El Fin de Semana

Ruining chronological order! This all happened before Sitges.

First of all, a culinary side note - On Friday, February 20, I went to an unexpectedly good little restaurant in Barceloneta with a very reasonably priced menú del día. It was about 10 euro. My friend Caryn and I got salads with queso fresco (a super creamy, tangy cheese similar to fresh mozzarella but even less firm) and pesto. Then I had excellent pan fried pork chops with chips and Caryn had a veal meatloaf (not how it was advertised but what it basically was) with rice. 

For dessert we both had lemon ice cream tarts. And we didn't even find this place in a guidebook!

Last Saturday, February 21, I went on a CIEE-led day trip to the small town of Girona and the even smaller town of Besalú. I did get some lovely views of the Catalunya landscape, replete with hills of green, rivers of blue, and all of that. 

In Girona we started out with seeing the Cathedral. It was hard to tell what exactly was original and what has been rebuilt since everything was destroyed in the Civil War. Nevertheless, the cathedral was a nice building and was interestingly built over the original Roman temple. Girona was apparently pretty important in Roman times because it was a stop along the trade route from the north. 

After viewing the Cathedral we moved on to the Arab baths. They are falsely named because they are actually Roman. It was kind of cool but cannot compare at all to Bath, England. After these two highlights we broke for lunch. Caryn's guidebook suggested a Breton crepe restaurant. What is the difference between Breton crepes and normal crepes? Apparently the Breton ones use salted butter and are crispy and square. Behold. 

This crepe was fabulous though. It had an emmental-esque cheese, potatoes, cream, bacon, and chives. I also tried some of this salad. The stuff around the side is duck. I really couldn't tell how it was prepared or even if it was cooked. 

We boarded the bus for Besalú shortly thereafter. Besalú has a small church mostly destroyed during the Guerra Civil and a small Plaza Mayor. Beyond that, we did not really see anything. It also has a lovely bridge crossing over a picturesque river. 

On Sunday Caryn (her again!) and Ally went to lunch with me at a restaurant near the Arc de Triomf and Parque Ciutadella. I got chipirones, which are miniature fried squids, the same as at the Japanese restaurant. They were delicious with a little allioli.  (This is Catalan for what is called in the states aioli, in case you think my spelling is wrong! It is all i oli, or garlic and oil, ajo y aceite.)