An addendum for Day 4, May 31

We met Deb and Sandy at Bodega Joan’s, a local place that was recommended for the best Spanish paella, and it was a spot-on recommendation! We had a mixed paella (meat and seafood), and it was awesome! Then we shared some deserts – a chocolate lava cake and a Catalan cheesecake. We also drank 2 bottles of Spain’s best wine. Ha!

Bodega Joan was established in 1942 (Spain was just emerging from its own civil conflict and it was a time of great uncertainty and control) by Balbina Garrido from Puertollano, Castilla La Mancha and Joan Balsells I Torres, Catalan. The young married couple founded the winery “La Unica” to sell wines in bulk along with ice, potatoes and dry goods. To accommodate locals spending afternoons playing dominos and cards, the couple renovated the patio and house in the 1950s. Balbina dn Joan retired and passed the management to their daughter-in-law Genoveva Herrero and Jose Maria Vazques, who reopened the bodega in the 1990s, and it was formalized as a long-standing group of regulars and local soccer players into an official fC Barcelona supporters club (Penya Barcelonistia). The bodega remains family-run and a stape of authentic tapas, grilled meats, paellas and football matches. 

We met at 6:30 pm, and we were about the only ones there for supper. The locals here don’t have supper until after 8:30 pm, so the small bodega was nearly packed by the time we left around 8:45 pm.

We went to Café Tamate on our plaza to have a drink before heading to our hotel room – we were banished to the rooftop because we weren’t eating anything. We had seen the neon sign from our room across the plaza and thought it might be a rooftop bar, but really didn’t know. It was a rooftop bar! Took some photos, see below.


                                                        A mixed paella at Bodega Joan


                                                    Beth and Debbie getting prepared to eat


        Beth on the Cafe Tomate rooftop bar, to which we were banished because we were only drinking at 9 pm instead of eating as most folks here do at 9 pm

 

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