimara which is easy to get to and right on the tube line that gets us to Ben and Paula's house. Unfortunately they wanted too much money so we looked around and found the Tryp Apolo, a business hotel, was dumping rooms for the weekend and it was also right on the tube line we needed. It's actually a better hotel so drinks all round! Anyway, this morning (Sunday) I had to drive right across Barcelona in the Jeep. A vehicle which is fine on the main roads but a bit of a nightmare on the very narrow streets in Gracia where were headed. Still, we made it and eventually found a place to park, probably the last one for a hundred miles.

After a short excursion with the little one (Kate) we headed up the side of the mountain overlooking Barca, just below Tibidabo, to eat at a great little restaurant with fantastic panoramic views. The speciality of Can Mardi, Pge. Font del Mont 4, 93 406 91 95,  is meat cooked in an open wood burning oven.

We arrived at 13.30 and the place was already filling up and, as we ate, hords more without reservations, tried to get in as well. There was a lot of sulking that they couldn´t just sit where they liked and in particular at the panaoramic windows. Stupid people. Under no circumstances shouild you try and find this place yourself. It´s approached up the steepest, narrowest little roads imaginable. Get a cab. 

Next stop Leeds courtesy of Ryanair. Bring it on.

One last lurch

As we lurch from meal to meal, there was only one more lurch left today! It's Sunday so it had to be a bit special and we so look forward to eating out with little Kate.

Ben had booked at Arenal down on the beach at Barceloneta, just in front of the Hospital del Mar, hopefully not connected. As we approached the restaurant I asked Paula whether we were eating in or out.

She said, 'oh outside, because they smoke inside.' Naturally, I was a tad confused. Evidently, when the smoking laws were introduced, such establishments had to decide whether to allow smoking or not and clearly display this. Spain is still a smokers paradise for a little while longer yet!

Anyway, what I was really looking forward to was eating some calçots. It's the season for said onion/leek vegetable and as far as I know you only get them in Catalunya. Delicious, cooked over an open fire and dipped in romesco sauce.

An excellent restaurant and one you'd only come across by chance if you didn't have the local knowledge.

Kate, as usual, was an absolute delight and a credit to her parents at only 22 months old. It was a real wrench leaving but, given all the scrumptious food we'd eaten, it was either that or burst.

Decisions, decisions

Not knowing exactly what to get for lunch, we headed down to Mercat Abaceria Central, a sort of mini Boqueria, right in the middle of Gracia.

Ben and Paula are so lucky living in this old part of town, with all its amenities. Ben had suggested various things to get for lunch so we walked around the market looking for inspiration.

We finally settled on that old Spanish favourite - sushi. A guy was making it in the back, so it all looked very fresh and appetising.

This market is amazing. The freshest fruit and vegetables and even more inspiring than the indoor market in Nimes. Grapes the size of plums, the freshest of fruit and vegetables and all top quality.

Why we chose sushi? You go figure.

El Panxa del Bisbe

Hola! from a grey but warm Barcelona. After an uneventful drive down in the Porsche (VW model) we checked into our hotel and then shot over to El Planxa del Bisbe, Carrer de Rabassa, in Gracia, to meet Ben, Paula and grandchild Kate. Lunch had been booked for 3.00pm, can you believe that? You wouldn't even get a phone reply at a restaurant in France at 15.00 never mind booking lunch at such an hour, but this is Barca and everything happens just that bit later here.

Anyway, family Tillott were in fine form and Jan, ignoring all else, spent the first 5 minutes cuddling Kate. At which point Ben (Jan's eldest) held out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Ben. I'm Kate's father."

This is an excellent and unusual Catalan tapas restaurant that offers just the kind of food that Jan and I like. Plate after plate of different bites kept arriving and we finished lunch at 17.00. Superb.

We love this area of Barcelona. Gracia has a great 'village' feel. Later that evening we, along with lots of other families, strolled back to the hotel in the warm evening air passing many little shops beautifully decorated for Christmas. Perfect.

A Barcelona babe

Kate, three weeks old today, has been a little angel throughout our visit. She eats, sleeps and is good company when she is awake. It doesn't get better than that. Frankly, I'm not generally a big fan of very young babies. I prefer children at an age when they can respond and you can have fun with them. Babies are high maintenance, a bit of a drain on society, they take but don't give (before you start with hate mail, this is a joke) but Kate is gorgeous and we forgive her. Welcome to the world little one.

Proud grandparents 2

For the second time this evening, we are a grandparent again! At 22.30 Paula gave birth to Kate, Ben and Paula's first child, and our third grandchild. Good effort guys.

El Cangrejo Loco

On the way to the train station this morning, the taxi driver, in incomprehensible Spanish, tried to convince us about free train travel between Sitges and Barcelona. Frankly I thought that he was just winding us up but blow me, he was telling the truth. Tell the lady at the counter that you wanted to go to Barcelona and she gave you however many tickets you wanted. The train was packed!

I used to hate the thought of tourist bus tours but I've changed my mind. I was wrong - the most difficult words to say in the English language. (You can't even try and be humble, without being a boring pig - Ed). We arrived at Barcelona Sants station and right outside was the tourist bus. An hour later, after visiting the Olympic Stadium, the Port Olimpic and all stops between, we broke the journey just near the cathedral. We found that they were shutting up shop for a few hours. What a bummer. For goodness sake we can all walk around a church without anybody being there. Anyway, we walked up La Rambla with a short detour into the Boqueria, the best indoor market in the world, before we got onto another bus (on the red route) for a quick trip up to the Sagrada Familia. By 14.30 we were all 'cultured out' so it was down to the Port Olimpic and a long, wonderful lunch at El Cangrejo Loco (The Crazy Crab), Moll de Gregal 29, 93 221 05 33, and to meet up with Jan's eldest son, Ben, and his heavily pregnant wife Paula (above). Recommended. A great day!

