Saturday morning and we are out to see a gallery exhibition of
drawings by Mel Ramos on Consell de Cent in Barcelona. We expected to be oohed and ahhed by his pinup girls on top of commercial products. Instead we
walked out of the gallery in less than 10 minutes because his work was a
display of pencil sketches sense his pop art element. The drawings were dull, uninteresting and without a sense of artistic purpose other than drawing nude women for future projects.
Disappointed we headed north on Rambla de Catalunya for a
midday walk to see what had changed on this famous esplanade since we were last here
in April for St. Jordi. Feeling a bit thirsty and hungry David asked, “¿Vols
fer un vermut en La Bodegueta?”
Absolutely.
I must clarify that the question, to stop for a vermut, has come to imply over the course of time, stopping for a drink and tapa before lunch
time (dinar), and not the famous vermouth drink itself. To go for a vermouth has to be taken in context of the situation.
La Bodegueta (small
wine cellar) has that old world charm that seems to be disappearing as minimalist
bars pop open about town. I got a real kick out of the old tile floor so worn out
throughout the decades by people who have come in to enjoy patatas bravas, chocos, and
beer as we did. I really enjoy bars that transport me back in time. It’s the
dark wood, brick, dim lighting and antique ambience of a place that encourages
you to stop in for a vermouth on a languid Saturday. Stopping by the Bodegueta turned out to be the highlight of our dissabte and one stop to repeat again. Adeu!
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| Opps, I squeezed the lemon before taking the picture. These chocos (tender strips of squid) were really good! |
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| Quines patatas braves mes bones! Not spicy as normally served elsewhere. |
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| These are antique refrigerator boxes--I know what you were thinking they looked like. |
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| The flooring doesn't seem to go with the bar and that's just one more thing that makes this bar interesting. |
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| Surprisingly the bar was relatively empty. It's normally packed with people. This lady was reading her Barcelona guide book. |
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| Steps leading out to Rambla de Catalunya. They also have terrace service outside. |
Thank you Patty, for sharing this. Until my personal economic crisis subsides and my son gets a bit older, I'll travel the world through others. Hope you're doing well.
ReplyDeleteNo worries, Barcelona will be here to greet you, as will I, when the timing is right.
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