Barcelona 2: Las Ramblas & Flamenco
I went to the famous Las Ramblas. As the rain fell and the pedestrians hid under shop awnings, it looked pretty unimpressive. Walking north, I only saw stalls of florists.
As the rain stopped and the sun came out, so did the people. I came across more interesting vendors. They were selling birds at one stall, including a crowing cock. At another stall, there were rabbits and hamsters. A third had fish.
I went into the Boqueira market and came across food vendors including fish, fruit, vegetables, meat and cheese. Around the corners of the market building, there were tapas bars. At one recommended by Ryanair´s inflight magazine, there was a long queue. Even worse that the last place with a queue, there wasn´t a menu. So, I gave up and went to another tapas bar. I managed to order some food by speaking in French. After all, the French border is only 80 miles away.
In the afternoon, I followed the Modernist route, checking out wavy buildings by Gaudi and his contemporiries ^sic^
In the evening I went to an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. There was a choice of spaghetti with white or red sauce and stodgy pizza with various tastless colourings.
However, the paella was reasonable as were the salads. The 8 types of ice-cream and a free beer made the menu worthwhile.
On my way back, I went to a flamenco show at a restaurant. There was a singer, a guitarist and a female danceer. She was reasonable but the show came alive when the diners took to the stage. At one point there were 10 people doing their imitations of flamenco. There was a short interlude where a dozen people dance the macarena at ever-increasing speeds.
As the rain stopped and the sun came out, so did the people. I came across more interesting vendors. They were selling birds at one stall, including a crowing cock. At another stall, there were rabbits and hamsters. A third had fish.
I went into the Boqueira market and came across food vendors including fish, fruit, vegetables, meat and cheese. Around the corners of the market building, there were tapas bars. At one recommended by Ryanair´s inflight magazine, there was a long queue. Even worse that the last place with a queue, there wasn´t a menu. So, I gave up and went to another tapas bar. I managed to order some food by speaking in French. After all, the French border is only 80 miles away.
In the afternoon, I followed the Modernist route, checking out wavy buildings by Gaudi and his contemporiries ^sic^
In the evening I went to an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. There was a choice of spaghetti with white or red sauce and stodgy pizza with various tastless colourings.
However, the paella was reasonable as were the salads. The 8 types of ice-cream and a free beer made the menu worthwhile.
On my way back, I went to a flamenco show at a restaurant. There was a singer, a guitarist and a female danceer. She was reasonable but the show came alive when the diners took to the stage. At one point there were 10 people doing their imitations of flamenco. There was a short interlude where a dozen people dance the macarena at ever-increasing speeds.
Labels: Barcelona, flamenco, Gaudi, Las Ramblas. Boqueria
posted by Iconochasm at 11:43 pm
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