Our trip from Madrid to Barcelona was blissfully stress-free. We walked down the hill to Plaza Lavapies and found a taxi right where it was supposed to be, rode less than 10 minutes to Atocha station and were watching the signs for our train platform with an hour and a half to kill.
The train ride from Barcelona covers 621 kilometers (386 miles) in about three and a half hours, with a few stops at major cities along the way, such as Zaragossa. At 300 kph, the mostly barren landscape passes quickly, but you really don’t feel like you are going that fast. European high-speed trains are a marvel.
Our taxi line outside Barcelona Sants train station was mercifully short, and the driver only ripped me off for about 3-4 euros in the fare to the Friendly Apartments HQ, where we checked in.
Friendly’s HQ is in Barcelona, and it is a big operation. Two very pleasant, English-speaking attendants were ready to check us in, a process that took only about 10 minutes. Our Lisbon apartment was rented through Friendly as well, and they live up to their name. The company operates more than 3,000 apartments in 27 European cities, so they know what they are doing.
They even called a taxi to take us to our apartment, only about 10 minutes away. One huge benefit to smart phones is the ability to track your route in a taxi to make sure you are not getting a roundabout city tour on the way to your destination. Our driver stopped on Passeig de Colom, the major thoroughfare along the Barcelona waterfront–this was our apartment building.
I knew that we had a view of the marina, but I didn’t expect to be across the street. What a wonderful surprise.
Providentially, our building has a lift (two actually) to get us to our fourth-floor apartment (fifth floor by American standards). And what an apartment. Bright, airy, fully equipped with a view directly overlooking the bustling boulevard along Barcelona’s waterfront complex. It’s noisy with the window open but completely silent when we closed the well insulated modern window.
We’re going to like this place.
Once we were unpacked and mostly put away, we went downstairs in search of groceries. There is a small store right at our door in the building where we bought a few basics (wine, eggs and bacon) from one of the most unfriendly Middle Eastern shopkeepers I had ever encountered who did not take credit cards. We marched onward down the street to the larger store that the Friendly staff had pointed out for a better experience.
After our first cocktails in our Barcelona apartment, we ventured out in Barcelonetta, the old neighborhood around the marina, to locate a restaurant named Somorrostro that Lynn had found highly recommended online. Somorrostro is located just two blocks off the main boulevard on Sant Carles. I think we can remember that street name.
Although we did not have reservations, they seated us at a small table in the back with instructions to finish by 9 p.m. for the people who had already made reservations. The staff was most friendly, very attentive, fluent in English and helpful with the all-tapas menu.
And what a menu. We ordered four tapas dishes, exactly enough for the two of us. Their version of Patas bravas is different from the usual. The potatoes are more sliced and cooked in a tiny black iron pot. The sauce has a smoky flavor rather than the usual garlicy, peppery aioli. The overall result is delicious.
We also ordered the pork rib lasagna, rich with Mahon cheese and unlike any lasagna we had ever tasted; the duck magret with passion fruit foam (trust me, it’s delicious) and a bucket of mussels in a light broth. The combination of those four was more than enough for our two appetites. With a bottle of water and four glasses of wine, the bill came to 37.60. This is a five-star restaurant, and we will return. More than once. With reservations next time.
Sated, we smugly walked back home along the main boulevard past all the restaurants with photo menus and waiters barkering the tourists in, knowing that we had just enjoyed a meal they will never experience until they walk the two dark blocks off the Tourist Trail.