A Much Appreciated Day Off

Friday, we had nothing planned or scheduled which made us both relieved.  It seemed we had been going "flat out" for a long time and the thought of an unstructured day was a huge relief.  The breakfast offered by our hotel is a joke.  That is one of the few downsides to it.  If your idea of breakfast is tea or coffee served in paper cups with a croissant on a napkin that you then have to take back to your room because there is no seating area, then you would love it!  After Day 1 of trying that, we decided to forego the dreadful coffee and tea and head somewhere for a proper breakfast.  

Afterwards, we simply wandered.  Our first stop was El Cortes Ingles, the large Spanish department store.  Nothing like a little "retail therapy" after all those tours!  Then, along the street which runs from Placa de la Catalunya to the old town, we stopped at a series of artisan boutiques.  Up on Montjuic, there is an area called Spanish Village or Poble Espanyol where, in addition to life-size replicas of castellos (castles) and plazas from Andalusia to Catalonia plus restaurants it is possible to browse artisan shops.  Thankfully, some of these artisans also have stalls in the city as we had no time to go and visit Poble Espanyol.  And, needless to say, there was lots to tempt us and, indeed, we made some purchases!  

Yes, that's Nawal shopping - what a surprise!

We continued further along near the walls of the old town where yesterday we noticed they were setting up stalls for an exhibition to celebrate the regional foods of Spain.  Today, it was open and there was a lot to tempt us.  We sampled flavoured sesame seeds, candies, and nuts which, of course, let us to buying some.  After we had a break sipping rose wine and watching the comings and goings, Nawal bought some tokens (1 Euro each which you needed to buy some of the foods and wines) as she was getting hungry.  We perused a number of stalls that had some very bizarre English translations for some of the items!  She generously gave me 4 tokens to I could try a Cava Brut Reserve (which included the glass).  It was lovely!

We didn't want to know what "creamy pig" was but,
whatever it is, there it is on little brioche buns below! 

And we still have no idea what "snakelocks" are and I know I don't want to!

Later that day, it rained again so we didn't go far for dinner.  Thankfully, there are a couple of tapas bars just a few steps from our hotel doorway.  We had an early evening as Saturday was going to be a very full day with an early start.