Nature within and without

Our first stop today was the Casa Vicens, the young Gaudi’s first stab at domestic architecture. If you think he was over the top later in his career, you should see this. Every room is dripping with moulded flowers and fruit on walls and ceilings, and painted birds in the window embrasures. It does have some nice features — we liked the verandah with its tiltable wooden screens and gently trickling fountain. But the tiny smoking room with its overpowering blue ceiling was a bit gross (extra 1 — just imagine the fug of smoke as they all lit up their cigars), and the overall effect is a bit much.

After a brief stop at the hotel, today’s lunch destination was another success, selected by me. Zarautz, a Basque taberna on a side street not far from Sants station. Unlike yesterday’s spot, it was buzzing with mostly locals, and we enjoyed a meal of shared tapas, more artichokes from Tudela, and tuna tataki. I was too full to eat more than a few spoonfuls of the slab of cheesecake S ordered for dessert

In the early evening S went to the book launch that is the reason we are in Barcelona — he wrote the foreword to Catalan shepherd Toti’s book 4 estacions i 1 ramat (part of a series where all the titles have to have numbers in them). They were both interviewed by a journalist. About 30 people turned up, which isn’t bad given that there can’t be many people in Barcelona interested in sheep. Meanwhile I chilled at the hotel.

S was quite exhausted after 90 minutes of rapid-fire Catalan. When he got back we decided to head out for a drink and some nibbles. Not entirely successfully — bars are surprisingly scarce around our hotel. We ended up eating pittas and grilled meat in a small Lebanese restaurant with no alcohol licence (mint tea instead), but we did find an open bar for a glass of wine on the way back.