Fall Break Recap: Barcelona Day 2!

If the weather on our first day in Barcelona was dreadful, on our second day, it was heavenly. Warm and breezy. With Kaitlin in Lisbon, Isabel moved into Cande's with us, so now there would be three of us on a full-sized futon! Around noon, the three of us hashed out the day's plans on Cande's table. We would try to check out all of Amy's recommended restaurants and special sites, starting with tapas lunch at Txapela. This time, we were a little wiser, and ordered a couple tapas per person to try. They were delicious, but since the tapas were literally bite-sized, I still wasn't full!

We decided to walk down La Rambla, Barcelona's most famous street. It was so lively and filled with entertainers, promoters, and street vendors... but we had to be careful too, because it's also one of the most common places to be pick-pocketed, and trust me, I never want that to happen again! We found St. Josep's Boqueria, a huge market that had every kind of food imaginable. I was in heaven! I bought a plate of exotic fruit, which sated my appetite completely.

When we reached the end of La Rambla, we found ourselves in Port Vell, a beautiful port with tons of boats and seafood restaurants. It was so relaxing just to sit by the dock and later the beach to take in the sun and scenery.

But my favorite part of Port Vell was the incredible restaurant we found -- it was truly a gem! I wish I had jotted down the name for you all. We feasted on a 3 course meal (in huge portions too) for only 12 euro! I had a huge plate of mussels for my first course, steak and fries for my second, chocolate mousse for dessert, and sangria. Best. meal. of. my. life! I'm not even sure how to categorize this meal -- we had already had lunch, but it was too early for dinner, which in Spain usually starts around 10pm. But when you find such a great place like this, no matter what time it is, you go!

Look at our mussels!

That night, we went to dinner again, because we met up with Isabel's friend Ali, who's studying abroad in Barcelona. Her friends were super nice, and gave us a bunch of suggestions on places to go out that night. All of the places matched Amy's recommendations, so we were doubly prepared. We headed out to Chupitos at around 1am, and had delicious "Finding Nemo" shots, where you have to fish out an M&M in whipped cream with your tongue while your hands are tied behind your back. (There are all sorts of other crazy shots which I'll tell you about later in my next post.) But it was sooo incredibly crowded in Chupitos, we were getting shoved left and right by the crowd. So we downed our shots and called it a night. They were yummy... tasted like dessert!