Thursday, June 27, 2024

4 Dec 2016 Day 1 Barcelona La Pedrera and Bodega la Puntal

 


La Pedrera 

The world famous La Pedrera is shown as above in a model, with all of its alien looking chimneys at the top. Originally slated as an apartment complex, it is now a mix of museum, boutique shops and some apartments and people from all nations come here to pay homage to one of the great architects of the 20th century. Mr. Antoni Gaudi.



At the street side below La Pedrera 

He was an eccentric man, from all accounts and died a rather tragic death. Apparently he was knocked down in the street (which was quite a miracle) by a street tram on the road. It was in the late 1920s then and no one recognised the Master when he was brought to the hospital.

He died of his injuries, or what we have been told by the tour guides.

He always kept a steel comb in his pocket and was prone to priming his long beard ever so often. This is another urban legend from the tour guides.





My rather tired half smile atop La Casa Mila.

Bodega la Puntal is a tapas restaurant beside the hotel. It served pretty decent tapas, and as is the custom in Barcelona and in all Spain, people of all walks of life will come and meet friends after work, have some wine, a Sangria or a Vermouth schnapps (I kind of took a liking to this drink) and a couple of small tapas snacks and chit chat about the day or week's happenings. 

The interesting thing about Spanish culture is that between 12 - 2 pm most of the boutique shops are closed, for their siesta, so if you feel the need, do make plans to eat during that period and then shop. All the places of interest, by the way are open during the daylight hours.





A famous tapas place bar none. 

To be honest, this was practically our first time trying Spanish tapas in Spain. I had only been to Spain once before in my undergraduate days, so this was quite the experience for us. The dishes were small, tasty and oily. They were  the croquetts with Jamon ham and potatoes as well as some anchovies and small other forgettable bar bites. 




                                                                          Tapas with a View 



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