A Catalan Brunch

Since we didn’t have anything on the agenda, we decided to relax a bit and just take a stroll down one of Barcelona’s beaches: Barceloneta Beach. After sleeping in a bit, we headed to Brunch at Alsur Cafe–a local place we found earlier in the trip that served brunch all day. It had somewhat of a hipster vibe, and it was a relaxing place for a late breakfast.

 

Tracey had the Huevos Benedictinos from their brunch menu.

Mine was avocado, chorizo, cheddar cheese, with a ragu sauce. Both were very good, hearty breakfasts.

 

Relaxing Stroll Down Barceloneta Beach

After brunch, we caught the local bus down to the beach. I don’t remember mentioning it, but we each bought the 5-day metro pass after the soccer match on Saturday. At the time I wasn’t sure if it was really necessary, but we have used the heck out of them over the week. We’ll probably buy another set when these run out. It’s normally 2,20€ for each trip (one-way), and the five-day pass is 35€. We took 8 trips one day, so it’s definitely worth the cost if you’ll use the metro.

Barceloneta Beach is the beach right at the edge of the busiest part of town. It’s fairly crowded, there are lots of “vendors” selling things on the sidewalks and drinks in the crowd, and it was a bit dirty. I’ll post some photos, but as a bit of a warning, they may be NSFW if you zoom way in and do a “Where’s Waldo.” I didn’t scan through these, but they are probably safe. I did see a couple topless sunbathers, and we saw a few nude men strolling around the western-most section of Barceloneta Beach (closest to the sail-shaped hotel).

 

The metal “fish” is the roof of the Barcelona Casino.

We saw a few guys who had made some fairly elaborate sandcastles for tips. One was a bit NSFW, but these both has fire.

Barceloneta Beach also had its own muscle beach of sorts. Sorry for the blurry photo, but this guy is curling a rock from the jetty.

Cooling Down After the Beach

After walking up and down Barceloneta Beach, we were both hot and thirsty, so we found a very local bar–Bar Leo–to stop for a cold drink and a snack. The owner is a huge fan of Bambino–a flamenco singer–and the bar is full of his memorabilia. The jukebox in the corner played what was likely one of his songs at one point, then another patron played Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing. The snacks were less than average, but the beer and water were both cold, and it was a nice place to rest for a bit.

It was also pretty popular with the locals.

Although we hydrated a good bit, the snacks weren’t quite enough, so we walked around the neighborhood looking for a place for some tapas for an early dinner. The neighborhood was alive with activity, and many were enjoying the evening in Boscà Poeta Plaza. The kids were playing in the playground area of the plaza, and there were even a couple serious games of table tennis.

We found a restaurant, called Rebelot, off in one corner of the plaza that looked interesting and ordered some tapas. It’s part of the slow food movement, so the food was all very fresh (and local).

I had some roasted artichokes with white beans, ham, and an organic poached egg, Tracey had some spicy potatoes, and we split an order of tomato bread.

This was a very good meal in an interesting place. I wish we had gotten there early enough for one of the tables outside though to enjoy the nice evening. When it was chilly the other day, the outside tables were the last to fill up; once it warmed up, they fill up first. If we were going to be here longer, this is a place that I would visit again.