Spain 2018 - Day 1 - Barcelona

[Cousin Orville]

For our pre-night dinner we ate at nearby Con Gracia. It was about 3 blocks from the hotel. They offer 2 pre-fixe menus. One menu was written out, and one was a secret surprise. We chose the surprise menu.

It started out with a sesame cracker with foie gras. It was good, but Gavin was NOT a fan of the flavor of foie gras. It was NOT a good start for him. Thankfully he loved the next dish - a teriyaki tuna. That ended up being his favorite dish.






Next up was a truffle risotto which was awesome. Gavin gave it 2 thumbs up.



Then we had a more typical Spanish dish - chicken croquettes. This was a big hearty dish. I liked it. I think Gavin stopped at one croquette. I think he was getting full though.



Here's a picture of my water. The back story was a little pretentious. Apparently the water comes from a spring in a cave and is directly bottled in the cave in the pitch black. It's in a black bottle, so the waiter was excited to inform us that this is the first time the water has "seen" the light of day (at least from flowing in the stream). A little off the wall, but the waiter was so excited about the water, I had to take a picture to remember it.



Next up, I think was rabbit, but I could be mistaken. It's now been a while. It was very good.



Last was a series of desserts. The first one, the waiter actually played down a bit as overly simple, but I thought it was the best of the 3. It was a pineapple ice cream (similar to a dole whip). In the spoon was a shaved flower that has a numbing, tingling affect. It was similar to the numbing pepper of szechuan, but more potent and effective. The 2 together were pretty good. There was a 2nd chocolate dessert and candy afterwards.


I was really impressed by this restaurant. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a fine dining option nearby in Barcelona. Overall, Gavin did very well. The toughest part for time was just eating there our first night. He was getting tired by the time desserts came around, and it was a typically long Spanish experience. That was really the only free night we had though. It helped us stay up that first night.

Afterwards, we had a short walk home and a good night sleep. The next morning was Day 1 of the Adventure.

 

[kaseyC]

@Cousin Orville, love reading your trip reports and seeing the pictures you share.

 

[EllinK]

This dinner sounds amazing! And, you son is an amazing traveler for being able to last through such a long fancy dinner.

 

[Cousin Orville]

@Cousin Orville, love reading your trip reports and seeing the pictures you share.

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words!

This dinner sounds amazing! And, you son is an amazing traveler for being able to last through such a long fancy dinner.

Yes, he usually pretty does well with these restaurants. Especially with pre-fixe menus with a few small plates. I think he likes it because doesn't get overwhelmed by one large dish. And if he doesn't like a particular dish, it's no big deal. He's pretty willing to try. Con Gracia was longer than most (I think because of the Spanish life style), but he made it!

 

[figment52]

I am so glad you came back to this report. I am interested in this trip and have not seen any other reports.

I know these take time and I thank you for sharing.
.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 1 - Barcelona

We met our guides downstairs - Cesc and Eva both from Spain. We also had Amelie as a shadow guide. She's a WDW VIP guide and is going to make a great ABD guide. We spoke with Cesc about possible touring options today. He recommended going to a food and wine festival on Las Ramblas. They only have it 1 day a year and today was the day! We decided to walk down to Las Ramblas. It was around a 25 min walk, but Barcelona is so lovely we didn't mind. Here are some of the buildings you pass along the way.







The Gin and Tonic is pretty much the national drink of Spain. Who knew? But it's true. Most bars will offer a dozen or more fancy gins. And street side cafes would advertise gin and tonics.




So, we walked down to La Boqueria on Las Ramblas. We just walked around for a few minutes checking out the food offerings. It's neat to see, but crowded.







We then tried to head to the coast to see the Disney Magic docked in Barcelona that day, but the W Hotel complex blocked it. So, we headed to the food and wine festival.





It was great to see see locals and tourists hanging out. It was cool. You bought a set of tokens and went around to different stalls to trade in tokens for food, soft drinks, wine.

From there we met up with the ABD group for our first activity, a tour through the Picasso Museum. Here's a picture from the courtyard. The building is lovely. It's in the Gothic quarter.



The museum itself is ok. I enjoyed it since we hadn't been there before. It's a lot of Picasso's very early work before cubism. It was impressive how good an artist he was at such a young age in a realism style. It's not a must do experience though IMO unless you happen to be a big Picasso fan. So, I enjoyed it well enough, but it was probably my least favorite of all our Barcelona experiences.

That evening we had our welcome dinner. It was ok. As a common theme of my trip reports, I'm rarely thrilled about the food at welcome dinners. Most are just ok, this was the same. I think that goes with the territory of hotel catered buffets. Meh. But it was cool to meet all our fellow guests. Continued in the next post...

