Ok, maybe just a little obsessed. Besides, Phil’s motto has always been “Travelling is all about killing time in between meals”, so that’s the way we travel Europe.

And I have changed my mind, now I have 3 Barcelona highlights; the market, Gaudi, and the coffee. Back in NY at my coffee shop, 9th St Coffee, I used to order a “cortado” daily. It’s an espresso with a dash of hot milk, much less milk than a latte, cappacino, or a flat white. It makes me happy. Guess what I discovered in Barcelona - many consistently good cortados! Barcelona is heaven.

While were on the topic of drinks, in the above photo you’ll notice the jug of Sangria and the almost empty glasses. We also had lots of yummy Sangria (see additional photos below), except when we went to the English bar to watch the World Cup, their Sangria was crap. Although When we ventured into the local supermarket we discovered a litre of Sangria for 1 Euro - I wonder if that’s worse? Probably not as bad as the 47 cent bottle of wine (we bought it and intended to try it but never got around to it and left it at the hotel).

Wine is so cheap in Barcelona that any wine above four Euros warrants a theft deterrent device, as you can see above.

Then of course there’s the Tapas. Unlike the US, and I expect Australia, tapas is inexpensive and available from lunchtime onwards. We ate a lot of it. Cured meat, cheese, anchovies, and bread rubbed with tomato, garlic and olive oil are the staples. Often there’s a selection of bread and various toppings along a counter that you can choose from - easier than deciphering menus. Phil also had some Gaspacho which was served in a way we’d never seen before with the chopped capsiucum (peppers), onion, croutons and cucumber on the side. Delicious.