Bon Nadal: A taste of the good life

Feliz Navidad to all, or should I say Bon Nadal! Catalan is everywhere in this fiercely independent Spanish province. In the morning, we did the traditional Christmas thing: Mass. We went to the Cathedral Santa Maria del Mar in the Gothic neighbourhood called the Born. This is by far the coolest neighbourhood in Barcelona because there are romantic little winding alleyways and funky boutiques full of Spanish goodies. The Cathedral was unsurprisingly very impressive, with its thick stone beams aspiring to the heavens and colourful stained glass windows forming kaleidoscopes on our faces. The Mass surprisingly (and luckily) was relatively short, despite having been in Spanish, Catalan, and French.

After our holy pilgrimage, we took a quick look at my grandfather’s lovely old flat, which was in the neighbourhood. But since we were starving, we did not linger long, and went to my cousins,’ Stella and Amadeo’s, place shortly after. They live on the other side of town, in a posh area known as the Eixample. There, we soon gathered into a nice sized group, including my six cousins, my parents, and the family priest. This old Jesuit man was good friends with Stella’s mother, who passed away a few years ago. The family has remained close to him, and kindly invited him to spend Christmas with us. Only problem is he spoke mainly Catalan, my cousins mainly Catalan and Spanish, and Bret only English. But I think we managed quite well.

After passing around some presents, downing some wine, olives, and fois, we proceeded to have lunch (at around 3:30!). We sat around at a very grand table with a large crystal chandelier and rococo paintings on the walls. After the little old priest had recited part of a prayer/poem that he wrote (in Catalan), which I gathered had something to do with sunrise, baby Jesus, and Santa, we proceeded to feast. And what a feast it was! Light macaroni soup to start, followed by Escudella- a fabulous Spanish dish of cabbage/potato/carrot/pork/blood sausage/chicken. Wine poured generously from every angle. And then it came: the climax of the lunch: lobsters. While at first we attempted politeness, given the formal surroundings, by the second lobster, we had dumped our manners out along with the lobster shells. And by our fourth lobster, we were competing over who could get the most meat out of the claws. Stuffed and happy, we finished our meal with traditional turrones and some Champagne. 3 hours later, after our hard work of eating fine food and imbibing our vino tinto and bubbly, we headed back to the Alexandra for a well-deserved Christmas nap.