Spanish Sojourn Day 5

For our last full day in Spain, we decided to be less about the eating and more about the tourist action.

Except when we went to the Barri Goti (Gothic Quarter), it was still pretty much closed. 

Including this chapel dedicated to St. Christopher

So purdy

Tourists coming out...

Eventually we got hungry and had lunch in a bar at La Boqueria. The foie gras was good but everything else was kinda disappointing.

But we made up for the disappointment by going to Barceloneta to hang out on the beach.

Which was also kinda disappointing because the sand wasn't as fine as the sand at La Concha and wouldn't hold our sandcastles as well.

Having said that, I was pretty impressed with the castles that worked - check out the brickwork detailing! And they were only €2 from Ale-Hop!

As it is a bigger city and a smaller (man-made) beach, it was much more crowded and dirtier than La Concha (I need to stop comparing everything to San Seb). Having said that, it still made me happy and pretty relaxed. I made the rookie error of taking an actual siesta (i.e. I fell asleep) on the beach. The burn line was...interesting.

But then dinner came along again and we headed out the Cerveceria Catalana and got a table after 20-30 minutes.

And a jug of sangria not long after that!

Our mixed platter of jamon, lomo, chorizo and queso manchego 

Word to the wise - while the menu has an English translation, the specials menu is only in Spanish! Luckily for us, I knew that pulpito meant small octopus! These were really good actually. I kinda wished we'd had more.

The scallop wasn't as good as the octopus but still good.

And somewhere along the line, I figured out that pipis in garlic sauce was also a special. These were also pretty awesome!!! It kinda made me miss XO sauce though...

And some token vegetables.

The three of us were having a really good time; the food was excellent, the sangria was amazing, the atmosphere was pretty lively, and our waitress was a load of fun joking with us. I think the staff found a trio of small asian girls who ordered a lot to be quite funny. When it was time for dessert, we asked her opinion as to which was her favourite. She said it was difficult to choose because it would depend on what kind of flavours we liked.

So we decided to get a cake platter that had a coconut cake, an almond cake, lemon tart, and a cake that reminded me of Vietnamese creme caramel.

But it wasn't crema catalana because we also got this!

When dessert arrived, we all went 'woah' at how large the serving was and our waitress laughed at our reaction. She would come over every now and then to check on how we were doing (and maybe if we would be leaving soon - it was pretty busy). But then something happened. Something extraordinary that made us all go, "What is that?!"

Basically some people around us ordered bravas huevos (aka 'fries') and we wanted some! So we ordered some! The staff weren't laughing anymore. I think they were afraid. 

And so here we come to a wonderful end to our Spanish sojourn - terrifying the locals with our Asian endless pit stomachs.