{"id":1385,"date":"2015-01-27T00:52:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T08:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/?p=1385"},"modified":"2015-02-03T01:02:08","modified_gmt":"2015-02-03T09:02:08","slug":"barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/?p=1385","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/three.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1405\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/three-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"three\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/three-224x300.jpg 224w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/three-765x1024.jpg 765w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/three-1030x1379.jpg 1030w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/three.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/031.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1406\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/031-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"031\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/031-224x300.jpg 224w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/031-765x1024.jpg 765w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/031-1030x1379.jpg 1030w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/031.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/047.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1407\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/047-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"047\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/047-224x300.jpg 224w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/047-765x1024.jpg 765w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/047-1030x1379.jpg 1030w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/047.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/037.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1408\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/037-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"037\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/037-224x300.jpg 224w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/037-765x1024.jpg 765w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/037-1030x1379.jpg 1030w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/037.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-921.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1391\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-921-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"MB 92\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-921-199x300.jpg 199w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-921.jpg 425w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-911.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1390\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-911-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"MB 91\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-911-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-911.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-93.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1389\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-93-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"MB 9\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-93-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-93.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-81.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1388\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-81-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"MB 8\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-81-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-81.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-71.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1387\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-71-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"MB 7\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-71-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-71.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-61.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1386\" src=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-61-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"MB 6\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-61-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/easethemain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/MB-61.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is not easy to meet up with friends and relatives on this trip. In fact, it can be ridiculously difficult if you don\u2019t follow this cruising guideline: \u201cYou can pick the time. Or you can pick the place. But you can\u2019t pick both.\u201d It may not seem that difficult to coordinate meeting up, but it can be extremely difficult to get your boat to a certain location at an exact time. Weather, crew fatigue, boat repairs and prevailing conditions all contribute to how fast or slow we go. As another cruiser once told us, \u201cthe most dangerous piece of equipment on board a sailboat is a calendar.\u201d We just don\u2019t know where we are going to be and when we are going to be there. We make major changes all the time. Here are just a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We hadn\u2019t intended on cruising the Sea of Cortez when going down the coast of Mexico. However, when we got to Cabo San Lucas we decided we couldn\u2019t *not* go so we spent a little over two weeks exploring part of that wonderful area. (Note: this was a woefully insignificant amount of time to explore the Sea of Cortez, but it gave us enough of a taste to know we want to come back. In fact, this whole trip seems like it\u2019s been that way!)<\/li>\n<li>We had originally intended on going to the \u201cABC Islands\u201d from Panama, and then make our way up the Lesser Antilles, but prevailing conditions meant we\u2019d be beating to weather for thousands of miles, and the sea conditions in the vicinity of the Gulf of Venezula are notoriously rough. So we opted instead to beat to weather only 700 miles to Jamaica. We ended up missing the Lesser Antilles entirely.<\/li>\n<li>We had intended on crossing the Atlantic later than we actually did, but in conversations with our weather router (Commander\u2019s Weather) we decided to bring in the shove off date by 6 weeks, which meant we had to cruise up the U.S. East Coast much faster than anticipated.