Bon Nadal! Holiday lights and a festive market

In the middle of November the city starting to string up lights across the main streets of Barcelona, and as the days progressed more lights went up, spreading to smaller streets. Even our small street got a couple. On the main streets at night, it's quite impressive. In a city graced by numerous festivals, this season seems to bring out the biggest and brightest. We took a ramble to see the lights, and later, spent an evening at a festival by the water. It's great to see so many people out, enjoying the sights, sounds, tastes, and just being out in a walkable city with so much to do and see.

Walking in Light

Last week, we took a walk to Plaça Catalunya then up the fancy Passeig de Gracia and back down the attractive Rambla de Catalunya to do some gawking. It was a cool but pleasant night, and Barcelona's a wonderfully walkable city.

Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes is a major thoroughfare a half block from our place. It's quite wide with maybe 5 lanes in the center, plus a pair of slip lanes on either side. But the scale is been tamed by wide walkable islands lined with trees between the three traffic lanes, and bike lanes in the slip roads.  These photos don't really do it justice, but I didn't wanna stand in the middle of the street to get the long-view shots. The tower University of Barcelona was lit up in a fiery red.

At Plaça Universitat, we headed down Carrer de Pelai which is lined with some stately old mansions.

We entered the large Plaça de Catalunya which had long strings of lights across it, and checked out the colorful rectangles going down Ronda de St. Pere, but the huge El Corte Ingles store stole the show with its animated 9-story wall of lights.

The Plaça was heaving with people all taking in the displays like we were. We headed up luxurious Passeig de Gracia which we expected to have the most impressive display and were not disappointed; unsurprisingly, its sidewalks were also filled with people taking in the sights. As we continued our walk, we got the first glimpse of the ornate Gaudi-designed Casa Batlló.

and finally to the Casa itself. It's absurdly beautiful -- even to my jaded rectilinear tastes -- but definitely over the top, and even more so with the changing multi-hued light washes tonight.

I've always preferred the sculpted look of Gaudi's Casa Milá, or "La Pedrera", but its lighting was surprisingly ... understated.

We hopped over to the parallel Rambla de Catalunya with its wide central walkable area and cafes. At the top, we were greeted by the playful Flirtatious Giraffe sculpture with colorful ball lights running the length of the Rambla.

Every street and plaza had its own unique shape and color of lights, and we took in one more on Carrer de Balmes on the route home.

Christmas Market at the Port Vell

This week, we hit the market at the old port on its opening night. It was filled with lights, decorations, and live music.  My favorite display was a three-story tall animated Christmas ornament with swirling displays, large enough to accommodate lots of folks sitting inside. 

Yup, we're holding adult beverages, outside, in public. This is a country that loves to eat and drink. Have you ever seen a fair whose food stalls have large live fire cooking, and sell octopus?

Anchoring the festivities was a giant Ferris Wheel; why not? We got some stunning views of the port and the city. The steep hill that cascades to the water is Montjuic, where the castle is.

With very reasonable prices -- 3-4€ for wine, mulled wine, beer, or vermouth -- it wasn't hard to have another. There were lots of food trucks, including one with a wood fired pizza oven serving authentic Neapolitan pizza (the Crown of Aragon, part of Catalunya, controlled Naples back in the day).

There's a lot about Catalan culture that's mysterious to us, including the "Caganer" pooping peasant and the "Caga Tió", or "Tio de Nadal" -- the Christmas log. It's a log, with a smiling face, wearing a blanket over its hindquarters. As we understand it, kids are supposed to sing songs and whack it with a stick, and it will poop presents. At another market this week (where we saw lots of Caganers), we heard kids and adults singing the song.

On the way home, just a couple blocks from our place, we noticed the old Moritz Beer building was decorated too. I was tempted to nip in for a nightcap but we were sated for this evening.

Catalan Gins, and a lovely "ranci" Martini

We found a delightful, friendly wine/liquor store a couple blocks away, Art de Vins. When some friends visited from the US, we wanted to do a tasting of three Catalan red wines, and three Catalan gins. It's the gins we're writing about here!

First, we tried the gins straight -- no ice or mixers -- cold from the fridge. Nut London Dry Gin was pretty assertive; it was good, but didn't rock my world. Next up, Gin Mare from the coast: this had a more enjoyable profile for sipping, the winner so far. Finally, we had Mahón gin made on the island of Majorca, which had an enticing herbal/citrus profile, and became our favorite sipper.

The rest of the evening was spent indulging in Gin Tonics, which I make with a 1-to-1 ratio of gin-to-tonic so we can taste the gin.  We felt the Nut gin was the best for this, due to its assertiveness: it didn't get lost in the Schweppes Tonic.

Later in the week, we chose the Mahón for sipping.  When we returned to Art de Vins to restock gin for both G&Ts and sippers, we were very surprised at the cost: the Nut was significantly more expensive than the Mahón; at this price point, we could use Mahón for mixed drinks. 

