The best €2

Today we’re in Barcelona. Don (the hostage, and my roommate) invited me to join him and his friend Sue (socalifsue, not to be confused with the Sue from Portland on this cruise or any of the other Sues I know). We walked a lot, found a few caches, had some tasty treats, saw other cachers, and had a wonderful day together. 

We had a somewhat leisurely morning, then took a taxi to the “far” part of Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian mall. We admired statues, searched in some interesting nooks and crannies (mostly with success), and meandered our way down Las Ramblas. This part of the city looks much like many other European cities, with cobblestones and narrow streets — a feature we didn’t appreciate until much later when it got quite warm and the sidewalks and alleyways remained relatively cool and shady. 

We found a fascinating drinking fountain that looks like a stylized barrel, decorated with Barcelona’s coat of arms, with 4 spigots, 90 degrees apart. The spigots worked much like a soda fountain, and of course we all tasted the water because the story goes that whoever drinks from the fountain will return to Barcelona. The fact that the fountain was part of multiple geocaches was of course incidental to our interest in it. 

One of my favorite places was the St. Josep la Boqueria. This turned out to be a market with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meats, some sweets, beverages, and other foods. We didn’t notice any booths that didn’t have food, though there may have been a few. The first few booths contained lots of sweets: gummy candies and marzipan creations such as geckos, ladybugs and tulips. Perhaps the most intriguing booth was the one what sold “Kentucky pollo” (aka fried chicken). It was interesting to see animal legs attached a the ankle and knee that were then thinly sliced. Impressively, there was not an odor at this market, though I suspect there might be on a hot summer day. 

I didn’t see any green peas, but I did spot lots of luscious looking fruits; I resisted the urge to get dragonfruit, watermelon and cherries but the strawberries called to me and who am I to deny strawberries a good home. They were not 50 pence (England), nor were they jordbaer (Norway), but simply labeled freson €2….and it turned out to be the best €2 I’ve spent this trip! For the Oregonians in the crowd, these were more Albion than Hood berries…..quite sweet, red all the way through, and absolutely delicious. I can’t say why it wasn’t quite a Hood, but it wasn’t….though all three of us enjoyed them in a secluded garden we stumbled upon. Don’s contribution to the group snack — everyone chose a different juice —was a potato that had been cut spirally and then friend, it tasted more like a potato chip (or crisp to people from some places) than a fry (chip). 

The only other purchase I made was juice; after considering the strawberry-orange and the lemon-lime-mint I eventually selected the watermelon which turned out to be a worthwhile experiment but I think I prefer other juices. I appreciate that you’re sitting down, but I managed to resist the urge to buy anything chocolate today (had the gelato places in Las Ramblas been open earlier that statement would like be incorrect),  

Yes, guilty as charged, the secluded garden was in fact the location of a geocache. We circumnavigated the block looking for the “green space” (park) that our maps showed. Eventually we spotted a hotel that looked promising so we went in, through, up, over and across and soon found ourselves in a pleasant garden about 10 meters wide by 15 meters long  with a nice fountain made of lava. We looked unsuccessfully for the cache, took a bathroom break (nice that the hotel had a free loo as a budget item for a European vacation needs to include bathroom fees), ate some strawberries, then finally resumed looking and finally found it. 

We returned to Las Ramblas, after a stop to purchase refrigerator magnets. I was amused by a sign that said, “No Taboo. Sex shop. Very interesting excursions in the sex shop.” And no, I neither entered nor took any excursions from that business. After an unfortunate detour to not find a particular cache I’d hoped to find, we had a delightful meal at a tapas location. The delicious pollo croquets I had were about the size of a large kumquat with the texture a bit like a crab cake. As an aside, for some reason the Fanta in Europe has different bubbles than at home, and the lemon Fanta is fantastic here (yes, such a beverage accompanied my croquets). Among other things, Sue and I introduced Don to them concept of color seasons (I’m a winter, Sue is a summer) and how useful of a tool it is when shopping for clothes….interestingly, it turned out the our guesses turned out to be accurate for both of his daughters. 

After a quick visit with other cachers at an event, we took one more long walk to find one last cache then caught a taxi back to the ship where I’ve been relaxing (and typing) for the last hour or so. Another fantastic day, so grateful to be able to travel with such a wonderful group. Thanks to Don and Sue for a great day!