sitting in the street at el xampanyet in el born district – cava and tapas

a couple of weeks ago, i wrote a bit about my favorite sights in barcelona, spain. as i mentioned in that post, barcelona is a dynamic city with a huge personality, which kim and i had no problem adopting.  some of my favorite parts included:

• 

  the catalonia flag in the el born district

  catalan pride – the first thing we noticed is that the people of barcelona do not speak spanish; rather, they speak catalán, the language of catalonia, located in northeast spain.  something of a mixture between french and spanish, this language was banned during francisco franco’s reign through the mid 1970s. following his death and the return of democracy, the catalan people embraced the previously banned culture with vigor, reintroducing the language in schools, and renaming streets.  the yellow and red striped flag of catalonia flies from balconies and storefronts throughout the city, on the backs of cars, on backpacks, everywhere.  i love a good sense of national pride, and that is exactly what this is (seriously – most catalans want a catalan nation).

• the tapas crawl – catalans, and the spanish in general, typically do not eat dinner until 10pm, and therefore tapas are a necessity come 5pm or 6pm. tapas restaurants are everywhere, and tapas crawls were a daily event during our visit. some restaurants served tapas that were basic, offering small bikinis (toasted sandwiches) or canned sardines (a catalonia favorite) with a glass of cava (spanish sparkling wine) or vino. others attempted a gourmet twist on the classics, introducing truffles to bikinis, or topping brie and olive tapenade with the classic sardine. still others adopted the basque (northern region of spain) tradition and laid out on a long bar plates of bread with various toppings held together with toothpicks. one price per toothpick, and the bill is tabulated by counting the toothpicks on your plate. (see below for a list of some of our favorite tapas locations throughout the city. the fashionable el born district had a large number surrounding the passeig del born.)
• 

  el bocadillo chorizo and a cafe con leche at el born bar

  eating like a local – yeah, so you may have noticed that two of my three points are about food. the food in barcelona is that good. for a quick and colorful overview, we headed to la boqueria market off la rambla, and lost ourselves in stalls full of fruit, meat, sweets, and spices. personal favorites included the salad from puerto latino and the freshly squeezed strawberry and pineapple juices. for lunch or a quick bite to eat, i survived almost completely on bocadillos de chorizo (chorizo sandwiches) and cafe con leche…delicious!

who should go: foodies, history buffs (everyone wants to talk about catalonia)
favorite tapas restaurant: quimet & quimet in el raval district (try their specially-made dark belgian beer), tapaç 24 in l’eixample (get the famous potatoes and a glass of cava), el xampanyet in el born (for less than $10, you can order a bottle of cava that comes with two small plates of snacks)
favorite bocadillo stop: el born bar
favorite nice meal: cinc sentits, a michelin star restaurant that was an experience in itself. not to be missed, this is a foodie’s heaven!

la bocaria market off la rambla

belgian beer and tapas at quimet & quimet – best tapas in barcelona

menu and cava at tapaç 24

a particularly good cafe con leche