Hello Barcelona!

 We're happy, happy, happy! We arrived at Barcelona airport at 11 am on Wednesday, caught the Aeobus to Place Catalunya, then to our Gracia accommodation for the next 7 days, Espais Blaus Apartments. We quickly caught the Metro to see our dear friends Albert and Diana at Cafe L'Amagat. There were hugs, there were tears, there were huge smiles, and even one of Albert & Diana's regular customers was in tears!!  

We were also very happy to have Al and Lucy's friend, Diego, join us. Coincidence that he is in Barcelona at the same time as us. He was in Israel when the bombing started so it was extra special to see him safe. 


Peter received his first Catalan language lesson and a new word is being added daily. Very amusing to watch! 

We are very happy with our accommodation - a modern one bedroom apartment in Gracia, surrounded by bars & restaurants, large food market and very close to the metro. Although we don't have the incredible view we had in our previous visits to Barcelona, it is a very pleasant outlook:

So far we have simply been immersing ourselves into Barcelona culture. Daily visits to L-Amagat for either breakfast or lunch, example below shows one of Diana's rice dishes which has to be tasted to be believed. We also shared an anchovy, pepper, olive & flat bread dish. They change their menu weekly and you can view it in English at L'Amagat Cafe

We first visited Bar del Pla in The Born neighbourhood in 2009, taking Joe & Pam there soon after as we enjoyed it so much. It was a lot busier than we remembered. 


 
We were last here at Cafe Salambo  in Gracia with Rick & Ingrid in 2019. Roasted Padron Peppers - yum



We spent Saturday afternoon down at the port and beach area (Barceloneta), wandering, lunching at Can Ros, a  Catalan restaurant we'd recommend.

Sunday morning in Gracia
Sunday is family day and the pics below were in local parks less than 5 mins from our apartment. 















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