Spanish Envy

This morning I came down with what feels like a severe case of Spanish envy.

Marie pushed me over the edge in her most recent post . You'll see why in this extract, Fortunately, I'm in Barcelona, and actually have no business making my own coffee inside when I could be in a café meeting the eSwede for a morning espresso (he popped down for the weekend to distract me from Donald Duck coloring). I've sung the praises of Rentalona before, and I'm doing it again; what a great deal they offer. I have my own tiny studio near George Orwell Place for 56 euros a night, and the eSwede got an entire apartment just 50 meters away for 72 euros a night. Wow.

Barcelona is lovely. I was stunned when I got off the plane from Kuwait. Even the airport seemed so colorful after the beige desert. I went straight to a sandwich shop and had a bacon sandwich.

Perhaps that would have been bearable but it only adds to a recent overload of delicious posts about Spain. Wandering Woman, in Salamanca wrote, Sunny, sunny, Sunday morning, after savoring my El Pais, a marmelade-smothered tostada and a frothy café con leche in the Plaza Mayor, I paid my 6 euros to go along on the Turismo walking tour of Salamanca. It is an image that has stayed with me since reading it.

At last but not least, Sal recently wrote of his days in Barcelona from his home in Castilla-LaMancha. There was a small wine shop in the neighborhood in which I lived in Barcelona. In a small room at the back of the shop, the proprietor—a man whom I credit for showing me “the light” about wine...and whom I discredit for revealing himself to be a pathetic, drunken ass shortly thereafter—operated a tiny, hidden bar for “select” customers. This bar featured a small, ever-changing list of wines by the glass—each of which was hand-selected for its excellent price/quality ratio. It was as brilliant a marketing gimmick as it was an educational experience.

In tasting glass after glass—many of which the proprietor was too drunk to remember when tallying my bill at night’s end—I was able to explore (and finally appreciate!) the depth and quality of Spain’s vast offering of wines and wine regions.