Zombified at Los Caricoles :)

Today Gavin and I headed over to the El Raval district just beyond La Rambla to see the Museu Marítim.  We were excited to see a full-sized replica of Don Juan of Austria's flagship; from the pictures it looked like a beautiful gold-gilded mahogany masterpiece, and it is incredible that one is actually allowed to board it and walk around!

Don Juan's flagship in the museum.  Not our picture, see below for details. :(

Unfortunately, this beautiful thing was closed for restoration - we didn't even get to peek in a room to see it!  Sad!  The rest of the museum was smaller replica ships encased in glass, engines and other assorted bits of ships and lots of seafaring history.

We cracked up at this display - a Garmin GPS is on display in the museum.  I guess GPSs are ancient history now...  :)

Port Vell.

After the Museu Marítim, we headed over to La Barceloneta to see Port Vell, which includes a large shopping mall.  Outside the mall, artists were selling their paintings, so we bought a small one for our collection (we try to buy a piece of art from a market or on the street anywhere we go!).  Then we headed back in to La Rambla to try out Los Caracoles, a famous Barcelona restaurant, for lunch.  I decided to be adventurous and try their squid ink paella.  It arrived in a black paella pan and was so blackened with the squid ink it was barely distinguishable from the pan!  The paella was nicely tamed for the tourists, as the shrimp were thankfully fully cleaned (no eyeballs, antennae, legs, etc).  :)  I also kind of liked the dark ink covering up all the seafood "mystery meat" so I couldn't tell what it was - my growing-up-in-the-midwest tastes are still a little revolted by little rubbery bits...  :)  The squid ink itself was pretty salty and gave the dish the slightest aftertaste of pond scum, but eating it had the humorous effect of giving me "zombie mouth."

Los Caricoles means "the snails" and they give you little bread loaves shaped like snails!  So cute!  I wasn't brave enough to order the REAL snails that are their specialty...  :)

Squid ink paella at Los Caracoles.

See? Zombie Mouth!  I should try out to be an extra on Walking Dead...  :)

Zombie mouth gave rise to this little video gem, which I made Gavin shoot when none of the classy, tie-clad waiters were watching.  :)

After lunch, we walked around the Port Vell area a bit more, taking in one of Barceloneta's lovely beaches.  Though the weather was a little chilly, that evidently doesn't stop kite boarders from bringing out their parachutes.  :)

Me in Barceloneta (with my new Barcelona advertising banner purse.  :)  )

Kite boarders in La Barceloneta.  BRRRRR!!!  The ones I saw closer up were wearing wet suits.

Gavin on the beach in La Barceloneta.  :)

For dinner, we decided to ditch the travel guidebooks which have been leading us astray this whole trip.  We walked around in the El Born district near our apartment and came upon a tiny little side street with lots of interesting looking places to eat and drink.  We settled on a nice tapas bar called Suaida al Born for dinner.  It was a lovely, medieval looking place with stone walls and heavy wood tables and booths.  We had some delicious tapas and wonderful sangria, then headed out for the next bar down for more nibbles and drinks.  This bar was aptly named Rubi, as everything in it was ruby red - walls, decor, lamps, even the lightbulbs themselves gave the whole place a dark red glow.  The low lighting and small tables created an intimate atmosphere, despite the noisy Brits at the next table over.  :)  Wanting a change from sangria, I ordered a strawberry mojito, and it was one of the best I have ever had!  Our last stop on our evening's tour of pleasures was once again Creps Barcelona for more delicious dessert crepes and tea, a lovely way to end our evening of tapas gluttony.  :)