Judie and I went to Spain last weekend. The trip was to be centered around going to see Bruce Springsteen in Madrid on Saturday night (Judie’s birthday), which I’ll describe in greater length later. But about two weeks before we left, Judie found out that she had been scheduled to speak at a conference in Barcelona the day before our trip to Madrid, so the whole thing turned into a grand Spanish tour.

A Short Walk Around Barcelona While Judie Was Working: I had wandered around Barcelona quite a bit in the past, since Judie had been sent to two conferences there while she was at American Express and, as a result, I’d already seen most of the major sites. Since I had only part of an afternoon to do some exploring (on a stunningly beautiful day), I decided to take the Metro down into the city center and concentrate on my two favorites things about Barcelona: Gaudi and the food.

Boqueria: My first stop was the Boqueria Market, which is just off the Ramblas, a beautiful, tree-lined boulevard that cuts from the waterfront up into the city. I had forgotten what an incredible place it is. As much as I love Borough Market in London, the size and selection of the Boqueria really puts London to shame. The colors of the vegetables and fruit and ham and fish and meat and everything else was just kaleidoscopic.

    

The market, of course, has lots of little places to eat, so I stopped for lunch at one of them and had Iberian ham, which they seem to routinely serve on crusty bread with a little tomato sauce, fresh, fried whitebait and fried artichokes. All with a couple of glasses of white wine. Really heavenly.

    

Casa Battlo: Now fortified, I proceeded to stroll up the Ramblas, checking out all of the beautiful buildings and the people sitting at outdoor cafes enjoying the wonderful weather. Barcelona is a city that was laid out with a number of large and wide boulevards, which then have smaller streets off of them. It allows for lovely vistas and the planting of trees along the streets, something that is missing (and perhaps not possible) in the small and narrow old streets of London. It is also a city that seems to be aware of design and seems to be concerned that, at least in the older parts of the city, the overall presentation is harmonious. Very unlike the hodgepodge that is New York or London. My destination on the walk was Casa Battlo,  one of the great Gaudi landmarks. It is not as famous as Casa Mila, with its iconic helmet-like chimneys, or Sagrada Familia, the church that is his masterwork, or Park Guell. But I’d had tours and visits of those landmarks on prior trips. Just the walk to Casa Battlo was great, because it is along an avenue where the homeowners seem to have been competing to build the most spectacular building. Casa Battlo is a six-story townhouse, so it is on a smaller scale than Casa Mila, which is an apartment building. The facade is a profusion of colorful tiles and organic shapes and is really unlike any building you have ever seen. I suppose one could call Gaudi’s style Art Nouveau, but it is so original and unique that it is really not fair to even try to categorize it. I went into the building for the tour and the organic shapes and colors continued inside and onto a back terrace and finally onto the roof, which feature incredibly sensuous tiled chimneys. The various Gaudi architectural gems are so memorable that it is impossible for me to really name a favorite. But this place is right up there. A few photos, which hardly do it all justice:

       

Dinner: Eventually, Judie got away from the conference and endless phone calls with some very needy and difficult clients and we stopped in the hotel bar, where we met a few interesting industry people (including a guy I met at a dinner in Copenhagen) and then went to dinner. Since it is Spain, nobody eats until 9:00 (although the restaurants do open at 8:00, probably for tourists). I assume that they must work later in the day. The owner of our favorite Shoreditch restaurant, Super Tuscan, had recommended Paco Meralgo, which turned out to be a tapas place with seemingly a very hip, young clientele. The food was delicious and the service was great. At one point, the entire staff stopped working, put on silly hats and wigs and went to sing Happy Birthday to someone. On the way back, one of them posed for this picture with Judie (soon to be a birthday girl).