Life in Barcelona

Everyone has their favourite tipple, but nothing pops my cork quite like a fresh, crisp glass of bubbly Cava – Catalan sparkling wine, especially when the Barcelona temperatures are soaring!!

Cava should not just be saved for special occasions though! Certainly in Barcelona it is an inexpensive drink, found on every menu and in every bar! Some bars specialise in Cava, producing their own bottles for the customers to try.

My favourite place for sampling Cava is ‘La Xampanyet’, in C/Montcada, just near the Picasso museum in the centre of Barcelona.

Apart from the fantastic Rosé Cava that the bar produces itself and is sold by the bottle, there is a great range of tapas if you’re worried about the bubbles going straight to your head! I’ve been here too many times to count and have always had a great time. The bar is very atmospheric and always full of jolly people enjoying a glass or two, you need to get there early though if you want to find a space!

Cava isn’t just confined to the city centre however, and the nearby vineyards of Vilafranca del Penedès and Sant Sadurni d’Anoia offer a great day or weekend out, just 30 minutes from the city. Most of the smaller vineyards are happy for you to try their products and the larger ones offer guided tours which are very popular in the summer months. A particular must, is to visit the Codorníu Cava cellars, which is one of my personal favourites.

If you can’t get to the vineyards then just pop down to ‘La Xampanyet’, I assure you that it’s well worth the visit, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be going back for more!!!

/Janine
 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Food & Wine, General Barcelona, Other, Things to do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.