At last. We rose Sunday morning, excited to make the walk down to Barceloneta and the Fastnet, the Irish bar we discovered that actually knows how to make a Bloody Mary. They opened at 10:30 a.m., but we were a bit delayed and did not arrive until 10:45. Our bartendress remembered us and noted we were late. I blamed Lynn’s hair.
Her Bloody Marys were quite good by European standards. No one over here uses a Bloody Mary mix of any brand; they just open a bottle of tomato juice and add some spices. The result can be good (ours were), but they lack the horseradish, celery and garlic flavor of a mix, even though we encouraged her to go heavy on the Lea & Perrins.
Breakfast at the Fastnet was fine, although not outstanding or elaborate. Their bacon is really thinly sliced ham steaks. And the toast is white bread. Very British of them.
Fortified by a proper Sunday brunch, we walked back to the Metro for a funicular ride up MontJuic and a visit to the Castel. The funicular is part of the Metro line, so does not cost anything to ride. Once at the mountain station, you have to pay separately for the cable car ride to the top of the mountain and the Castel MontJuic. Then when you reach the summit, you pay again for a ticket into the castle itself. The castle ticket is only five euros, three for us seniors. the tram ride is quite a bit more–12 euros per person roundtrip and no senior citizen discount.
Castel MontJuic is actually not really a castle in the conventional sense that royalty or nobility called it home. The castle was built as a fort back in the Roman era and enlarged several times after that by various rulers of the region for defense against invaders. Like so many of its type in the Caribbean islands, the castle never succeeded in its primary purpose and was conquered over and over again, most recently in 1938 by Franco’s troops. Poor Catalan, a small kingdom, squeezed between the two huge Continental superpowers of France and Spain, never had a chance.
Sadly, Castel MontJuic then became a prison and the site of hundreds of executions under the Franco regime. The most notable casualty was Luis Companys, the last democratically elected president of Catalonia. When Franco conquered Catalonia, Companys fled to France but was betrayed by the Vichy government, given over to the Nazis, who then sent him back to Spain and Franco’s justice. Companys was tried in secret and executed in Castel MontJuic the day after the verdict. France and Germany have since apologized for their treachery in the case of Companys. The Spanish government has not.
Although we had read a critical review of the castle that there was little English explanation around, we found English translations on virtually every sign around the area, which are all printed in four languages–English, French, Spanish and Catalan. There is a significant difference between the last two languages.
Our plan was to take the cable car back to the funicular stop and walk down MontJuic to Placça Espana where the fountain puts on an elaborate light show every Friday and Saturday night. The walk would take us past the 1992 Olympic complex, which is not only well preserved after a quarter of a century but is still in active use.
Not to be. We started down the wrong path and wound up in a nondescript, though obviously high end, neighborhood of large homes overlooking the city, all secured behind walls and gates. By the time we reached a Metro stop, thirst was calling.
To avoid the noise and traffic along Passeig de Colom, we walked back from La Rambla via Ample, the street in the Bari Gotic that runs a block behind our apartment. Ample is lined with restaurants (one of which is Sensi Tapas), clothing stores, the Marijuana & Hemp Museum and Penny Banger, another Irish bar.
We knew we would like Penny Bagger as soon as we walked into the place. Two well dressed gentlemen were facing each other over a backgammon game, comfortable leather couches lined the small narrow room, and the delightful Irish bartendress accommodated us with cold Amstel beers (not Amstel Light, but the real thing).
Yes, they do make a Bloody Mary, she said, and yes, they are pretty proud of it. At 6.50, it will be a bargain, and we put Penny Banger at the top of the list for next Sunday. Bernie’s may have to wait.