We wanted a drink to showcase the Mahón, and a Martini is about as gin-forward as you can get. We thought that mixing with one of the omnipresent dark vermuts served as aperitifs around here would be too heavy. Irene hit on using Vi Ranci, a very traditional oxidized wine that we buy in bulk from the same shop: a ratio of 4-to-1 has a good balance.

This was a real win: the aromatics of the gin came through, as well as the unusual nutty taste of the wine; it's fairly dry and needs no garnish. We've dubbed it the "Rancini", and it pairs really well with a stunning sunset -- salud!

Festies with my Bestie

There seems to be a festival of some sort happening constantly in Barcelona; like, every day, some neighborhood or organization has an event. It's impossible to keep up, and we've stumbled upon one by happy accident.  Here are the most recent.  (they were a lot more fun than the painting in the last post!)

Barcelona International Community Day

On Saturday, Barcelona held Barcelona International Community Day to connect prospective and new residents with organizations and companies that could help them: property finders, residence and tax lawyers, business development organizations, schools, etc. Totally free, in the beautiful Maritime Museum, just a 20 minute walk from our place. 

Ironically, one of the talks was "Tips for following the city's cultural calendar and not die trying". :-)

But the one that floored us was the dry-titled "Barcelona 2030: ongoing projects for a more sustainable and digital city"; we figured it'd be blue-sky, but Bárbara Pons, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda, Ajuntament de Barcelona, gave an informationally-intense high-level view down to the street-level plan for a city with better transit, improved inclusion, and on and on -- all supported by rich multi-layered maps that backed up the city's goals with definite plans. When someone asked about the high-tech development called "22@" she dove into it with enthusiasm and details, and almost had to be pulled off the stage due to time constraints. It's fantastic to see a speaker that's got all the data at her fingertips and makes the subject matter compelling. 

The last session was the most fun, "Experience Barcelona by bike: the best routes" by Marta Casar, Member of the Board of Directors, BACC (Bike Club of Catalonia), website bacc.cat,  Bikes are extensively used in Barcelona, and the city's done a great job of providing separated lanes and even crosswalks for bikes, but Marta pointed out some areas they are pushing for more protected lanes.

She then provided a number of routes to explore the city including the most stunning examples of architecture in the Modernisme style, as well as some very challenging ones to the top of Montjuic and Tibidabo. She also presented some routes where you could take your bike north or south on a train, then return by bike path to Barcelona -- this sounds excellent: we've seen the path along the coast from the R1 train line.

Side Bar: Cocktails

We headed home and stopped for a drink, but the first cafe wasn't welcoming, so we looked into a narrow street in El Raval and spied a place that looked like a cocktail bar: Somnia. Oh, yeah, a cocktail bar if you've got nightmares of circus clowns! The place was over the top decorated, and all the seats in the upstairs "Big Top" room and the downstairs area were reserved, but we were able to sit at the bar. Good thing, too, because the bartender was top-notch. In addition to a bunch of obviously popular wild-assed concoctions (a drink served in a bathtub-shaped "glass" complete with molecular gastronomy foam bubbles), he built us some classics and variations. I enjoy telling bartenders my favorites (Negroni, Last Word) or ingredients (amaros), and seeing what they create. In addition to a fine Negroni and Manhattan, I got a Cynar-based drink that was delightfully dry, boozy, and balanced; if I can remember the ingredients, I might be able to create it -- if not, well, that's the fun, it's a unique experience. He realized we're into classic cocktails and recommended three bars to us: Paradiso (just won an award for best bar in the world, Sips (the number 3), and for the classics, Boadas (the oldest coctail bar in Spain). I really appreciate getting recommendations for the competition. He also said if we stuck around, at 8pm a magician came to perform tricks for the guests -- sounds like fun, for next time.

Accidentally: A Fest for Tomato Bread

We headed home -- again-- and as we crossed the pedestrianized Ronda de Sant Antoni, we heard music, saw tents, and lots of people. Better check it out!  There was a DJ spinning tunes from my youth, folks nearly my age dancing in the street, vendors serving local wine and beer, and a bunch of food stalls.  We headed to the beginning of the tents and saw it was a festival celebrating the Catalan classic "Pa amb tomàquet", tomato bread: bread (frequently toasted to crisp it a little), rubbed with a specific kind of tomato bred for this, lashed with good olive oil, and a sprinkle of finishing salt.

 

After a couple drinks, we headed to the beginning of the tents and -- for 7€ -- got some big slabs of hearty bread, which the first tent topped with rubbed tomatoes and oil, and the next two topped with the precious jamon Iberico and conserved tuna. It was tasty, rustic, authentic, and filling -- no need for the dinner I'd planned at home!