To keep you in the loop

The following pictures were taken at last nights cocktail party. They will help explain the 'Spanish Connection'. They will also help with your end of term exam! Here's a big clue. Paula is married to Ben, Jan's eldest.

The sisters. Andrea and Paula.

Paula and yours truly.

The happy couple. Andrea and Luis Miguel, who will get married tomorrow.

Paula and Ben, the even happier couple, and parents to be.

Now do you understand?

Barcelona

The journey to Barcelona was uneventful, with the exception of getting into Barcelona itself. The roads, especially around Barcelona, are not for the faint hearted. It helps if you have a good idea where you are going because the roads are very busy with the locals driving at breakneck speed. It really helps if you have a good navigator. Jan’s good. Even getting off the ring roads doesn’t help much because, when you do, the streets are so narrow and many are now newly pedestrianised that a local map is only so much help. All these issues were compounded with a very heavy thunderstorm as we entered the city. Welcome to Barcelona!
The rain cleared enough for us to walk out for dinner. Ben and Paula, whose flat we are using, live in an area called Gracia, an interesting area to the north of Barcelona with a distinct bohemian feel. The streets are very narrow, difficult to traverse, especially with our car, but quaint nonetheless. Dinner wasn’t memorable; we rather stupidly chose a restaurant that served food with a heavy French influence. We were tired!

And for my next trick

Today was a good news day. First, I woke to hear that Lewis Hamilton made pole position for the China Grand Prix. Second (chronologically), Jan's eldest son's wife, Paula (above left), announced that she was pregnant. Third, and against all the odds, England beat Australia in the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup. Not a pretty game but a win's a win. A good effort all round chaps.

***

Josh is coming to the end of his stay and, because we had a lot to celebrate, it was out to Le Fourneau de Clelia for a slap up meal tonight. Days just don't get better than this.

Captain Sensible

That´s better. On Friday night we didn´t get to bed until 3.00 in the morning, just as the town was getting going!. Last night I was Captain Sensible and got a good nights sleep by being first to bed at 23.00. The others stayed up to watch Barcelona get beaten 3-1 by Barcelona´s other team Espanyol. Serves 'em right.

***

Ben cooked a Panang curry for dinner last night and it was, without doubt, the best such curry I´ve ever eaten. Thanks Ben. As today is Sunday it´s normal to eat out (back to one of our favourite pastimes) and, after picking up a few bottles of Jan´s favourite Rioja, we head off for Bar Tomas, Major de Sarria, 49, 93 203 10 77. It was packed, with a queue down the hill, so we went around the corner to their other place and we got a table straight away. I don't understand it myself because it was the same menu. Anyway, it's right out of town, in fact just off the Ronda de Dalt at junction 7 which was neat because we left for home from there. If you like tapas then this is a very good choice. As ever, we enjoyed the couple of days with Ben and Paula. They are great company and a pleasure to be with.
Door to door, the uneventful journey home took exactly 4 hours.

Barcelona

A small note of caution. I usually use the built in spell checker to correct my typing errors. But because I´m logged in from Spain on a Spanish machine the spell checker, thinking that I´m typing Spanish, highlites every word, so I´m having to rely on proof reading. So der.

Some time ago Ben (that´s Jan's eldest son), booked us into an Egyptian restaurant for arguably the worst meal that any of us had ever eaten. I remind him from time to time, it keeps him on his toes. Anyway last night, ever the thoughtful host, he had booked us into an Italian restaurant. It was an excellent choice and they were offering something very different. Da Greco, Paseo de Gracia, 116, 08008 Barcelona 93 218 65 50 is a stylish and very busy restaurant. The food was excellent with some nice twists but what was new and interesting was that a small plate of what anybody ordered was, additionally, brought to the table for the others to sample. It was such a simple and inexpensive idea that offers diners the opportunity to sample more of the menu. Highly recommended.

***

We love Barcelona. As long as you take sensible anti theft measures it´s a wonderful place. Lively, vibrant (if that isn´t the same thing) and always full of surprises. It helps enormously that we have Ben and Paula to show us around because we see and experience so much more. Particularly when it comes to two of our favourite pastimes, eating and shopping. I don´t suppose you´d ever noticed that? This afternoon we got both, in one hit. Diagonal Mar is a huge shopping centre where the boulevard Diagonal hits the sea. Being a modern (yeah right - Ed.) man I don´t mind shopping. Being a (fat - Ed.) modern man I love eating and Barcelona is the place to eat. There´s so much choice of every nationality and from every area of Spain. One little thing to get used to is that dining out starts much, much later than we are used to. For instance, because we had a late breakfast, we didn´t decide to eat something until about 16.00, so we ate outside on the roof terrace of the shopping centre. The place was buzzing and all the retaurants were busy. We ate at Sagardi Euskal Taberna, Avda Diagonal 3, 08019, 93 356 04 76. This place specialises in food from the Basque country, pintxos (tapas) being their speciality. Very good it was too. You choose your pintxos from the bar and, as everyone has a toothpick holding the delicasy to the bread beneath, they just count up the sticks at the end. On top of that, the waiters come round separately offering you hot dishes which are impossible to refuse. If Jan and I had been on our own we´d never have come across this place and missed out on this delight. Excellent.