Day 17 and 18: Baked Turbot with Beets and Lime, and Champagne from the Champagnaria

Day 17:

We flew back to Barcelona just on time for dinner. After asking the hotel for recommendations, we strolled over to the recommended restaurant to discover it was really just a bar. On a whim we decided to try out the restaurant adjacent, Gra Vin. This turned out to be a lucky choice as everything there was excellent. We tasted starters of baked squid with mushrooms and an eggplant puréed with caramelized onions. Both were cooked to perfection. Excited to have found to have found such great food, we moved on to our main courses. My dad had a tomato salad topped with buffalo cheese that was creamy and delicious. My brother had a vanilla infused lamb that my mom claimed was amazing and completely unique. My mom ordered a mussel and clam soup that turned out not to be much of a soup but still yummy, and I had the baked turbot with a purée of beets and lime. While I'm not normally a beet lover, I really enjoyed the dish. She finished up ordering a cheesecake with raspberries and tiramisu. They were both good although not the best I've tasted.

Day 18:

For my last day in Barcelona, I visited the soccer stadium, the Placa de Espana, and went to a guitar concert. I also went bar hopping with the family. Most notable was the Champagnaria at the barcelonetta. While it is a filthy place, it is packed with people who shout their orders across the din. The place serves mostly small sandwiches and meat and cheese platters along with a variety of champagne. You will probably get champagne on your shoes, and using a trash can seems out of the question, but, nonetheless, the place is worth a visit. Plus the champagne was great, a perfect conclusion to the trip.

Day 16: Canarian Vegetable Soup

Today was another beach day for us. We swam in the Atlantic and hung out in the sun.

In the evening we watched the 3rd place and finals of the confederation cup while eating dinner. We had dinner at a place down the road. I have a fried breaded fish, my brother had a fillet roquefort, and my mom had kabobs. These were all decent but the best was the Canarian vegetable soup, similar to the Italian minestrone.

Day 15: Octopus in Olive Oil and Paprika

Today we visited the fisherman's village of Puerto de Mogan on the coast of Gran Canaria. We wandered around town and walked along the ocean until we got hungry.

We decided to eat at a tapas place and got a variety of food to satisfy everybody. Among others, we tried a salad of fresh avocado and Canarian goat cheese, fried cuttlefish, anchovies, fried goat cheese, and fried octopus. The fried octopus was the overall favorite.

Day 14: Zarzuela of Seafood

Today we spend the day on the beach, alternating between time spent roasting in the sun and splashing in Atlantic. After a while we got hungry and wandered down the beach looking for the best of the highly touristic restaurants available. The one we chose, Don Quijote, was surprisingly good. Like other touristic places, the menu was enormous. After much deliberation, we ordered several starters and 2 main dishes to share. Of the starters, we tried the traditional Canarian potatoes that were cooks whole with wrinkled skin and salted. They were served with a side of sauce native to the islands. The other starter of sizzling garlic shrimp was also good, seasoned with large chunks of garlic, chilly peppers, and parsley. We also tried a gazpacho, which, unlike others we have tried, came with a side of veggies and croutons to dump into the soup.

For our main dishes we shared fried squid rings, similar to calamari, and the zarzuela. Zarzuela is a stew-like dish with potatoes, hard boiled egg, and, in this case seafood. The whole thing is cooked and drenched in tomato-based sauce in a pan similar to a paella pan. We all really enjoyed the zarzuela and found it quite filling.

Day 13: Chocolate Salami

Today we explored the town of Las Palmas on the island, Gran Canaria. It was a small place full of history involving Columbus's voyages to the Americas, as it was a common stopping point on the trip. After our tour of the city we stopped to eat lunch at a restaurant in town. We started with some cuts of prosciutto and fried focaccia bread, which was delicious. Then I tried a mushroom and sun dried tomato risotto, which was overall disappointing. My family, however, enjoyed their pizzas and salad. Finally, for dessert we tried the chocolate salami, a traditional Italian dessert. It didn't include any meat and simply involves slices of chocolate Ina circle with all kinds of things pressed into it. This was cold and had a crispy texture. It was sweet but not overly so, and we all agreed it was delicious.

Days 8, 9, and 10: Kinder Bueno, Fried Cuttlefish, and Paella

My apologies for the slow posting. There's been scant Internet. Here goes 3 days.

Day 8:

We spent the day in Florence with Chloe and her friend. Because of the number of things we were trying to see in our short stay there we didn't have time for good food. We did, however see Michaelangelo's David, which was pretty amazing and huge. After our day in Florence we took a flight to Barcelona where we got in late at night. On the plane Kim tried the European candy bar Kinder Bueno which she loved, so, in the absence of any good food, it was the days winner.

Day 9:

We spent our first day in Barcelona wandering the streets, eating tapas, and looking at the crazy architecture. We visited the Sagrada Familia, a huge and unfinished church created by Gaudi. It was full of color, light, and detail and I look forward to seeing what the finished product will look like in 20 years or so.

We also saw 2 museums: the Picasso museum where we got the chance to see Picasso's progression from a young talented and classical artist to the modern artist he is known as today and the chocolate museum where we saw chocolate sculptures, learned about the chocolate making process, and tried traditional Barcelona hot chocolate which was deliciously but overly rich.