 

[Cousin Orville]

We had a good group of guests. I think we were in the mid 30's. I know ABD numbers have been a hot topic recently. It didn't seem to slow us up any. There was a very large family reunion in our group (maybe 10). They were very nice, but tended to stick to themselves. I guess that would be my fear of being on the outside of a small group. Nevertheless, we had a great group of guests. I met a number of new good friends on the group. Overall, it was off to a good start.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I am so glad you came back to this report. I am interested in this trip and have not seen any other reports.

I know these take time and I thank you for sharing.
.

Thanks! Yeah, for whatever reason there's not a lot of reviews or info about the Spain ABD here. That surprises me since our group was a full group and after ours, they started running two Spain ABD's simultaneously. Cesc and another guide were to take one group and Eva and Amelie another. So, there's a decent number of Spain ABDs going.

 

[tink1970]

We're in Barcelona now so even more fun to read your tr!

 

[Cousin Orville]

We're in Barcelona now so even more fun to read your tr!

Cool, enjoy! Are you there for ABD?

 

[tink1970]

Cool, enjoy! Are you there for ABD?

No, just got off the Magic. Loved it last year (after Magic cruise) so decided to spend more time this year. DD spent two weeks in June in Spain and loved it so haven't ruled out a future ABD here though

 

[Cousin Orville]

No, just got off the Magic. Loved it last year (after Magic cruise) so decided to spend more time this year. DD spent two weeks in June in Spain and loved it so haven't ruled out a future ABD here though

Oh, that's awesome! We've sailed in and out of BCN on the Magic a few times. So great. That's why we were trying to see the Magic when running around Barcelona before our ABD. I'm sure you had a great time. Enjoy Barcelona!

 

[disneyphx]

Looking forward to following along - we have thought about this one a few years, but the dates never seem to work. And the heat scares us a little.....

 

[Cousin Orville]

Looking forward to following along - we have thought about this one a few years, but the dates never seem to work. And the heat scares us a little.....

Thanks! It was a wonderful ABD. We lucked out as far as the weather. It was unseasonably cool. The only downside was it was a little too cold to swim when we got to the coast. But I'm sure it usually gets quite hot in the summer.

 

[carolinatennisgirl]

Hi, We love reading your thoughts on the trip, will you be writing a report on the entire trip? We are on the Sept 8th AE and would appreciate any suggestions or helpful information as we plan dinners or excursions for free time. Thank you!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Hi, We love reading your thoughts on the trip, will you be writing a report on the entire trip? We are on the Sept 8th AE and would appreciate any suggestions or helpful information as we plan dinners or excursions for free time. Thank you!

I still plan to work on it in the next week or two. Just been busy with the end of summer. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Yes, ITA with you on the welcome dinners. Very lackluster food offerings. I'd probably skip them but then we'd miss all the introductions!

I am enjoying your trip report! I don't think I've read one on Spain on here before!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 2 - Barcelona

This morning we went up to Park Guell, designed by Gaudi. It was cool. I've seen a lot of other Gaudi sites on previous trips, but we had never gone up to Park Guell. It was gorgeous and well worth a visit. Like all his other art, nature is the overwhelming theme in his design. The mosaic work is simply beautiful.
















From Park Guell, we continued to Sagrada Familia. I was last here about 5 years ago. The cathedral is still under construction. So, it was interesting to see the changes. They've installed new tiles floors and put up rainbow colored stained glass that bathes the ceiling in multi-colored light. It just keeps getting more and more beautiful.












To be continued...

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 2 Barcelona (continued)

For lunch we headed to the beach to eat at La Fitora. They offered a variety of great Spanish food served family style. It was pretty good.



After lunch we were given the option of stopping at El Pueblo Espanol and touring around on our own or heading back to the hotel. About 1/3 of the group got off. The rest went back to the hotel. We got off as well. It was ok. I'd probably recommend staying on the bus and just relaxing at the hotel. El Pueblo Espanol had a few shops you could check out and a park with a very tall slide lots of the kids were enjoying. I went to a leather shop and purchased some belts for Gavin and me. But you're not missing much if you skip it. When we left in a taxi, we turned a corner and discovered we were right next to the art museum with the Disney exhibit! I had no idea they were next to one another.

We relaxed at the hotel for a bit and had dinner on our own. We decided to go to a Tapas restaurant. We chose Vivo Tapas not too far from the hotel. We had patatas bravas (Gavin's favorite!), fried artichokes, grilled shrimp, burger sliders and great chocolate. The food was excellent. They also offered a fantastic Gin & Tonic menu.













It was a great day. The time in Barcelona is short. So, if it's your first time, I'd recommend arriving a couple of days early. There's a lot more you can check out on your own from Casa Batllo, Las Ramblas, more of the medieval section, the medieval Barcelona Cathedral, and the beach. It really is a city that deserves 3 or 4 days, but it's easy to get around. Taxis are pretty honest and plentiful from my experience. Like Paris and Rome, Barcelona is really one of the great European "must see" cities.

Next up, Madrid.

 

[met19]

Another @Cousin Orville trip report. Love these. Glad you and Gavin enjoyed the trip.