Cody Needham has been studying The Cuisine of the Mediterranean this semester, so Carolyn and I decided to make a trip to visit him. Neither of us had been to Barcelona, and with Cody there, it seemed like a good time to go.
We flew from Miami on October 20th, arriving in Barcelona on the 21st, and returned on October 28th.
It was a fabulous trip. Barcelona is truly a magical city. The Catalan people are wonderful. We had no idea what we were doing when we booked out hotel, except that it was, according to Google Maps, it was walking distance from Cody's residence.
But it was also in a terrific neighborhood. It had a rooftop bar when the a view of the Mediterranean. It was walking distance from one tourist-y site after another. The Museu Picasso. The Museu de la Xocolata, where the museum tickets are small bars of chocolate. The Museum of of Contemporary Art. Palau Guëll. We also saw La Sagrada Familia, the Basilica of the Sacred Family. We visited Park Guëll.
The food was great. The Iberico ham was the best ham I've ever had. We had cocktails and dinner at Paradiso, which Bloomberg News called “the best bar in the world” and was a short walk from our hotel. We had our 25th anniversary dinner at El Nacional and followed that up the next night with dinner at Michelin starred Restaurant Xavier Pellicer, at Cody's strong recommendation.
I posted tons of pictures over on the IG but here are some new ones and some repeats.
John P. Needham
November 3, 2022
Naples, FL