A few days in Barcelona

Once more Lisa's hard working ways have the added benefit of a quick break from Toronto and work for Christos! A mining conference she attends is held every other year in beautiful Barcelona; one almost thinks the venue drives the conference!

So off we went on Sunday night from Toronto, arriving in Barcelona mid afternoon on Monday. After a nap to combat jet lag, it was off for a walk of the city at 6PM. Lisa had rediscovered an old haunt the last time she was in Barcelona that we call "Champagne Charlie's" but is really called Can Paixano after the namesake pink bubbly they serve there. Christos had first been in 1990 (yup, he is old) with his parents when he first visited Barcelona. Lisa's first visit was in 2001 during our grand trip of Europe when we visited Christos' parents in Barcelona. The place is literally a hole in the wall; it is perhaps five meters wide and extends back around fifteen meters and is standing room only. They serve grilled sandwiches and small snack plates and man are they awesome! The sandwiches are of many varieties and include multi flavoured ones such as "Baco, queso, cebolla, pimiento" (bacon, cheese, friend onion and pepper) or  just "xorico" (sausage) and these are washed down with glasses of bubbly pink champagne! It is also very inexpensive. A 750ml bottle of the pink bubbly (10pct alcohol) is 5.6 euros (nine bucks) and the sandwiches are between 2 and 4 euros. All told, one can have lunch for 7 euros, with two glasses of bubbly at just over 1 euro each. We ate sandwiches, drank bubbly and made new friends.


After "Champage Charlie's" we continued to wander through old Barcelona, hitting the Ramblas as well as a faerie garden bar we have visited before and quaffing a couple pints of Guinness.  We bought some street art on the Ramblas and a dress for Lisa during our wanderings before we hopped on a pedicab for the 10 euro ride back to the hotel. The only bad news was Lisa had a spill departing the pedicab and managed to scrape her chin and hands as she faceplanted.

The next day started out a little rough as we both woke in the wee hours and Lisa was not well. We were a bit worried that she may have been suffering from the fall the night before (concussion?) but by late in the day she seemed much better. Lisa spent Tuesday working while Christos went for a walk to Barcelona, visiting the Maritime Museum as well as lunch at Champagne Charlie's and general wandering. The Maritime Museum's star attraction is a life sized replica of the 60m galley that served as he flagship of Don Juan of Austria during the battle of Lepanto (1571). The rest of the museum is a bit of a let down although the building (the old naval arsenal/factory) itself is wonderful. Lisa and Christos met up around 4ish and after a brief rest went for a walk along the quay before dinner at 9pm at the 2 star Michelin restaurant at the hotel. Unfortunately, we thought the place was overrated and while dinner was good, it was not what we expected from a 2 star Michelin establishment! Finally it was off to bed at 11:30 and a solid night's sleep before our final day in Barcelona.

Our finally day was in Barcelona was one of work for Lisa and relaxation for Christos who slept in late and lazed around the hotel/beach until lunch with Lisa. Lisa is finishing up her day of meetings while Christos is off for a stroll before we depart for London in a few hours ....