Go Citybreak:Barcelona serves up innovative architecture, inspiring cuisine and beautiful beaches but most of all it's a place to have fun with friends, writes AMY LAUGHINGHOUSE
GRIPPING A pair of long, lethal-looking tweezers, chef Tristan Lopez is hunched over a plate of pale anchovies, painstakingly applying tiny silver powder-coated potato paper “scales” to each slender sliver. Beside him, waiter Manel Vehi Mena dispenses “liquid olives” – just one at a time, presented on its own plate. He serves them with such reverence that I sense, even before tasting star chef Albert Adrià’s invention, that they aren’t snacks to be absent-mindedly gobbled, but miraculously soft, melt-in-the-mouth bursts of flavour that deserve to be savoured.
Watching the action at prep stations around the restaurant is all part of the “show” at Tickets. One of Barcelona’s newest tapas bars, it’s the brainchild of Adrià’s brother Ferran, head chef at Spain’s legendary El Bulli, judged to be the best restaurant in the world. With that three Michelin-starred establishment closing its doors this summer, tastemakers are turning their attention to Ferran Adrià’s latest venture, where reservations are (ahem) the hottest tickets in town.
A doorman in a black jacket illuminated with the restaurant’s blinking logo sets the stage. As punters line up on a crimson carpet beneath a box office style marquis, he ticks off each name on a list before slipping a red velvet rope free of its moorings and ushering them inside this culinary sanctum.
If it seems like an incredible amount of pomp and ceremony for what is, after all, just a meal, bear in mind that this is Barcelona, whose denizens revere food and style in equal – and perhaps excessive – measures. Tapas bars line the streets, and dinner can eat up three hours or more of your day.
Barcelona also proves a visual feast, of course, serving as a showcase for one of history’s most original architects, Antoni Gaudí. At Casa Batlló on Passeig de Gracia, pilgrims crane their necks toward its wavy roof, representing the dragon slain by Catalonia’s patron saint, St George. Gradually, their gaze cascades downwards over the broken-tiled mosaic facade, which is punctuated by bone-like columns and balconies reminiscent of empty eye-sockets – a homage to the dragon’s victims.
Down the street, the undulating curtain walls of Gaudí’s La Pedrera recall the rippling waves of the ocean. As Miriam Jover, who works with the Barcelona Guide Bureau explains, “Gaudí said he would learn nothing from books, because they were written by humans, and humans are imperfect. He was always talking about the great book of nature, written by God.”
Gaudí’s organic inclination is evident at his unfinished La Sagrada Família, a Unesco World Heritage site and minor basilica consecrated by Pope Benedict in November 2010. “My client is not in a hurry,” Gaudí supposedly quipped when questioned over the church’s protracted construction, which began in 1882 and continues to this day, overseen by a succession of architects since his death in 1926. Outside, his handiwork is exemplified by the tapered spires of the Glory facade, topped, rather head-scratchingly, with colourful arrangements of fruit.
Inside, it calls to mind a cathedral as imagined by Walt Disney on acid. Columns stretch upwards like trees, branching out and flowering in leafy medallions. To attend a service here would be akin to worshipping in a forest of whitewashed redwoods, dwarfed and humbled by the spirit of the ultimate architect from whom Gaudí, buried in a crypt below, drew his inspiration.
Still, when the sun shines, as it usually does in Barcelona, I’m loath to spend much time under any roof, even in a temple devoted to nature. I escape to Parc Güell, another of Gaudí’s creations, with its curving mosaic benches and fanciful stone arcades set within a hilltop wilderness. I also take the obligatory stroll down La Rambla, a boulevard flanked by flower stands and kiosks stocked with postcards, weaving between flamboyant street performers and tourists moving at such a slow, tooth-grinding “ramble” that I reckon they have nowhere else to be till Christmas.
It’s just as crowded on the sandy beaches of Barceloneta, where topless tanned women and hard-bodied young men are silhouetted against blindingly blue waters, but the pace on the boardwalk is anything but leisurely. I’m less worried about sunburn and more concerned about getting mowed down by rickshaws, rental bikes, and rogue rollerbladers – especially when the rollerbladers are skating backwards. One man on a skateboard even dares to navigate the masses with a surfboard in his arms. For a bit of a breather, I duck down a side street, where laundry lines wave like bunting in the persistent sea breeze and a woman with improbably red hair stands on a balcony in her bra and knickers, smoking a cigarette and sipping a glass of red wine, oblivious to the world around her.
