Barcelona Birthday

For his 40th birthday on December 30th, Paul Zunino asked the family to meet him in Barcelona. Sylvain and I drove, stopping for lunch each way for delicious poulpes (octopus) in Perpignan.

Savory grilled poulpes at 7ème Vague restaurant on 29th

Monday the 29th, we arrived in Barcelona and checked in to our hotel, Hotel Market, in the Saint Antoni neighborhood. Then we set out for a thirty-minute walk to join the others (Christian & Maryelle, Paul & Laura, Franck & Loriane, Célia & Ohad, Vincent, Enzo, Matys, and Estelle & Vincent) at Caffé & Art on La Rambla for apéro. I enjoyed the art deco atmosphere, still decorated for the holidays, and the holiday music soundtrack, but it was a little too staid for the others, so we ventured on into the Gothic Quarter after a few drinks. We went first to The Craft, which reminded everyone of a bigger version of the Unplugged, except with twenty-or-so draft beers. There was some live music in the basement, which we listened to for awhile, then went back out for sandwiches as a kebab shop on our way to Le Mariatchi, a bar owned by Manu Chao, a musician appreciated by the whole group. For the firsty thirty minutes or so when we arrived, they were playing Mano Negra (Manu Chao's band) music, but then they switched to a variety of different dance tunes for the rest of the night. We all left about 2am to head to bed.

Tuesday the 30th, I rose earlier than Sylvain and ventured out to find some breakfast. There was a lovely organic bakery just around the corner from the hotel where I found a whole wheat and grain croissant and a cup of coffee (the croissant was so tasty I went back the next day for the same thing). Around noon, Sylvain went running up Mont Tibidabo with Franck and Paul. I stayed around the hotel because he didn't want to take keys or phone with him. I explored the nearby indoor market - a star-shaped labyrinth of food and clothing stalls - then had a nice relaxing lunch at the hotel of white wine, eggplant salad, gambas and mango sorbet. Late afternoon, we once again joined the others near Place de Catalogne and La Rambla for drinks at Ocana before Paul's birthday dinner at La Taverna del Coure. I think everyone else had different kinds of paëla and many were not really impressed with their dishes. I had grilled calamari and caramelized onions and quite enjoyed it.

We went back to Ocana for a bit after dinner. I took my leave about midnight to catch an Uber back to the hotel. The others stayed as Paul, Laura, Vincent, Sylvain, Franck and Loriane were going to a club at the Olympic Port for an electro show later on.

As we were walking to join the others in the afternoon, we passed by the university and snapped a picture for Rachel of her possible future place of learning:

Then I visited a clothing store and bought the white blouse you see me wearing in the New Year's Eve photo. As we were walking around the Gothic Quarter around dinner time, we came across two different groups of Spanish Scouts singing carols in the the streets to raise money for their summer camps. I snapped a photo for the girls and contributed five euros to their cause.

Wednesday morning, I did some shopping in the Market and the shops around the hotel. I bought some ham and cheese to take to Claire's for apéro that evening, some cookies and various other gifts, including a blue cat scarf for a birthday present for Laureva's friend Chloé. 

Merkat Saint Antoni

We left Barcelona about 11am. We wanted to stop for lunch again at the 7ème Vague in Perpignan, but their restaurant was closed on the 31st. We reserved a brasserie in Perpignan called La Méditerranée instead. We arrived about 1:45pm and the hostess said she hadn't received our reservation. Luckily, she seated us anyway (we were the last people they accepted as they were closing at 3!). Once again, we had pouples in chorizo sauce. It was stewed rather than grilled, which is both our favorite, but it was quite tasty, anyway.

Poulpe at La Méditerranée in Perpignan

It somehow seemed appropriate to frame our time in Barcelona with variations on the same dish in Perpignan.