Monday, December 9, 2013

A Spanish Chanukah

Since we already celebrated Thanksgiving early in Dallas, and Dan had the day off, we decided to skip town for the long weekend and head to Barcelona! This was Zoey's first trip to continental Europe, and she was a champ. We had a great time!


As per usual, we did a lot of eating and a lot of walking. It felt good to be back traveling. I know that sounds crazy since we just got back from our trip to the States, but what I mean is it was our first trip like we used to take before Zoey was born. Even more than that, this was the first time since before the end of my third trimester where I finally felt like myself and could keep up a normal pace of walking several miles per day.

We went exploring pretty much straight from the airport, wandering through Port Olypmic and Barceloneta. It was too windy and sandy to capture any pictures, but I can imagine how fun this area would be in the summer. I loved the small shack-like structures on the boardwalk that opened into giant restaurants a story below on the waterfront. You would never know from looking at them how big they are. Also, on our walk home we spotted a restaurant called Zahara! Too bad she wasn't in the mood for a tequila sunrise.


We found an incredible pincho place for dinner called Bilbao Berria. What makes pinchos fun is that they are small, snack-sized portions that are skewered on to a piece of bread (usually). The toppings vary from fish, to meat, to cheese, and everything in between. There are even desserts on the skewers. You serve yourself and pay per skewer at the end. Usually it's around €1.50 per skewer.





We did a bit of bar-hopping and went to one more place for dinner, Ziryab. It was a really interesting mix of Spanish and Middle Eastern cuisine. The food was just OK, but I loved the ambiance. Lit candles warmed the air as a musician played some instrument I've never heard of. It was lovely.



Our first night in town also happened to be the first night of Chanukah. As we were taking an evening stroll along Las Ramblas, we spotted two guys wearing yarmulkes handing out jelly donuts--a traditional Chanukah treat. They were promoting a Chanukah event for the next night at the kosher restaurant nearby! We ate the donuts and then headed back to our hotel room to light candles for Zahara's first Chanukah.


See the other days of this trip:

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