More peaceful still are the labyrinthine alleys of the Barri Gòtic district, with its medieval architecture and leafy squares. An accordionist in Plaça del Pi squeezes out the lazy strains of Summertime, segueing seamlessly into Hava Nagila. Just off Carrer dels Banys Nous, local men have taken refuge beside the bar at El Portalon Tapas, exchanging banter between sips of wine and cervezas. This hole-in-the-wall establishment appears to be the antithesis of Tickets. No velvet rope, no crowds, no "molecular gastronomy". But in a sense, it's very much the same. As Albert Adrià explained earlier, Tickets has a simple goal. "Come with friends, laugh, and have fun." That, summed up in one bumper-sticker-worthy slogan, is the essence of Barcelona.
Get there:Fly to Barcelona from Dublin, Cork or Belfast International on Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com); from Belfast International on EasyJet (easyjet.com); and from Dublin on Ryanair (ryanair.com). Ryanair also flies from Dublin to Girona (103km away) and from Dublin, Knock and Cork to Reus (110km away).
Barcelona where to . . .
Stay
Value: Hostal Goya Apartments, Pau Claris 74, tel 00-34-93-3022565 or hostalgoya.com. Conveniently located in L'Eixample near Plaça de Catalunya and La Rambla, this hotel offers sleek design touches you wouldn't expect at such reasonable prices. Doubles from €95. Apartments that sleep four from €250.
Mid-market:Hotel Miramar, Pl. Carlos Ibañez 3, tel 00-34-93-2811600 or hotelmiramarbarcelona.es. Tucked into a hillside in Montjuïc, this chic hotel isn't far from the city centre but feels like an oasis with its skyline views and garden pool. Doubles from €189.
Upmarket:Gran Hotel La Florida, Ctra Vallvidrera al Tibidabo 83-93, tel 00-34-93-2593000 or hotellaflorida.com. At this mountaintop retreat, about 30 minutes north, Barcelona is laid out far below, stretching towards the sea. A complimentary shuttle deposits guests near Plaça de Catalunya, but with a spa, indoor-outdoor pool, two bars and fine dining, it's tempting to shelve the sightseeing for a day and soak up the surroundings. Doubles from €215.
Eat
Value:Mercat de La Boqueria, La Rambla 91, boqueria.info or tel 00-34-93-3182584. You'll find everything you need for a picnic lunch at this bustling market, which is a tourist attraction unto itself. Alternatively, belly up at one of its tapas bars.
Mid-market:Caelum, Carrer De La Palla 8, tel 00-34-93-302- 6993. You'll give thanks to the nuns and monks who created the sweets, cheeses, honey, wine and beer stocked by this shop which also encompasses a café serving dishes like "Blessed Sin" fairy cake and "Saint's Bone" marzipan.
Upmarket:Tickets, Avinguda Paral·lel 164, ticketsbar.es. They're so cool, they don't list a phone number, so make your reservation online. Can't get a seat? Try their adjoining sister establishment, cocktail bar 41 Degrees, which also requires online reservations.
Go
La Sagrada Família, c/Mallorca 401, tel 00-34-93-2073031 or sagradafamilia.org.
Casa Batlló, Passeig de Gracia 43, tel: 00 34 93 216 0306 or casabatllo.es.
Palau De La Música Catalana, C/ Sant Pere Mes Alt (reception entrance at C/ Palau de la Música 4-6), tel 00-34-90-2442882 or palaumusica.org. This early 1900s music hall, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, is encrusted with tiled mosaic columns and exuberant carvings of comely maidens and St George. The performance space inside boasts a stained glass sunburst skylight as its centrepiece.
Fundació Joan Miró, Parc de Montjuïc, tel 00-34-93-4439470 or fundaciomiro-bcn.org. Museum dedicated to the Catalan surrealist painter, with a rooftop terrace and sculpture garden.
Museu Picasso, Carrer Montcada 15-23, tel 00-34-93- 2563000 or see museupicasso.bcn.cat. Features the largest collection of Picasso's work in Spain.
Hot spot
Barceloneta's beach is the place for the young and beautiful with energy to burn. For a more laid-back approach to the outdoors, head to Parc Güell.
Shop spot
Passeig de Gracia is home to some of the city's most chichi boutiques, but for unusual one-of-a-kind shops and galleries, check out Carrer De La Palla in the Barri Gòtic.
Websitebarcelonaturisme.com