Food:Spanish Tortilla

Spanish Tortilla is a key food in Spanish culture. Similar to paella, this food was traditionally a way of using up the weeks food, since there was no fridge for storing leftovers. While there is a basic recipe for Spanish tortilla, each has its own taste. These are made with Zucchinis, onions and mushrooms. While it is not hard to make, Spanish tortilla  does take a long time to make. When my host mom makes this dish for us, she starts it in the late morning and it is not ready until the late afternoon.

 

Food:La Champagneria

La Champaneria is a unique place. There isn't a sign on the door, and it is not in any guidebook, so it is the sort of place you find out about through word of mouth. When you walk in, the left hand side has stacks of emerald green bottles and on the ceiling are  hanging slabs of meat. This Tapas bar is standing room only but the prices are very cheap. They sell regular cava and cava roset. Cava roset is a bit sweeter than the regular kind, a bit like a bubbley liquid form of a sweet raspberry jam. There are many different types of Tapa sandwhiches, but my favorite is camembert cheese with ham. It is served on a fist sized brown toasted roll, so it is a bit of a struggle to take a bite without letting the cheese run down your face.  The cava is almost poured over the edge of the glass, so carrying your glass from the bar to to the wooden ledge  about 5 feet away is treacherous. Many times I have seen a guy grab his glass once he was served and to his dismay he was sloshed in the face with half his drink. 

Once you have finished your cava and bocadillo, their cheese cake is a taste treat. Unlike the cheesecake in the United States, the main ingredient is not cream cheese. Rather than being heavy and creamy, it is light and spoungey, with a slightly browned and crispy top.

Before 2:00p.m the bar is mostly filled with tourists but after 2:00 people working in the area will come bustling in and you have to shout over the crowd to get your order in. Even though the bar is crowded the bartenders always know what you ordered, right before you ask for the check. There aren't really places like this in the U.S In the states, you either get food to-go and have to pay before you eat, or sit down at a table and pay after you have eaten your relaxed meal. This is sort of a combination of a quick bit to eat but with a restaurant like atmosphere.

Boqueria

Piles of exotic or out of season fruit glisten as you walk past, tempting you with their taste. Fresh smoothies, and baked goods also draw in the unexperienced tourist. If you buy the first thing you see you will be wasting your money. In order find affordable and still delicious foods you have to be willing to walk through the maize like design of La Boqueria. 

The Boqueria is unlike any other market. The layout of the market is centered around the fish section with aisles of fruit, vegetables, meat  and cheese branching off of it. The closer a fruit stand is to the fish the cheeper it is going to be. When buying a fish, it is important to buy one that still has its head and eyes intact. Without the head it is much harder to determine how fresh the fish is because the head is always the first to wrought. The architecture has a 19th century design  of glass and iron, referencing the industrial revolution.      

Medieval Barcelona

Cathedral Santa Creu

Ruins around the cathedral

                          This Cathedral is the center of barrio gótico. Cathedrals and churches are still a reflection in the connection between catholicism and Cataluña. Barrio Gottico, is the center of old town Barcelona before it expanded into the large city it is today. The streets are labyrinth like and it easy to get lost if you don't know your way around. This area is also filled with old guilds functioning in society today.

Santa Maria church

Interior of Santa Maria

Rose window inside Santa Maria

September 29th: The Protest

Zara's on Paseseig de Grácia

On wednesday September 29th, IES informed me I should not come to school on this day, under no circumstances. This was the day a nationwide protest was to be held. One thing being protested was that the retirement age is going to be raised two years. Many slogans simply discussed the dire state the economy is.

The class I am taking at UB( University of Barcelona) was not canceled, our teacher candidly informed us that” the protesters might come in and force us to end class , in which case we will just leave”.

I decided that a protest was not something I could miss if I really wanted to understand current politics in Spain, as well as the Spanish culture.

I was able to catch the very last train leaving for Pl. Cataluyna at 8:00 a.m. When I stepped onto the train, there were a few others, it was completely silent and it seemed like something was in the air; anticipation, fear?

          I was standing out of Farggio, a chain Café, for about thirty minutes. I  was suprised that it was stilll open because  the picket lines were supposed to have been made as early as 4 a.m.  After thirty  minutes four young male adults( early to mid 20s) walked over to the front of the café and stood in front of it. They were all dressed in faded black clothing, wearing red scarfs around their neck, and a couple of them had their hair in the mullet style that is popular here. While they were crossing the street, one of them blared a noise maker making everyone in the vicinity jump a bit.

A bus is covered in slogan stickers, stopped in the middle of the street,
A group of people help peel the stickers off so the bus driver can move onwards.

       Keep in mind, the  protest has not reached its full potential yet, the sound of hundreds of protesters in the distance, was in the air but they were still a ways off from Pl Cayaluña.

            When I walked back in that direction I saw that not only were the glass doors of Farggio firmly locked, but an object resembling a freezer, ice cream and popsicles are kept in, was shoved against the doors.

            For the most part groups containing forty or so protestors would stop traffic for about about five minutes, shout chants and cover every shop window with slogan sticker, and then they would continue down the street.

            The metra was closed from  8:30 a.m – 5:00p.m so when it opened again there was a mad rush to  squeeze onto the train. With all the pushing and pulling it seems logical that people might get upset. For the most part though, only awkward smiles were exchanged when the only place to put an elbow was  to be squashed against a back or rib.

Women who had been waiting for protestors to pass, so they could get into Zara's

            After I left there were outbreaks of lighting cop cars on fire  and trashing the streets, but since I was not there to witness it I cannot include a detailed account of these events.