Barcelona Dia Tres

Thanks to Patagonia bar, we got a bit of a later start on day 3. After some BS Powder (most amazing stuff ever) and coffee, we set out to explore as much of the city as we could on foot.

Now when you order coffee in Europe, you actually get espresso, as indicated by my mini-cup below. However, it was just what I needed for a quick jolt. 

Interestingly, many of the tourist maps had Starbucks locations highlighted on them, and they were everywhere! But, we ducked into a local shop to support local businesses. 

I have no idea which direction we went when we started walking, but we knew that eventually we wanted to check out the beach area. We found another plaza area with more musicians and shops, and kept going until we hit the beach and stopped for lunch. Now Europe is not known for its waiter service. In fact, in most places a tip is not required. So there's the good and the bad to that. The good is that you don't spend 20% more on your meal; the bad is that they could care less how long your meal takes or if you have water.  Since we were in a coastal city I decided to get seafood for lunch. I also didn't take into consideration that many places serve their fish like this:

At least I know it's fresh from the ocean?

Along our walk we discovered this park, Park Ciutadella, which is just north of the Olympic Village, beach and where the Zoo is located. It reminded me of Central Park with a lake, several fountains, buildings, museums and hippies. We saw people tight rope walking, playing some sort of hippie Frisbee and balancing glass balls on their shoulders. It was definitely one of my favorite sights in the city.

Sandcastles on the beach

For dinner that night we stopped at a place around the corner from us and oh-em-gee. It was the best meal we had on the trip, dare we say ever! They put small photos of all their tapas on a sheet and since our waitress didn't speak any English, we just circled them and put a number next to each piece for how many we wanted of each. I think we ordered 16 plates and all, and we tried to order more but they were out of one of our favorites. Do yourself a favor and visit Txapela if you ever visit Barca and get #12 and #21. I'm still thinking of those dishes right now..

Not sure where the random kid came from or what he's doing to the menu....

Today was our last day in Barcelona, and we have a 2 and a half hour flight to Dublin tomorrow. A few observations/questions we had about Barcelona: 

1) Believe people when they tell you to watch for pickpocketers

2) Eat at Txapela

3) People here love their pringles

4) Do you think the term "tapa" derived from the fact that many of their tapas are served "on top" of bread?

5) Do you think the American term "gaudy" derived from "Gaudi's" style? 

If you have any insight into #5 let me know, I can't get it out of my head!