Foreign in Florence: Tapas, Tapas, and More Tapas

Although I had been excitedly awaiting my trip to Barcelona for days, the weekend did not get off to the best start. As I sat at the gate Thursday morning with a case of the stomach flu, the idea of spending the weekend eating tapas, staying out until sunrise and partying on the beach could not have sounded less appealing. After an hour of internal debate, I decided getting on the plane to Barcelona would take less effort than having to make my way back to Florence from the Rome airport.

When I stepped off the plane in Barcelona the warm breeze was a welcome change from two days of rain in Florence. After spending a lazy afternoon exploring Barcelona with Alex, my friend from home who was on spring break from Michigan, we dined at an amazing tapas restaurant called Cervecería Catalana. Cervecería Catalana was easily the best tapas we had all weekend, as we enjoyed mini hotdogs and hamburgers, crispy Camembert, fried artichokes and our favorite dish of the weekend, padron peppers.

Thursday night was “Abroadfest,” the reason we chose to go to Barcelona this past weekend. The beachside club, Opium, was a Prague-like reunion all over again, except with much better weather. Every time I turned around, I was reunited with another friend I hadn’t seen in months, making night one in Barcelona a success.

On Friday, we started our day at a tapas restaurant, Tapa Tapa, with some friends from Byram (high school) and then headed to Barcelona’s most well known sites. The beautiful weather had me questioning why I hadn’t chosen Barcelona to study abroad. We visited La Sagrada Família, an intricately designed church that looks nothing like the gothic and Romanesque churches of Italy, but like a castle straight out of Disney World. La Sagrada Família is under construction and is not supposed to be done for almost 20 years, so our view was a bit obstructed.

After, we jumped in one of many cabs we took this weekend (Barcelona is huge compared to Florence) to La Boqueria, the open food market on La Rambla. At La Boqueria we found all types of food including fresh vegetables, fruit juices, candy and different types of meat. Next we strolled through the old city and found the old Jewish synagogue, which was rediscovered in the eighties as the oldest synagogue in Europe. We ended the day with a quick trip to the Picasso museum and dinner at Sensi, an Asian fusion tapas restaurant. We spent a second crazy night at one of Barcelona’s many clubs, almost making it to sunrise. 

After a very short night’s sleep, we started Saturday with a much-needed brunch at Picnic, which included mouthwatering French toast tapas and a turkey club reminiscent of my favorite meal from Beehive at home. As if we needed any more food, we went to the candy store, Happy Pills, after brunch to stock up on candy and recharge from the night before. Feeling cultured enough from the previous day, we relaxed at Park Güell, a beautiful park designed by genius architect, Gaudi. Gaudi’s designs are straight out of a fantasyland, and the park offers a beautiful view at the city. A perfect day in Barcelona would not be complete without a visit to the beach, where we walked along the pier and took in the summerlike weather. 

Knowing our time in Barcelona would soon be over, we managed to make it out again Saturday night. After a stop at Chupitos, a bar that features hundreds of different shots, like the flaming Harry Potter shot, we hit up our last Barcelona club. 

Barcelona lived up to the insane night life everyone talks about and I boarded the plane on Sunday wishing I had a few more days to spend in this incredible city. Returning to Florence and a forecast of five days of rain was nothing short of depressing, but I’m looking forward to a much-needed week of recovery before heading to Venice on Friday! 

Ciao a tutti! 

• wisconsin blog
• wisconsin study abroad blog