Boy, everyone is so punctual on this tour – congrats! Coz we sure thought it would be like herding cats at the start of the morning! But not so, we’re all present and accounted for and off to our last stop in Tavertet which is on a plateau with views across the valleys.
Our drive takes us into the hinterlands, through verdant farmland, on a narrow road that is actually 2-ways and very Amalfi Coast-ish in that you have to pull over to let other cars make corners or pass by you. After the farmland, the road narrows further (if that’s possible) and enters forests of pines that line both sides of the road, with huge rocky walls that lean perilously close to the road in many spots.
Quite the dramatic drive, culminating in this adorable little town with a beautiful stone church – that has an incredibly cool cross cut out of the stone over the holy water baptismal. We tour the church for a bit, then move on to the little park a few yards away with an overlook that is nothing but stupendous. The views stretch over the hills and valleys of the Guilleries natural park. The mountains remind us of the Blue Ridge, softly rolling away from us into the distance (there’s even a cool iron sculpture that looks so much like the artwork and sculptures we have of the Blue Ridge), but the soft white cliffs remind us of the tufo hills in Italy. It’s stunning up here in the brilliant sunshine. We mill about, snapping photo after photo, with Cam playing photographer for all us.
Then its back to the bus for the hour plus ride back to Barcelona. We’re lucky and don’t hit any traffic on the way back (coming out of the city in the morning the trucks were lined up for miles and miles at the exit to the city) so we are back far quicker than any of us expected. Off the bus in Placa Catalunya, we head to Cortez Ingles for beer and wine, but unfortunately they don’t have any cold beer. So its now a hunt for a convenience store, which we don’t find on the way back to the hotel. We end up with a pit stop at the room, then walk back to where Explore Catalunya is located, because we know the grocery store there has cold beer. A little added exercise isn’t going to hurt us!
Home to the hotel again, we freshen up then stroll out into the night for El Reloj , a Gallician restaurant about 5 minutes away on Via Laietana (which has a story about the name, but I can’t remember it now!). We’re a little worried about finding a table, even though we’re early, because the website talks about space for hosting large groups and we’re hoping its not just a tour group place. As it turns out we needn’t have worried, the place is huge and almost deserted. They seat us at a 2-top in the window (ostensibly to draw in more customers) and we commence with – as usual – way too much food! Tapas is so hard for us. We want to try everything, but end up just becoming stuffed with too much food, albeit excellent food. Tonight is of course no different. We start with Tacos de cochinillo a la piedra (tacos of suckling pig served on a hot stone) and Chiperones a la Andaluz (which turn out to be fried squid). First though,we are served pickles and olives as snacks with our drinks. The olives are actually pickled, and totally awesome, I definitely have to find a recipe for those when we get home. Maybe Ed will even eat them if we pickle them right. Then the first two plates come out, and they are nothing like we’ve ever seen. The tacos end up being pieces of excellently spiced pork sizzling on a hot stone with tons of Jalapeno peppers in the middle. No taco shells, no tortillas, just the pork. Whatever, it’s fantastic! And the fried calamari is perfectly done and absolutely huge. Sigh.
We’re in food heaven, but we really, really wanted to try to the Heuvos Estrellados con Iberico. We know its too much, but how can you resist eggs (which we think will be scrambled) with Iberico ham? We can’t, and OMG, this is worth being a glutton for. Perfectly fried eggs over top fried Iberico ham. We’d never think of frying Iberico (it is so good in the raw, why would you?) but, Holy Mother of God! That was the best. It too was served with stupid jalapeno peppers, but even that gave the dish an extra boost of flavor. Totally yummy dinner. And yes, we did manage to waddle home to the hotel (thank heavens it was a really quick walk) and collapse into bed thoroughly sated by the travels of the day and the food.
No comments:
Post a Comment