Hola a tots! Em dic Fèlix i estic aprenent català. That translates to, "Hello, everyone! My name is Felix and I am learning Catalan."
I've created this blog to document my journey as I immerse myself in the Catalan culture, language, food, music, customs, history, current political climate, and much more. Please note, I have no method, plan, or set expectations for this little project so posts will likely be random and disjointed. I'd like to think of it as a storage area. Here's what lead to this...
In June of this year, to celebrate my eldest daughter's graduation from high school, our family went on a 17-day trip through Europe which, on our own, included London, Paris, Madrid, and Barcelona. Then, as part of an 8-day cruise on NCL's Epic, we had port stops in Naples (which we used to drive to Positano), Rome, Pisa & Florence, Cannes, and Palma de Mallorca. It was an amazing life-altering trip! My wife Judy and I had been to almost all those places except for Spain. Our time was extremely short in each place, so we want to go back to all of them to get to know them better. But one spot really resonated with us... Barcelona!
Here are some pics from our Summer 2018 family trip
The combination of it being bustling, yet relaxed, plus the multitude of historical periods and architecture represented all in one city, was particularly appealing. Now, add incredible food like tapas, paella, seafood, and simple snacks like pa amb tomàquet (bread and tomatoes), and you've captured our foodie hearts!
Fast forward to today and I am about 3 weeks away from heading back to Barcelona for a whole week. This time, sans children. Needless to say, my wife and I are really looking forward to this trip and have been doing tons of research on everything from restaurants, day trips to other cities in Catalonia, entertainment options, and more (if you have any recommendations, please share them in the comment section below!). We even have tickets to see FC Barça play against Valladolid in Camp Nou, Europe's largest soccer (futbol) stadium!