My husband and I are in Barcelona for our honeymoon and today was our first day. We had traveled from California and flew overnight. We arrived at 8:30am, walked around the beaches of Nassau and after a 4 hour nap we awoke hungry and a bit fuzzy. We were still too beat to go into Barcelona and fight the crowds. We just wanted something close and easy. However, when you do not speak the language things become slightly more complicated. We had a difficult time finding a restaurant that was A: open B: served somethings our jet lagged stomachs could handle and C: we could find on our gps.
We found a tiny Pizzeria in the next town over. So simple, with only 3 spots at the counter, mostly delivery and take out. The owner, his girlfriend and friend were there and graciously made us their house speciality and seasonal pizza. And then a dessert pizza because it was our honeymoon. We proceeded to have a 2 hour conversation in broken english and broken spanish, sometimes using hand signs and google translate to get a point across. These people were true Catalonian; kind, genuine, happy, gracious and patient. This was the experience we were looking to find. Culture, local people, good people. The food was amazing as well. The owner, Oriel, gave us a list of "non-touristy" places in both Barcelona and Costa Brava for us and then he and his girlfriend, Anna, invited us to their home so they could teach us how to make "Catalan Pallella". We are so overwhelmed by the kindness and sheer willingness to not only help us order a pizza, but sit with us and discuss music, politics, travel and food for over 2 hours. It was amazing to communicate in both our native tongues and attempt to communicate with one another in a language neither are familiar with. Thank you Oriel, Anna and Christian. Best moments of our honeymoon so far. read more
