Spain: Day 15

Our last day in Spain!!  It started out a bit overcast, but cleared up and we walked all over the gothic quarter grabbing yummy bites for lunch.  We shared some nice ham and cheese for lunch, but I forgot to take any photos.  Here are a few highlights from the day:

Random fence art

The streets of the gothic quarter

The music hall

A perfumery

We also had a lot of fun with the little girl :)

She's doing a great job with her neck exercises

And her hand-sucking exercises

She loves standing!

And smiling at her dad :)

Can't wait to see everyone soon.  Wish us luck for an encore of Madeline's plane-travel behavior!

Spain: Day 14

Such a fantastic day - lunch at Cinc Sentits, beautiful weather, shopping in the Born district and a surprisingly yummy sushi dinner.

The weather today was sunny and warm, so we walked to lunch.  Cinc Sentits was the last of the reservations we made before coming on the trip and what a great last hurrah meal it was!  I have a ton of photos, but here are a few highlights:

Tapas-type first course

Anchovies over smoked rosemary

Sea bass and pickled onion

Squab and beets

Strawberry palate cleanser

Little desserts - those tubes were filled with heaven mousse

Madeline enjoyed her day as well :)

Lazing around at lunch

Chillin' after a long stroll

Posing for dad's art shots

We're sad the trip is coming to and end, but, as always, we are looking forward to getting home to family and friends.  We'll be back in touch tomorrow one last time before our flight on Saturday.  Hope everyone is doing well!!

Spain: Day 13

Not a very eventful day, as we made the 5.5-hour drive from San Sebastian to Barcelona, but we had a nice time and checked into what is the best hotel yet - Hotel Neri in the Gothic Quarter.  I would have taken photos, but our stuff was sprawled everywhere by the time I realized I should have taken some.

In any event, we hit the streets after Madeline had a late lunch and sat at a quaint bar in La Boqueria Market for a few bites to tide us over until dinner.  During our snack, we met a nice gentleman from Brussels who had lived in Barcelona years earlier and had stopped for a quick plate of boquerones (those yummy white anchovies marinated in vinegar that we've been obsessed with since we arrived) before his flight home.  He was a character and he recommended a few tapas places that we'll try to get into before we leave.

Tomorrow is our last Michelin meal of the trip - Cinc Sentits.  We're very excited to see what the restaurant has to offer.

We didn't have the chance to take many photos today, but last night was a gorgeous sunset in SS:

And today at La Boqueria Market:

Lovely fresh fish

Seafood salad snack

Info about the world's best ham

Madeline is still doing great.   She's taken to eating more, holding up her (huge) head better and discovering more of the world each day :).  We'll post more photos of her tomorrow.

Spain: Day 12

Arzak day!!!  Wow, what an excellent meal.  The dishes were creative, delicious and playful.  Lots of photos of the meal:

Shrimp tempura

Squid on a plantain chip

Chorizo in mango served on a beer can!

Table decor (not for consumption :))

Scarlet shrimp are under there

The dish was marinated bonito served on an ipad with ocean waves crashing under a clear plate!

That is an egg, believe it or not

Sea bass

Hieroglyphics of sauce

Squab with potato "feathers"

Beetroot

Squab leg

Chocolate square with passion fruit and mint (best dessert ever!!)

Huge chocolate truffle

Black lemon tart

Chocolate "eggs"

A view into the restaurant

Photo with the chefs!

Such a lovely meal.  Thank you, Arzak!

Madeline enjoying her ocean creatures book back at the hotel

 It was a great day and tonight we'll have a few small bites before packing our bags to head back to Barcelona tomorrow.  We'll check back in soon!

Spain: Day 11

Andrew is steadily getting better - almost back to 100%, though not quite yet ready to jump back into pinxtos dining.  Instead of San Sebastian, we hit the road to Biarritz and had a lovely lunch on the water and walked along the beachfront.  We even stopped in the Hotel Palais to check it out, as we heard it’s quite famous.  It was beautiful inside, but we didn’t want to look like loser tourists taking photos, so we only got a few from the outside.

Hotel Palais

Little world traveller

Because most places are closed Sundays and Mondays, we took a chance on a Vietnamese restaurant in the Maria Christina Hotel in downtown SS for dinner.  We actually looked into staying at the hotel as it’s rated highly on TA and it’s in a great location, but it was shockingly pricey.  Their restaurant was quite good, though.  It’s always nice to have different flavors in the middle of a trip away.  The food wasn't anything super special, so no photos to share.

Anyhoo, we are both very much looking forward to our lunch reservation at Arzak tomorrow.  We’ll check back in afterwards with lots of good food pics :)