Angela's Andean Adventures.
Barcelona Trip 2004 - Part 4
A Final Hola!
Well I am back safe and sound after the most fantastic holiday with
wonderful Peruvian and Catalan people and tomorrow I will be back at work as
usual.
After writing on Tuesday evening I had a two block walk back to the flat
but when I got outside everything looked unfamiliar in the dark. I found my
way to Euroski and should have known the way from there but took a wrong
turn and ended up completely lost! After a while I saw a woman walking
towards me and asked her the way and she was really helpful. She did not
know but asked other people on my behalf and then accompanied me right to
the door. We had quite a laugh over it when I got inside, with Alfredo
unable to believe I had got lost in such a short distance! I was never too
worried though because as a last resort I could have phoned them.
On Wednesday three of us went out after breakfast for the day, Alfredo,
Melba and me. We went by metro as usual, changing direction once and ending
up at Espanya. The transport system in Barcelona is absolutely marvellous -
one can buy a ticket called a T-10 (pronounced tay dee-eth) for 6 euros (£4)
which is good for ten journeys on either TMB bus and metro, ordinary bus,
FGC train, tram or RENFE rail and you never have to wait more than a minute
or two for the train. Also using the ticket in one of these forms of
transport entitles you to a free ride on another form of transport if the
journey takes place within an hour and a quarter of the first one, allowing
one to undertake a really long journey for only 60 centimes which is about
40p.
When we exited the station at Espanya which is pretty central, our
destination was Montjuic - off to one side was an old bull-ring which is
presently being refurbished - bull-fights mainly taking place in the summer
months. Montjuic itself is really special and well worth a visit to the
discerning visitor. It is a magnificent building and to reach it one walks
along an avenue which has fountains all the way down on both sides of each
approach, left and right, a huge square in between. Unfortunately I could
not see the weekend spectacle which takes place on Fridays and Saturdays
because I was away in Lleida, but anyone visiting Barcelona over a weekend
should not miss it. The fountains come to life in millions of colours which
'dance' accompanied by musical performances - but only on Friday and
Saturday evenings. In the summer months it also occurs on Thursdays and
Sundays. Definitely I will make sure to see this on my next visit - which
will probably be in November because I will be going back for the
christening of Melba and John's baby girl which is due in 2 weeks.
But despite having missed seeing this in the evening, it is well worth a
visit by daylight too - Montjuic itself is a spectacular building reached by
several sets of steps and from the top you get a fantastic panoramic view of
Barcelona and hopefully one of the pictures I took of this vista will appear
on my webpage at some future point. For those interested in museums and art
galleries there is an art exhibition going on in Montjuic at the moment -
which brings me to another handy tip for Barcelona visitors - you can buy
the Barcelona card which entitles you to entrance into as many museums and
art galleries that you can fit in during your visit. For example a one day
Barcelona card costs 17 euros but a 5-day one is only 27 euros. The five day
one is probably a great investment for those who wish to visit all these
places and a tremendous saving over paying the individual entrance prices.
After visiting Montjuic we went for a late lunch and found an excellent
place right in the centre offering a brilliant 3-course set lunch for 9
euros which we all enjoyed. Then we went window shopping in the centre and
both Melba and I bought summer tops in boutiques along the way and I bought
sandals as well.
Coming out of one boutique we could smell the delicious ice-cream in a
nearby Italian ice-cream shop, offering about 40 different flavours of
ice-cream and we enjoyed four scoops each of different favourite flavours,
all of us being great lovers of ice-cream.
Then we walked down La Rambla as I was looking for a Spanish cookery book
I had seen earlier in my visit and luckily managed to find it, with the
delightful surprise that an English version was available. I bought it
because of one wonderful recipe - Zarzuelah (which I had in restaurants in
Pays Basque and found it unforgettable) and at the end of this email you
will find the recipe. It is a brilliant dish for a really special occasion
and easy enough to make.
Then we had to hurry homeward and finally got back at 6 o'clock where I
quickly changed clothes and then had time to read my emails before we set
off for Nancy's house as we had been invited there for dinner that evening.
One of my emails was from a friend in Argentina asking if I could find any
magazines on Patchwork and I tried to find one on our way but unfortunately
could not. There were loads of magazines on cross-point and embroidery or
crotchet but nothing on patchwork unfortunately. I wished I had had more
time to look for one because of it being in Spanish. I am sure I can find
one here in England but being able to read it might prove a problem. I will
be looking for one in town this Saturday.
