Kiwi Roaming

A quick post to talk about the food in Barcelona, we have had amazing food everywhere to be honest but particularly enjoyed it here, but first Miró.

Fundació Joan Miró – is a wonderful museum designed by Miró and one of his close architect friends to house his collection which he gifted for display. The museum keeps the permanent collection interesting by curating different lenses on Miró’s works. We saw a series of donated artworks from American artists he collaborated with or was friends with when in exile from Spain and later when he moved to the states. It is a lovely site and means you wander through rooms with differing themes. As he aged Miró wanted to ensure his art works were accessible to the public so developed loads of sculpture commissions for civic squares etc. This collection has a small number of sculptures but mostly his canvas based mahi. There is however a massive sculpture in Barcelona we went to see from above (via a viewing platform).

The Fundació Joan Miró is located up on Montjuïc which is why we took the funicular up some of the way. The Olympic stadium and other galleries are up there as well so the park was crazy busy – especially as we left people were starting to head to the Barca match. We walked down via a Greek amphitheatre and other gardens and other than the occasional shower it was a lovely space to be spending time in.

Now to food!

To be fair we have loved the food on our whole trip. Barcelona wasn’t cheap food wise, when you compare with north western Spain, but it was enjoyable. Tapas are the best way to eat to be honest, small quantities of a wide variety of options to share with a glass of wine is wonderful – pardron peppers, calamari, gyoza, dumplings, croquettes. And I finally got to Honest Greens a small chain of vege/vegan restaurants I’ve had marked in every city we visit, so it was great to have one right near our hotel!

One of our most enjoyable meals in Barcelona was when we left Park Güell it started to rain so we headed down through the rafts of cafes and tat shops that lined the streets towards the metro – then it really started raining so we hoped into a local restaurant. It had no street presence at all, inside was a big bar counter with people sitting up having a drink and a snack, then off to the side and as it turned out deep into the site there were tables. We took a table right near the counter and enjoyed the chaos that happened over the course of a couple of hours. The meal was simple – a protein (mine chicken, Steve’s meatballs) with grilled vegetables and hand cut fries – but delicious. We shared a dessert and watched the rain outside. The fun part was the people, the yelling in Spanish so we couldn’t understand a word and the whole experience of this small local diner filling up with locals.

I mentioned a Westfield too. It was an indoor outdoor mall, with shops above ground and below. There we went to Uniqlo and Honest Greens. We loved walking back through the mall at 9pm, 23C and there were families everywhere enjoying outdoor entertainment and shopping.

Finally I should talk about sandwiches, the cheapest thing on every menu and very popular with university students. We accidentally ordered tortilla sandwiches in one breakfast place (that was license to print money) and then kept seeing people eating them everywhere. Basically they are quarter of a baguette with a filling toasted and they cost bugger all so very filling. Not unique to Barcelona but we saw them everywhere – because everyone eats outside! which is the best thing. Loved our food experiences here.