Barcelona, Spain – November 17, 2010

Forgetting my camera equates to no photographs for this trip!

I rode here with my good friend Ron.  We left Madrid at about 08:30 and arrived in Barcelona at about 15:00.  We unloaded our cargo, left the vehicle at the office, and took a taxi to the Hotel Claris.  After we checked in, we went up to the rooftop bar and had a drink.  We sat there quite a while talking; however, we both only had one drink each.

The last time he and I were here we had gone down near the beach.  There we sat outside of a Mexican restaurant, had a beer, and ate some tortilla chips.  This time we decided to go back there and have dinner.  The restaurant is Café Mexicana.  We sat inside this time because it was cold and there was some drizzle.

For dinner, I had a ground beef taco, served in a flour tortilla, for the first course.  For the main course, I ordered TexMex Lasagna. It was tremendous.  The food was in a clay pot about one inch high and five inches in diameter.  It had obviously just come out of the oven because the pot was on top of a small, round piece of wood.  On the bottom in the pot was a flour tortilla.  On top of that was ground beef and beans.  Then there was some Edam cheese.  Then another layer just like the first was added.  Lastly, one final flour tortilla was placed on top with more Edam cheese sprinkled on top.  Somewhere, somehow, yogurt was included in the dish.  It was delicious!

On the second night, Ron and I went to the restaurant Siete Portos (Seven Ports).  It is down near the harbor.  I have had several people tell me I should go there but I had never done so.  It was quite good.  They started us with some bread and wine.  With the bread, they served four different types of olive oil.  There were also some olives to share.

The first course was a lobster bisque soup.  It was delicious.  The main course was a steak; however, it was served in a manner I have never seen.  It was on a large bone.  Arranged around the bone were slices of the cooked steak.  The slices were about 3/8″ thick.  The side dish was whole, roasted peppers.  They sort of looked like jalapenos, but they were not hot at all.  For the final course, I had lemon sorbet.  That was a very refreshing way to end the meal.  The bill was 106€ (US$130).

• Spain