Check the Lava Lamp at this drinks tent

Pa amb Tomaquet with tuna, escalavida, and jamon

Festival of Markets

We love the municipal markets in Barcelona. We tend to frequent Mercat del Ninot (just 10 minutes walk), but are also 7 minutes from the beautifully restored Mercat de Sant Antoni, and 13 minutes from the famous (and tourist-clogged) Boqueria. There are 32 of these markets spread throughout the neighborhoods of the city where you can get to know your fishmonger (different vendors for fin fish, shellfish, cephalopods, bacalao), meat (choose cow, chicken, pig, sausage), amazing cheeses, vegetables (including seaweeds and seasonal mushrooms), beans/lentils, and much more. 

This weekend, there was a Mercat del Mercats, where it seems each market had 2 stalls where you could sample an amazing array of foods ready to eat, meats you could take to another stall where they'd grill them for free, things to take home, as well as local beer, wine, cava, and vermut. This was at the modern Plaza Glories in the shadow of the Museu de Desseny building adjacent to the Glories tower -- a 17 minute bus/train ride away. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the festivities: these are from two nights earlier when I was returning from a Python Meetup:

Funnily enough, despite being on the other side of town, we ran into Dani and Maria who run Milar Catalá downstairs from us, the shop where we bought our water heater and fridge.  It's the second food festival where we've run into them -- maybe we have a connection!

We wandered, tried the beers and wine, got some delicious snacks from vendors, and I let one talk me into taking home a lovely cured Llonganissa sausage and butifarra negra (blood sausage) that Irene enjoys (I'm still a little squeamish). 

What's Next?

No idea. I need to find various planners, like the one presented by the Visit Barcelona developers on Saturday. Or maybe we'll just stumble upon another. Either way, I'm sure it won't be long before we're eating, drinking, and listening to much more of what this vibrant city has to offer. 

House hunting?

We met with a real estate agent from Lucas Fox whose postings I'd seen online; they have some really upscale properties. It's a long shot, but could we afford a vacation place here? perhaps one that we could rent out when we're not here? Like the waiter says when they bring the dessert menu, "it doesn't cost anything to look." Unsurprisingly, Lucas Fox was located in a swanky neighborhood with ornate buildings like this one; look at that ornamentation!  I'm a modern kinda guy, but I do appreciate the detail.

We like the location we're staying, in the old city. It's a bit gritty, it's a bit funky, and we like that more than poodle boutiques and tea salons.  From the back of our flat there's a weird construction that looks like maybe they extended the interiors of the buildings into central courtyards during a real estate boom, then stopped.

Other views from the back show the cacophony of urban life, and a wildly shaped space alien antenna thing on the horizon.

Futher east is Montjuïc

There are cable cars that leave from Barcelonetta waterfront to the peak.

When we returned from the agent, we took a long look at the construction site up the block from our flat. Would the construction they're doing here be a modern building, right on the Raval, that we could buy into at a pre-construction price?

Nope, Irene checked it out, and it's gonna be a hotel. Tea salons coming soon, I can see it.

Oh well. Time for lunch on pleasant rooftop.  Irene fried up onions, red pepper, endive from the market, with some Spanish olive oil and Jerez vinegar, some tolerable bread and really good olives from the market.

 Later, a simple snack of figs and Pyrenean goat cheese, also from Sant Antoni's.

I had to slave over a hot computer all day, but fortunately was able to work on the rooftop as the temperatures dropped. Finally, after dark, I rustled up a simple Escabeche De Bacalao. We'd gotten bacalao yesterday from the fish monger at Sant Antoni and they instructed us how often we'd need to change the water to rehydrate and desalinate it properly for serving tonight.  I mixed it up with some funny acorn-shaped cherry tomatoes with a super sweet taste, bulbing onions, briny black olives, orange supremes, and doused it with some more of that great local oil and vinegar.  We're eating on Spanish time, about 10pm, so it's hard to get decent light to photograph this. But it sure tastes good, fresh direct flavors and vibrant textures.

We washed it down with some local wine Irene got from Celler de Ronda, the same place we hit our first day. These two were dispensed from giant wooden casks into plastic 2 Liter plastic flagons for take-away. Irene's choices today were a Penedes white and a local red; total price? €6.70 for 4 Liters of wine, including the deposit on the flagons.

No, it's not Château d'Yquem but it's eminently drinkable. The world needs more affordable wine, an alternative the the cultist/elitist special occasion stuff.

As we wrap up another day, it's well after midnight. We can hear the waitstaff putting away the chairs and tables on the Raval -- apparently the law says they have to come off by midnight, but the bars stay open much later. We can smell the aromas of cooking: garlic, onions, beef, bread, fried food. Last night when we came home around 2am, there was a traffic jam of taxi drivers and late-nighters hitting the kabob places that were doing a roaring business. It's great to be in such a food-loving town.