<\/li>\n<li>When we made landfall in Europe, our original plan was to go as far East as possible (Greece, maybe Turkey) and then slowly make our way back. However, when we got to Lisbon the thought of going another 2,000 nautical miles in a short amount of time (in Winter) was not appealing (and we were exhausted) so we decided to slowly make our way East instead<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We also make changes to our sailing plan on a daily, and sometimes hourly basis. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When we were cruising up the Intracoastal Waterway in North Carolina we were heading up to Manteo. We had been keeping an eye on a tropical depression that was forming off of Florida. As we were making our way up toward Manteo the tropical depression deepened and we decided to make our way more inland. \u00a0During the day as we were monitoring the situation we decided instead to get as far West as possible and that led us up the Great Dismal Swamp toward Virginia. As the tropical depression turned into Hurricane Arthur, we were safely tied to a dock between two locks in the swamp. Later, when we got to Norfolk, Virginia, we rented a car to go see Kitty Hawk near Manteo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We successfully met up with our friend Eric and two of his sons because he chose the time over the location. He purchased tickets into San Juan, Puerto Rico well in advance and his plan was to buy last-minute tickets to wherever we were in the Caribbean. (As it turns out, we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico but only made there just in time\u2026)<\/p>\n<p>So we were <em>thrilled <\/em>when we were able to meet up with Darold\u2019s brother, John, while in Barcelona. We took a risk and chose the place *and* the time. He was going to be in Europe on a business trip and we took an educated guess that we\u2019d be in Barcelona at the time he was there. Our plans actually changed after he purchased his tickets (we decided not to go to the Balearic Islands due to weather) and we thought we\u2019d be up in Barcelona sooner than originally planned, but then we decided to stay longer in Cartagena so that we ended up arriving in Barcelona when originally planned. Sometimes things just work out.<\/p>\n<p>So, after spending several weeks anchoring up the Spanish coast, we arrived in Badalona, which is a city on the northern outskirts of Barcelona. We had just enough time to make a few repairs, get the boat cleaned up, do laundry and get provisioned up, rent a car to take a side trip to Madrid, and then pick up John from the Barcelona airport.<\/p>\n<p>After we picked up John, we went directly to Tarragona, an old Spanish city with amazing Roman ruins and also a beautiful medieval church. The Roman ruins are so in-tact and extensive that the city is named a UNESCO World Heritage site. There is a coliseum, a circus maximus, old city walls and more. It was pretty impressive. You can walk down the underground tunnel of the circus maximus, come out of a doorway and imagine chariots racing by. It is also an extremely charming city today.<\/p>\n<p>After exploring the ruins we went in search of food and happened upon the perfect place for tapas and wine. It looked like it was inside a little cave. They made us a delicious spread of tapas and we chose a delicious wine (from their extensive selection) from the North of Spain. It was perfect.<\/p>\n<p>The following day we drove up to Figueras, which is about an hour and half north of Barcelona and is host to the Salvador Dali Museum. Dali was born in Figueras and when the city asked him to donate a piece of his art to their collection, he said he\u2019d do one better and build a museum to house a whole collection of his art. The museum looks very Dali-esque with giant eggs on the top of the building. Some of the rooms inside the museum are entire art exhibits. In the largest room you can see a painting of a naked women made with individually painted tiles. But when you look at the painting through a telescope it is Abraham Lincoln. So very Dali. Dali is actually buried in the building in a mausoleum below the main room. Before touring the museum we had another delicious Spanish meal of a variety of tapas (with wine of course).<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t go on without talking more about Spanish food. If you\u2019ve never had Spanish food, a common misconception is that it is like Mexican food. The only foods that are similar are gazpacho (cold tomato-based soup), flan (custard pudding) and churros (fried dough). If you ordered \u201ctortilla\u201d in Spain, you\u2019d get something that was completely different from a Mexican tortilla. Here\u2019s a primer on some of the foods we had while John toured around Barcelona with us:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Foods:\n<ul>\n<li>Pimientos de Padron \u2013 these are small green peppers that are roasted and then salted. You pick them up by the stem and eat the pepper<\/li>\n<li>Patatas Bravas \u2013 small chunks of potato that are twice fried and served with a sauce on top of it that is a cross between an aioli and a tomato sauce. Sometimes they say the sauce is \u201cmuy brava,\u201d meaning that it is very hot. However, it is not hot to folks who are used to Mexican food. Spanish food is not spicy!<\/li>\n<li>Tortilla Espanola \u2013 this is a dish of potatoes held together with eggs in the shape of a sautee pan. Sometimes they put onions in it, and sometimes they put things like green pappers or mushrooms or chorizo. However, it is most traditionally served just potatoes and eggs and it is served room temperature. They even put it inside a small roll as a sandwich.<\/li>\n<li>Jamon \u2013 The Spanish love their ham. It\u2019s sort of like Italian prosciutto. It\u2019s served in a bocadillo (a sandwich of jam in between a roll \u2013 that\u2019s it) or slices of jamon on a plate. There are different grades of jamon, and you get a really expensive plate of high quality jamon or something less expensive that\u2019s nearly just as good.<\/li>\n<li>Aceitunas \u2013 Spanish olives. The Spanish make excellent olives and olive oil. Manzanilla olives are delicious (usually what we think of as Spanish olives but without the pimimento inside). But more typical are anchovy-flavored olives or anchovy-stuffed olves (anchoa.) Don\u2019t flinch! They are delicious. Also delicious are the arbequina olives \u2013 these are small olives with the pit inside.<\/li>\n<li>Croquettas \u2013 I love these things. They are b\u00e9chamel sauce with jam or chicken or bacalao (cod) fried with bread crumbs on the outside. I like the bacalao ones the best. Absolutely delicious.