HERE CONTINUES THE ADVENTURE OF OUR GRANNIES IN BARCELONA… Did you miss the previous blog? Read it here it is very funny!
As you might guess, Laurel is a shopaholic and she planned our morning excursion. We’re met at our hotel by Mònica, our guide for a private El Born shopping tour.
We start at Colmado, where Laurel picks up an amazing Manuel Bolaño hat—and Dori goes gaga over a gorgeous fish-shaped handbag (it looks like food, so I understand her attraction).
After visiting several other boutiques, we come to Le Swing, a vintage shop, and its sister boutique Blow. If I have a shopping weakness, it’s vintage. Hey, some of those things are from my era and I feel right at home! With a little help from Guiselle, the shop’s owner, I pick up a pair of retro sunglasses for my granddaughter Layla—and for once, I’m completely confident she’s going to love them.
We grab a cupcake at Lolita and then turn down a tiny street facing the soaring Santa Maria del Mar church and into Casa Gispert and the mouth-watering aroma of roasting nuts. Dori’s packing her basket full of oils, saffron, nuts, fruits, and fancy salts, and Eliza is trying (futilely) to restrain her.
Our last stop is Moska, an absolutely marvelous hidden gem—no pun intended—of a jewelry shop. Even no-nonsense Eliza is mesmerized by the dazzling display of unique and unusual pieces. We all put a bit more than we promised our husbands on our American Express cards, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime shopping experience, right?
Mònica did an amazing job finding exactly the right shops and boutiques for our group and she even makes a recommendation for a wonderful restaurant for lunch.
From there, we meet at the Plaça de Catalunya for our tour of the Sagrada Família. It’s our first Gaudí experience—and the one I’m most looking forward to.
The drive along Passeig de Gracia sets the tone as we pass by other Gaudí masterpieces—Casa Milà and Casa Batlló. And then the Sagrada Família comes into view.
We breeze through on a fast track queue and fasten our headphones so we can hear Oliver, our guide. Walking through the otherworldly Birth Facade sends shivers down my spine…I’m usually a nonstop talker, but for once, even I have no words. It’s something you simply must see for yourself to believe.
The tour ends and we return to our hotel for a quickie nap before The Big Event—our dinner at Enigma.
We take a taxi to the restaurant and give our secret passcode to the door attendant, and we are ushered into a space unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Between the overwhelming detail of the Sagrada Familia, and the cloud-like ceilings and waterfall walls of Enigma, my senses are in overload.
I’d love to tell you more about our dinner—the seven unusual seating spaces we were ushered through over the course of the night, the beautiful food artfully arranged on unusual dishes, the restrained and refined wine list—but Enigma has a very strict policy about photos and sharing your experience on social media. So you’ll just have to fly to Barcelona yourself to check it out!
After nearly five hours of wining and dining at Enigma, our culinary adventure comes to an end. Dori hasn’t stopped talking since we first sat down—and quite frankly, I’m afraid she’s never going to stop!
All in all, another amazingly successful day in Barcelona.