A little bit of Mexico in Barcelona

This was our evening eating out experience. Gallo Santo, a vegan Mexican restaurant in our local area of Gracia (which we are totally in love with). Fabulous food and lovely people. We were on a bar table by the food preparation area and chatted to the chefs whilst they cooked our nachos and tacos.. Went big on the tequila, beer and cocktails (my excuse was that I had a toothache and needed anaesthetic - it seemed to work in terms of pain relief). Really lovely place.

Lots of rain in Spain today but the locals here are fab and sang through the weather. At one point we had hailstones - seriously big ones - and took refuge in a veggie takeaway run by a lovely woman who was offering shelter to passers-by. 

The morning saw us in the Casa Battlo, a stunning Gaudi building that is a WHO world heritage sight. Incredible experience. Even more impressive than the Sagrada Familia in my view, partly because you felt closer to everything and the scale was more intimate. Loved it. It was an apartment building built for a wealthy Spanish family but Gaudi being Gaudi basically turned it into his personal project and charmed his patron into letting him run riot with his ideas. Everything was underpinned by a technical nous that was unassailable. Light, gravity and the flow of form all combined to make something special.

Lots of walking, rain dodging and eating. Streets awash with red roses and bookstalls for the festival of Sant Jordi (the Spanish equivalent of St George). They say that over a million books are traded on this day in the Catalan calendar, which is not only about romance and religion but also about the pride of a region that sees itself as a country within a country. The red and yellow stripes of the locality are everywhere. You see men and women carrying roses which is rather lovely. 

This is a cultured part of the world, with lots of radical politics staring at you from the windows of apartment buildings and shops. So interesting. Found a freebie municipal gallery just off the Ramblas called La Virreina de la Imatge https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/lavirreina/en which was freakily moody in terms of its corridors, enormous rooms and intense exhibits but also a great place to shelter from the rain.

Only downer about the day was that we failed to get into the Picasso museum, but have booked tickets for tomorrow late afternoon. We shall overcome as they say in Catalonia.

Great day.

Little album here.