The virtues of iberico ham (Barcelona day 1)

I love ham. Let me just say that. I can honestly say I used to be a prosciutto snob, thinking that it was at the top of the cured ham food chain. That was until yesterday, when I had my first taste of authentic iberico ham from La Boqueria market in Barcelona. Let me just say -- it was glorious. I knew pigs were invented for a reason, and it seems that Spanish pigs are definitely at the top of the ham food chain. (And at 80 euros a kilo, they should be!)

But I digress. Yesterday I arrived in Barcelona. I must say that first impressions were pretty blah, probably because the weather was blah, and the airport was pretty blah, too. I am staying at Le Meridien on La Rambla, well, mostly because it was free. Hey, at least it is a "five star" hotel. Haha.

Anyway, other than my adventures in Spanish ham-dom, I laid low for the rest of the evening and allowed jet lag to harass me at approximately 3am. With my 3-day plan all laid out, I had forgotten to take jet lag into account and of course, completely blew through my morning schedule today when I slept in until 11:30. Oops. But hey, vacation is vacation!

Today was a busy day of scurrying around, NOT getting into famous sights, and the 2-hour, 7-course lunch at Comerç 24 (more on that meal in a separate post). I tried to get into La Sagrada Familia, but got there too late to catch the last elevator up for the day (the stairs are closed due to "safety reasons"), and the main floor of Casa Batlló also closed early for the day. So instead I strolled around El Born, and went into La Petrada (aka Casa Milà) which had the most amazing sculptures on the roof terrace. All I can say, though, is that this Gaudi fellow must have been on some serious drugs when he dreamed up these buildings...uh, I mean...he must have been uniquely inspired. Right.

Tomorrow I am off to attempt Sagrada Familia again, followed by a little detour out of the city to a town named Sant Celoni? What's there? None other than one of the six 3-Michelin-star restaurants in all of Spain -- Can Fabes.