Barcelona has one of the liveliest food scenes in Europe right now, with celebrity chefs, sprawling outdoor markets, and gourmet dishes of all sizes and prices — which is why when I toured through the city in April I decided I would spend my days stuffing my face with tapas. I wanted to try the squid, the croquettes, the chocolate, the cava, the works.
I’m a Frommer’s editor by day (read more about that here), so I somehow cooked up the idea that the best way to do this would be to eat my way through the entire “Gourmet Barcelona” tour from Frommer’s Barcelona Day by Day, written by Neil Schlecht. This would be no small feat as the tour has 14 stops and is spread throughout the city. The tour’s introduction notes “this isn’t a day-long tasting menu unless you choose to make it one,” which I took to mean this is more of a list to explore at leisure rather than a typical one-day itinerary.
Still, I was determined to nosh my way through Neil’s list, testing out both the tour and the limits of my stomach. I had 2 days to do this before I left Barcelona to reconvene with my sister in Madrid (she was off touring the Costa Brava).
I gave myself a few ground rules: I would visit every stop but didn’t have to stick to the tour’s order; I would consume or at least buy something at each stop; I would allow myself the full two days (there was no point in running around and getting sick along La Rambla); I would roll with whatever punches Murphy’s law sent my way; and I would report all my findings, warts and all.
Did I finish the tour? and still fit into my pants at the end? Click below for a gallery with the answers. Be sure to start with the first photo, a map of the itinerary.
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