Barcelona for Foodies

I am terrible at planning. Attention to detail was never my strength, so it is rare for trips to go as expected. So, I was hardly surprised when I realized that my friend would only be in Barcelona for one of the three days that I planned to visit her. No biggie, I was in Madrid alone all week, why not try going solo in Barcelona?

Since I had already spent some time in Barcelona I wasn’t really interested in doing the typical touristic stops, especially not by myself. Instead, I decided to take a food tour of the neighborhood Gracia with Devour Barcelona, and it was the perfect way to spend my Saturday morning

Gracia is like a whole other city. Its small streets are filled with shops, cafes and restaurants. Instead of English between tourists you hear Catalan or Spanish spoken amongst locals and the flag of Catalonia is seen on every block. Wandering these streets gave me a completely new perspective on Barcelona, seen in the best way — through its food.

Our first stop was Cal Boter where we ate a full breakfast, which is rare in Spain. This included botifarra and white beans and a glass of cava. I will never complain about wine at breakfast, so the cava was a nice touch. I was even more excited when we got to try drinking from a Spanish wine pitcher called a porrón was a bonus.

Next, we headed to a local market where we stopped by two stands called Xarcuteria Fàbregas and La Trobada del Gourmet. Here we tried jamón iberico as well as some Spanish cheeses.

After the market, we walked over to Oli Sal, where we did an olive oil tasting and learned how to tell if your olive oil is high quality or not.

From here we headed to an amazing Syrian bakery called Pastisseria Principe, where unfortunately I felt uncomfortable taking any photos. I did get to taste the most amazing chocolate almond pastry though, and would highly recommend the shop!

Next up was Bodega Ca’l Pep. Here we met the most amazing group of retired Spaniards who spend most of their time hanging out in the bar with all of their friends. This group sang us some traditional Catalonian music while we drank and ate. As for food, we got to drink amazing vermouth while snacking on traditional tapas.

I was getting full at this point, but I couldn’t stop yet! Next was a tiny take out shop called La Botigueta del Bon Menjar. Here we tried a traditional “pintxo” or tapa, and also some homemade meatballs in a bean and pea gravy. I was skeptical of this one but it was incredible. Imagine if we had take away like this in the U.S?!

Our final stop of the day was called Pastisseria Ideal. We ended the day on a sweet note with some coffee and a mini cremat.

By the end of the tour I was absolutely stuffed. I think the best way to get to know a city is by the food, and this tour was perfect for that.