We had tapas for both lunch and dinner. We tried a variety of small dishes including mushrooms, a goat cheese red pepper and eggplant dish, grilled cuttlefish, peppers filled with cod, gazpacho and calamari. Our favorite was the grilled cuttlefish.

Day 10:

We began a busy day in Barcelona rather late after staying up late for the festival of the patron saint of Barcelona. The festival includes shooting off fireworks (illegally by US standards), and Kim and I almost got blown up.

We woke up too late for breakfast, and grabbed an early lunch of more tapas in my case and grilled chicken in Kim's. Then we set off to see a variety of work by Gaudi.

We started at Park Guell, a park designed exclusively by Gaudi. It included great views in addition to the strange and fun architecture. In my opinion, it was somewhat reminiscent of Disneyland's Toon Town. We also visited 2 houses designed by Gaudi where we learned about how nature influenced his work and the tricks he used to improve ventilation and lighting in the house.

Finally we grabbed a dinner of paella, sangria, and salad before heading on our overnight bus in Madrid. The paella was delicious although I felt that it lacks in saffron.

Day 5: Italian Lava Cake from Locanda al Pozzo Antico

Today was a travel day. We started off from Naples Central Station grabbing yet another amazing croissant and cappuccino for breakfast. We bought out tickets and due to Kim's miraculous good luck, we made it onto our train on time. Kim, who mistakenly read her seat number on her train ticket as the platform number, led us to the right train. After a pleasant ride to Rome, we transferred trains and hopped on the one to Cortona, a small town in the Tuscan countryside. The ride was scenic, but the views that awaited us from our hilltop village were even more amazing, even if the town is full of narrow stair alleys and stream cobblestone streets.

We grabbed lunch at a cafe along the main street. We both got focaccia paninis, mine filled with turkey, brie, and tomato, Kim's with tomato, mozzarella, and arugula (translated as rocket in Italy.) Both were deliciously mounted on the local fluffy Italian bread.

We wandered through the main street, checking out stores full of leather goods from Florence, jewelry, and cute kitchenware. As the evening wore on we decided to go to "Italian Happy Hour" as a pre-dinner snack. We were disappointed to find most of the drinks on the menu were American and very touristic, so we asked a lady working at the bar what Italians drink. She was delighted to provide us with some kind of cocktail with lime, apple juice and gin that was delicious and very subtle. To our surprise happy hour came with a free round of Italian appetizers, where we sampled a cold tomato soup, ricotta and spicy Indian sauce on bread, Italian cheese dipped in a spicy red sauce, a bowl of green olives, and two small pieces of bread covered in melted cheese and toppings (much like American pizza.)

For dinner we went down the hill a ways to Locanda al Pozzo Antico, a restaurant recommended in our favorite guidebook, Rick Steve's! The restaurant was set in a beautiful little courtyard. Kim ordered the cheese ravioli with crunchy almond sauce, which came topped with poppy seeds and parmesan cheese. The creamy sauce was full of flavor and the ravioli were perfectly al dente. I ordered the thinly sliced chicken breast with lemon sauce which was served with a side of potatoes cooked in rosemary. The chicken was tender and the sauce tart, but delicious, and the whole meal went well the potatoes. For dessert we ordered a small chocolate lava cake, filled with a rich dark chocolate. The raspberry sauce on the side added a nice touch.

We ended our evening sitting at a square where a live band played, chatting with a group of Americans from Sacramento. So far we are loving Cortona!

Day 7: Pear Ravioli from Trattoria 4 Leoni

This morning we left Cortona for Florence. We arrived in the city and took an hour long bus ride to reach our hostel, which is strangely located in a forest. After meeting up with Chloe and her friend Becca, we set off towards the center of the city to see the sites. The main attractions of the city lay on the banks of a beautiful river with several bridges connecting the two sides. The area is filled with expensive shops (especially gold and silver shops on one of the bridges), leather stores, churches, and palaces. The area was vey pretty and quite clean, although almost everything was overpriced for tourists.

After wandering the city, we went to Trattoria 4 Leoni where I had made a reservation several days in advance. The entire menu was in Italian so the waiter had to translate every item. We started with a glass of wine and an appetizer of eggplant, tomato, and mozzarella with an arugula pesto on the side (featured in many of the restaurants dishes.) We enjoyed the fresh vegetables before moving on to our main courses. We tried a fried chicken and vegetable dish, a fish in tomato sauce with potatoes, and the famous pear ravioli. The fried chicken dish was crispy with tender chicken inside, flavored with lemon on the outside. The fish was soft and flavorful, going well with the side of potatoes, also drenched in the tomato sauce. Lastly, the pear ravioli, which two of us ordered and shared, was the group favorite. It was both savory and sweet, with the sweet flavor of the pear offset by the asparagus.

Finally, we tried two desserts, the restaurant's famous cheesecake topped with fresh fruit and a tiramisu. The cheesecake was much lighter and fluffier than the traditional American cheesecake, which a crispy crust. I suspect it was made with ricotta or some other fluffy cheese rather than cream cheese. The tiramisu was also amazing. It had a perfect ration of cream and sponge cake, filled with flavor, and topped with coffee powder.

Overall, Trattoria 4 Leoni is amazing. If you are ever in Florence, definitely go!