<\/li>\n<li>Calamares \u2013 Fried calamari \u2013 the Spanish do a nice job of this. Sometimes they put it in a bocadillo (sandwich) which sounds like it would be too starchy, but it\u2019s not.<\/li>\n<li>Olive oil \u2013 Spain is the largest producer of olive oil and they know how to make it.<\/li>\n<li>Seafood \u2013 the Spanish love canned seafood such as anchoas (anchovies) mussles (mejillones), or boquerones (white anchovies.) For some reason Americans have an aversion to these types of seafood, but the Spanish know how to serve them. Often these bits of seafood are served on top of a little slice of bread with other garnishes<\/li>\n<li>Pan con tomate \u2013 You can order a plate of bread with tomato. Sometimes the bread is toasted and they\u2019ll even put a clove of garlic on the plate for you to rub on the bread. Sometimes the bread is already rubbed with the tomato. It\u2019s great to dip in olive oil.<\/li>\n<li>Paella \u2013 of course there\u2019s paella, the famous Spanish rice dish. It\u2019s actually from Valencia so if you order it anywhere outside of that region it\u2019s not considered \u201creal\u201d paella, but who cares. In my high school Spanish class I learned that it was a dish made for the queen \u201cpara ella\u201d (for her). It is typically cooked with seafood but you can get it in a variety of styles.<\/li>\n<li>Marcona almonds \u2013 these are almonds that have the skin off, and I believe they are fried and then salted.<\/li>\n<li>Pulpo \u2013 Octopus! I like \u201cPulpo a la gallega\u201d which is broiled octopus with pimento.<\/li>\n<li>Churros con chocolate \u2013 If you are ever in Spain you must, must, must try the churros con chocolate. Chocolate is their hot chocolate, which is about 1,000 times thicker than American hot chocolate. It\u2019s like drinking a really good melted chocolate bar. The churros are similar to Mexican churros but smaller and not usually covered in sugar. They also serve porras, which are similar to churros but larger.<\/li>\n<li>Palmeras con chocolate \u2013 I love palmeras, which are \u201cpalm leaf\u201d pastry, covered in chocolate. The Spanish also have a variety of other delicious pastries. If you are ever in a Pasteleria, just point at what looks good and you can\u2019t go wrong.<\/li>\n<li>Wikipedia does a nice summary of Spanish tapas here: <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tapas\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tapas<\/a>h<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Drinks\n<ul>\n<li>Rioja \u2013 Spanish wine that is delicious. In fact, all wine we tried in Spain was good. From the 5 Euro bottles in the grocery story to the 20 Euro bottles at the restaurant. The Spanish make good wine.<\/li>\n<li>Sangria \u2013 This is Spanish wine steeped with fruit and with a little sugar and brandy added<\/li>\n<li>Tinto de Verano \u2013 \u201cColor of Summer\u201d &#8211; This is one of my favorite Spanish drinks. It is Spanish wine cut with \u201cLa Casera\u201d which is Spain\u2019s version of 7-Up. It\u2019s best when it\u2019s hot outside.<\/li>\n<li>Jerez (sherry) \u2013 If you get an aged jerez, it\u2019s delicious and akin to Portuguese port.<\/li>\n<li>Cava \u2013 this is Spanish champagne. It\u2019s cheap and it\u2019s good.<\/li>\n<li>Beer (a cana) \u2013 When you order a beer in Spain you order it usually by the size, and a \u201ccana\u201d (with a tilde over the n) is a medium-sized beer (maybe 6 ounces). Spanish beer is generally pretty good.<\/li>\n<li>For some reason, gin and tonics are really popular in Spain right now. We saw so many people drinking them and several bartenders told us that they were very \u201cin fashion.\u201d They seem to love Hendrick\u2019s gin (not Spanish, but delicious!) and then will add a slice of cucumber, or a few juniper berries to the drink. Try it, you will like it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Suddenly, I\u2019m really hungry.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, after driving back to Barcelona from Figueras, we took the Metro into downtown Barcelona for a few drinks (in the Placa Reial, the city\u2019s main plaza) and to walk around. Barcelona must be the most touristy city we\u2019ve been to in Spain because walking down \u201cLas Ramblas\u201d (the main walking thoroughfare) we were asked a dozen times (in English) if we wanted to dine at their restaurant, drink at their bar or enter their club. January is pretty chilly in Barcelona so we were definitely bundled up, though still feeling the cold creep into the crevasses of our clothing.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning it was finally time to tour the city of Barcelona (during the day.) We intended on going inside the famous Sagrada Familia (Gaudi\u2019s cathedral, still under construction since the 1800s!), but the line was around the block and it was 50 Euro to enter for all of us. Last time I was there it was free and there was no line. Oh well. So instead we walked around the building (and Dante recounted what he\u2019d learned about the inside of it from a video he watched). Then we went and had coffee at the Palau de la Musica Catalana (a beautiful building) and afterwards walked toward Barcelona\u2019s cathedral (La Catedral, Barcelona\u2019s Gothic Cathedral), continued to stroll through the Barri Gotic (small, ancient alleyways) and toured around an amazing indoor market \u2013 Mercat de la Boqueria \u2013 full of mini stands selling tapas, meats, cheeses, pastries, candies, fish, and almost anything else you can imagine. We ended the day with more tapas (of course) at a restaurant near the cathedral.<\/p>\n<p>There is a lot more to see in Barcelona that we didn\u2019t have time to visit, including a Picasso Museum that\u2019s supposed to be fantastic. Next time, I guess. It was an awesome three days, and even more so because we were with Uncle John.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is not easy to meet up with friends and relatives on this trip. In fact, it can be ridiculously difficult if you don\u2019t follow this cruising guideline: \u201cYou can pick the time. Or you can pick the place. But you can\u2019t pick both.\u201d It may not seem that difficult to coordinate meeting up, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sailing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1385"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1418,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385\/revisions\/1418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/easethemain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}