Barcelona - 21 September 2011 (3)

I decided I could do with something light like an omelette so we headed to the street where we had had breakfast.  Our breakfast bar only did meat dishes, but the door waiter showed us Naturista a few doors up.  This was a veggie place, but when we went in, we didn’t see anything we fancied.  It had all been made already and was laid out most unappetisingly.  So, feeling very sorry for the poor man who had gone to all that effort, we walked out.  It would have been so much better if they cooked as things were ordered like in other restaurants.

We wound our way through the old town, looking at the menus of what mostly turned out to be overpriced, meat only restaurants.  At long last, we saw a blackboard in a narrow street which ran along the left-hand side of the cathedral.  It offered a three course meal with drink, including a couple of veggie options for €16.  The restaurant was called Meson Jesus, but Jesus is quite a common name in Spain – I met one in a disco in Javea back in 1976 – so it could have been the owner’s name.  We went inside and found it to be very welcoming and nicely laid out with red and white checked tablecloths.

I had another gaspacho and the lady brought an assortment of chopped salad stuff for me to throw in – something I had not seen before.  I ate the tomatoes but left the rest.  My mum had a huge helping of Russian salad.  We were bit worried about the drink.  We ordered wine and got a whole bottle.  Was a whole bottle really included in the menu price?  We set to drinking it, hoping that it was.  After all, wine is supposed to be a lot cheaper in Spain than at home.  We had potato omelettes for the next course and then my mum had another crème caramel and I enjoyed a crème Catalan.  This turned out to be a rather wonderful crème brulée.  Somehow I managed to finish the wine, having practiced a bit in Tarragona the day before.

The restaurant was quiet.  When we arrived there were just two other women by the window.  Another couple came in later and they were followed by a family of seven, who were the only customers left when we went.  I know Spanish people tend to eat much later and I hoped that  lots of people turned up later.  As promised, the bill came to just €32 and I gave a the waitress a much deserved tip.

We headed back to the hotel and found that we had just missed some dancing in the square in front of the cathedral.  The dancers were just packing up.  It was quite busy in town with all the people who were filling the hotels having arrived for the fiesta.  The number of living statues in Las Ramblas had increased too and there were more people selling the spiral lights, which were being launched everywhere.

We reached the hotel and went to bed soon after.  Despite everything, I slept very well, though my mum reported that there was a lot of noise.