Monday, June 2, 2014- Lunch on the beach in Barcelona, Spain at La Guingueta
Jamie says: From the Christopher Columbus statue, we took a taxi to the beach. The cab driver spook some of the best English of any local yet and was listening to a hard rock version of an older American song, which I somewhat enjoyed. We soon arrived at the beach.
Hello, Barcelona beach!
The cab driver dropped us off at “the place to eat,” but it didn’t appeal to us and was quite pricey. We walked to the boardwalk. The crazy thing is is that we were on the beach- and there were mountains in the distance! (Oh, and check out that shiny gold awning. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what it was, but it was cool.)
Boardwalk
It was exciting just to be on the beach.
Beautiful Barcelona beach
We paused for a family selfie…
Hello from the Stolarz family
…and continued on our journey. On the way to finding our destination lunch spot, I was intrigued by the open, shack-like pavilions on the sand. I soon learned some were restrooms…
Prime real estate potty
…and some were restaurants. Now that’s where I wanted to be- at a restaurant that was literally on the sand. My Dad found one with a fresh, trendy style.
Trendy bar area at the restaurant
We were seated at a table right by the sand.
Let’s do lunch at La Guingueta!
It was ordering time. Guacamole was in line. I’d been craving it. We ordered it for the table. A generous portion was served with chips.
I love guacamole!
K and I did a pick two. Meaning, we shared two items. We decided on the tuna sandwich and the spinach salad.
The spinach salad was tasty. It was topped with a variety of dried fruits, chunks of cheese, pine nuts, and a nice oil-based dressing.
Light and tasty spinach salad
The tuna sandwich looked plain but was surprisingly good. I ate my sandwich piecemeal. First, I took the top off and ate the bread with a garlic mayo and olives. Then I went for the bottom half of the sandwich with tuna and oil.
Tasty tuna sandwich (don’t be deceived by the plain look)
Mom ordered a tomato bread, which like the tuna, also looked plain but was a pleasant surprise.
Spain loves their bread with tomatoes
I enjoyed dipping the bread in the chipotle sauce (which gave it a spicy pop) and garlic mayo (nicely salted and with a perfect amount of garlic flavor).
Chipotle sauce and garlic mayo- the prefect spread for bread
After lunch, we hit the shore. Compared to the beaches back at home, I noticed two big differences- the dress code (there were a few topless women) and the absence of seashells (their seashells were rocks). I was so excited and surprised to see the beautiful rocks on the shore. I had a flashback to that special day in elementary school where they brought in stones in sand with hidden rocks for a mini geology lesson. I carefully selected most of my rocks and then took a random handful for some variety. My family let me go at it…I was in my element.
Rock hunting! So happy!
I loaded my backpack with about a kilo of rocks (it was worth the weight), and we headed back to the boardwalk. On the way back, I saw some creative shelving at one of the beach restaurants that screamed “Pinterest.” Don’t you agree?
Pinterest-worthy!
And the icing on the sandcastle cake? Running into public art dedicated to the water sports- water polo, swimming, and diving! The first two- J & K sports! (K and I played water polo and swam together in high school, and I continued them at the club level in college.)
Go water polo and swimming!
I soon realized how big water polo is here. There were huge banners advertising upcoming tournaments not only on the side of the aquatics building, but also on little posters in the city.
H2O polo. It’s a big deal here!
We said goodbye to the beach and decided to walk back into the center of town. I was so glad we made it to the beach!
Two Sisters Dine Out 