Europe – Day 8

We awoke to rain.  I chided DH, who was very disappointed to have come thousands of miles from a rain forest to Sunny Spain only to be pissed on by Mother Nature.  Ha!  I said, it’s likely just a gentle sprinkle.  Are we made of sugar?  We can use our handy umbrellas, and venture out into the showers.

Nope.  It was pouring.  Rain bouncing up from the pavement pouring.  Shoe-and-cuff soaking rain.

We had made no plans for today and as a matter of fact it felt good to have no place we had to be.  We ate a leisurely breakfast, showered, and when the rain let up around noon, we ventured out to the Mercat de Sant Antoni, just down the street.

It was built during the same era of cast-iron architecture of the 19th century that brought us the Eiffel Tower but it’s completely modernized inside.

We found store after store of food, and selected fresh bread and vegetables, cheese and sausage, olives and fish, and brought them home for our lunch.

It was truly delicious:

The tomatoes tasted fresh from the vine.  The Corinthian olives were just perfect.  The bread crusty and chewy and flavourful.

I think I’m going to like this place.

We ventured out to buy some souvenirs for the grandkidlets and got caught in a real downpour.

Saw these though, the Torres Venecianes. But see the white tower to the right of the towers? That’s a communications tower, designed to look like an athlete bowing their head to accept a medal, built for the 1992 Olympics.

Another little problem we’re having is the way some streets intersect others at a 45% angle, so you can have three streets coming to a corner.  We seem to get lost every time we go out.  And that snarky girl from Google maps is no help at all.  Anyway we got back here just soaked and we’re just waiting for the rain to let up so we can make our way out to dinner.

Luckily the restaurants in this neighbourhood are just coming to life around 8:30 because we set out to find someplace around then (some don’t even open until 8:30).  DH had been walking around in circles for about an hour with no luck, but I had managed to find someplace online right in the neighbourhood.  I didn’t write down the name, I was so sure of the location, but when we passed by it the “fancy” logo of the name threw me right off, and I didn’t recognize it.  So we headed to a place called Lolita’s just around the corner and had some tapas.  It’s hip and supposed to be a bit pricey, but we didn’t find it so, of course I expect to be in bed in a little while so was not going to load up on rich food just before hitting the hay.  Just a nice snack and a chat with some fellow tourists — they are from the Isle of Skye in Scotland. We also noticed another tapas restaurant right next to Lolita’s, and will try the other place that I didn’t recogniae one evening as well.  And I have to get some paella before too long!

All the wines we’ve tried have been outstanding.  And cheap!  Like 4Euros for a bottle at the mercado, or a glass of wine for about the same in a restaurant.

But the rain and the crowds have made me quite sleepy.  We have a big day planned tomorrow so tonight I’ll be tucked in quite early.