Having visited Barcelona several times before, we had a very short list of things we wanted to do during our recent 3-day stay.
- Explore some new-to-us neighborhoods
- Take a food walking tour
- Tour Palace of Catalan Music with its iconic stained glass skylight.
On Saturday, we ate our way through the Gracia neighborhood with Devour Barcelona Food Tours. Guide Rene convinced us to try pickled anchovies, among many other foods and drinks. After touring the Palau de la Musica Catalana on Sunday morning, we left the crowds of the Ramblas and the La Ribera area and headed south to the Barceloneta neighborhood.
La Barceloneta is a seaside neighborhood in Barcelona that dates to the 18th century. The triangular-shaped neighborhood is bordered by Port Vell, the Mediterranean Sea, and the El Born neighborhood. With a sandy beach and a row of nightclubs and restaurants along the boardwalk, parts of Barceloneta are quite touristy. There’s also the Torre Sant Sebastià terminus of the historic Port Vell Aerial Tramway that connects La Barceloneta with Montjuïc.
Once you walk into the heart of the Barceloneta, however, the tourists fade away. We found street after street of apartments, many sporting the neighborhood flag in the window. There were also a number of neighborhood restaurants. We were looking for a seafood place that the local sailors and fishermen might frequent.
We finally settled on La Taberneta located at 39 Carrer d’Andrea Doria. It seemed to have a very local crowd, and the menu sported lots of seafood.
Having walked more than eight miles throughout the morning and early afternoon, we had worked up quite an appetite. We got carried away and ordered too many items, but they were all delicious.
Long one of our favorite tapas, the gambas al ajillo (shrimp with garlic) was worth the eight mile walk.
This was the anchovies in vinegar. They nearly disappeared before I could grab a photo, which was amazing considering that we weren’t anchovy fans until our food tour with Rene the prior day. These anchovies taste nothing like those brown things you find on a Caesar salad.
Another lesson from the food tour was the bomba. Here at La Taberneta the bomba was a huge mass of meat and potatoes, covered in a red sauce and buried under a mound of fresh mayo. It was heavy but delicious. If you have to make a choice of items to order, go for the seafood dishes at this restaurant.
The straightforward-sounding tuna and tomato salad was a better choice. The combination of slabs of Spanish tuna layered on crisp greens with fresh tomatoes doused in good olive oil made this salad anything but standard.
I drank a local white wine while Mr. Jones enjoyed his cerveza as we worked our way through this feast
If you are visited Barcelona and want to get away from the tourist crowds, head to the interior streets of the Barceloneta neighborhood and look for a crowd. Or head to La Taberneta. We’d go back for seafood tapas anytime.
What’s your favorite neighborhood spot to enjoy tapas in Barcelona? Please share in comments below.
Barcelona is one of our favorite cities to visit in Europe. Check out these other posts:
- 32 Fun Facts About Barcelona, Spain
- A Peek into Room 207 of the Cotton House Hotel in Barcelona
- Destination Discovery: Casa Milà, Barcelona, Spain
- Destination Discovery: Mercat de La Boqueria in Barcelona
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To learn more about Barcelona, check out:
Barcelona (Photography)
The Barcelona Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Life