From the Barri Gotic to Diagonal

The air is fresh—almost chilly—when I walk outside with the kids to take them to school. I feel under-dressed in the t-shirt and shorts I had put on, assuming that this day, like all others before it, would be hot, hot, hot. Etienne schlepped some medication for me from the US, but forgot to bring it when we met, so she left it at her hotel for me to pick up. I decide to head down there to get it, and to do a bunch of other errands while I’m at it.

I sit at the computer and look up all of the addresses of the places I need to go—travel bookshop, shoe store, housewares shop—and carefully write out walking directions for myself. I take the train to Placa Catalunya and only when I am walking down Las Ramblas do I realize that I’ve left my directions at home. First Dolores quits on me and now this. But you know what? I got everywhere I wanted to go with barely a misstep. So perhaps my sense of direction is not as I thought it was. After my two surprisingly positive experiences getting around on my own, I am reminded of the first line of Dr. Spock’s classic book, Baby and Child Care: “You know more than you think you do.”

The Hotel Neri is deep inside the Barri Gotic, and after I pick up my passage I wind my way out and find myself walking through the antiques district. I duck into a shop that looks intriguing—Caelum (www.caelumbarcelona.com/caelumindex.html). It’s a small shop and tea room that sells honey, sweets and other products made in convents and monasteries. Pretty specific, no? I pick up a book called Sweet Barcelona: Los 55 Rincones Mas Golosos de la Ciudad, and head back out into the city.

After a couple more stops, I stop for a quick lunch at Cerveseria Catalana, a great little tapas place, for some patatas bravas (fried potatoes with a drizzle of spicy red sauce and a drizzle of aioli) and wild mushrooms sautéed with jamon. Have I mentioned how crazy good the mushrooms are here?

By this time, it’s getting hot again, and I shed my sweater. More errands, and then home. Barcelona is a terrific, walkable city and it feels good to realize I’m beginning to know my way around.