We had a lovely time at Nancy and Omar's house - Nancy cooked us a
wonderful meal which we enjoyed with wine and took lots of photos and had
fun with the children aged 3 and 10 - Kelly the older one enjoying
practising her English with me. Earlier in the day Melba had given me
presents to take back for Aquiles and Nancy gave me another lot! When we
finally went home later we went by bus which meant a shorter walk at the
other end, the metro station being a good 15-minute walk from their home.
This morning I was up quite early as it was a mammoth task packing
everything into my case and rucksack. I ended up with my case being so full
I could barely close it and knew it was a lot heavier going back than the
day I arrived. Also the rucksack was full and a large carrier bag was also
full of Spanish products being taken home. We left the flat at 11 am as I
wanted to allow plenty of time to get to the airport, not knowing the
regularity of the trains from Sants Estacio station to the airport and
Alfredo kindly accompanied me. This meant the long walk to the metro, taking
a detour up a hill to avoid having to carry the case up a very long flight
of steps. The case was easy to roll along on wheels but had to be lifted up
any steps. Highlighted by the fact that until then I had never noticed how
many flights of steps up and down were involved in both stations! By the
time we made it to the Renfe platform for the train going to the airport my
case had started to split on one side, the split getting bigger every time I
lifted it! I knew that unless something was done about it I would end up
losing half the contents on the flight home. When I checked in the case I
asked and was relieved to find they did a case wrapping service nearby - for
4.5 euros per case one could get it heavily wrapped in Clingfilm on a
machine. It weighed exactly 20 kilos on the way back compared to the 13 kg
on the outward journey and although my hand luggage was far in excess of
that allowed I was lucky in that they did not charge me any overweight fees.
The journey home was on time and uneventful and I landed this afternoon to
temperatures cooler than the sunny day I had left behind - accordingly to
the pilot 11 degrees centigrade compared with around 17 in Barcelona.
In a couple of days one final email will follow which will explain more
about the history and legend of the mountain sanctuary at Montserrat and
something about the Catalan traditions, which will be of especial interest
to anyone visiting Barcelona. My day trip to Montserrat with Alfredo was one
of the most magical experiences imaginable and I highly recommend it.
Also, anyone interested in art would enjoy the various exhibitions
celebrating 100 years of Gaudi, 1904 to 2004, whose famous paintings,
sculptures and architecture are evident everywhere in the city, one of the
best examples of his architecture being Sagrada Familia cathedral which is
stunning. Barcelona has 6 million inhabitants and is known as the capital of
the Mediterranean. The exhibition I visited in Lleida was to celebrate El
Retablo de Maese - a Perez opera by Falla combined with images (in large
puppet form made of metal and leather) from the book of El Quijote (Don
Quixote) by Cervantes - and the 800 year old cathedral high on the hill
there is called La Seu Vella de Lleida which translated means 'the old
cathedral of Lleida'. The latter part of this email will also include
something about the history of this ancient building.
Leaving you now with the Zarzuela recipe which is sautéed mixed seafood.
ZARZUELA (Sautéed Mixed Seafood).
Serving 6-8 people:
Ingredients:
- 1 lobster or crawfish,
- one dozen scallops,
- one dozen fresh scampi,
- about 500 gm of mussels,
- 500 gm of large clams,
- lean cured raw ham in one piece,
- about 100 gm,
- 6 or 7 ripe tomatoes,
- 3 onions,
- 2 sweet peppers,
- 2 cloves of garlic,
- 1 lemon,
- 100 gm shelled almonds,
- saffron,
- bouquet garnet of bayleaf, parsley and thyme,
- dry white wine,
- salt and pepper,
- olive oil.
Method:
Clean the mussels (scrape the shells an remove the 'whiskers' between the
valves and rinse well but do not dry them). Clean the clams and scallops
(extracting the 'nuts' which is the white part of the scallop - remove the
black and brown bits). Scald the lobster in slightly salted boiling water,
then open the shell to remove the flesh but eliminate the intestinal tract.
Prepare all the vegetables by trimming, rinsing and drying them. Slowly
sauté the finely chopped garlic and onions in a large pan with olive oil;
add the diced sweet peppers and the ham cut into thin strips.
Rinse and dry the scampi and toss fry them in a pan with 2 tablespoons
olive oil for 5 minutes. Add these plus the diced tomatoes, 2 glasses of
wine, the juice of the lemon, the bouquet garnet and finely chopped almonds
to the large pan, adding salt and pepper to taste and allow the flavours to
combine for 5 minutes over high heat, then add a sachet of saffron diluted
with a little water, the clams, mussels, the scallop 'nuts', the lobster
flesh cut into pieces and the scampi.
Stir, lower the heat and cook gently for about 10 minutes until the clams
and mussels have opened.
Reduce any excess liquid, remove the bouquet garnet, sprinkle with
chopped parsley and serve.
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