Live Music in the Gothic Quarter of BCN

Do you like a little live acoustic guitar strumming in the background ask you sip heavy goblets of red Spanish wine? If your answer is, ‘Si!’, then pop into Salterio one Thursday or Friday evening for drinks and maybe a bite to eat.

Sadly, I know about this adorably bohemian bar because of an awful date I went on a year or so ago. Guys, do not take a woman to Salterio for a first date. This bar and tea-house is great for an evening drink with friends before going out for a night on the town, or even for a nightcap after dinner, but it does not impress nor does it have the criteria for a first date location.

Or maybe I am just bitter, because that date at Salterio was one of the worst of my adult life. I am not against bohemian bars, in fact, I like them, so that was not the problem. The food however, was an issue. Salterio is more of a bar than a restaurant, and their only menu item is a sort of stuffed quesadilla thing, which is tasty and makes a nice snack but does not make a dinner. Do not invite a woman to dinner and then take her to a cafe/bar…

When my date and I were at Salterio, we sat on cushions in the back, and i felt like I was in a magical cave. This was fun, but the guy playing the actustic guitar had a very robust voice, which reverberrated off of the cave walls, and made it impossible for me to understand anything my date was saying to me. I must have yelled, ‘What!?’ about 100 times that evening.

Despite the fact that I couldn’t catch a lick of what he was going on about, my date kept talking in a monologue, as he did, I looked around Salterio, and it seemed to me that other people were having lots of fun. Some girls chatted with the guitar player, others wrote in journals, and groups of friends laughed heartily at each other’s jokes. As the night wore slowly on I realized that Saltetio is a great place, that it was not the issue, but rather it was the man sitting across from me who was the problem. ‘It’s not me, it’s you,‘ I thought to myself.

Make your date happy, have drinks and appetizers before dinner

As we left, I realized why he had chosen Salterio: it is so inexpensive! A bottle of wine and one of their cheesey, gooey quesadilla creations will cost you very little at this cozy spot. ‘It’s on me this time… , ‘ my date beamed, and handed the waitress 15 Euros.

Address : Calle Santo Domingo del Call 4, Barcelona, Spain, Gothic Quarter, near St Juame Plaza.

Photo Credit: The Spain Scoop

Out for Drinks in Barcelona

I am always on the look out for a good cocktail hour, or Happy Hour, as I wander Barcelona’s streets. Normally, a cocktail off Happy Hour will run you between 7 and 15 Euros, convert that into dollars if you are coming from the United States, and you immediately see why Happy Hour is so appealing.

Dinner is later in Spain. On a weekday people may eat between 9 and 10pm, and on the weekend, dinner could start as late as 11pm. Therefore, it is not surprising that Happy Hour and Cocktail Time is pushed back a bit too, from what you may usually expect. At one of my favorite cocktail spots, Milk, Happy Hour is from 7pm on. At Rosa Negra, a cocktail bar fused with a Mexican restaurant, Happy Hour is at the same time, and the discounts are deep. Who doesn’t love an inexpensive, delicious margarita!?

In fact, I will be so bold as to say that the drinks are what they do best at Rosa Negra. I am from the West Coast of the United States, and in some way, strange as it may be, think of Mexican food (or at least gringa-fied Tex-Mex) as part of my national cultural heritage. I like my tacos spicy. Spice does not play into the menu at Rosa Negro, and many of their dishes deemed Mexican have left me wondering if anyone who works there is A) Mexican or B) ever been to Mexico….

I can complain, but the truth is that I will be back at Rosa Negra before I know it (as will others from the U.S.A. living here in Barcelona, who need their jalapeno fix) sitting at the bar at Happy Hour, a cheap margarita in one hand and a guacamole dipped chip in the other.

The vibe at Rosa Negra is very upbeat, the crowd is international, the music is eclectic, and the ambiance is colorful, fun and creative. Start your night out here, and you’ll be good to go on to the many other bars in the area after closing down their Happy Hour.

More on Rosa Negra: http://www.rosanegrabcn.com/rn/es/index.html

Photo Credit: The Spain Scoop

Cavamar is on the seaside in Barcelona

You can drink cava with appetizers at lunch, a bubbly glass accompanying olives, Spanish ham, and a cured cheese. You could also drink it with the main course, though this is my least preferred way to drink it. You could just as well drink it with dessert, perhaps a strawberry cheese cake or a chocolate Sacher.

Cava is not champagne, but it’s a lot like it. Mostly it is not champagne, because it does not come from Champagne in France, but from the cava cellars of Northeastern Spain’s  Catalonia. It is an important Catalan drink, and no visit to Barcelona would be complete without at least one glass (dare I say one bottle?) of cava.

For an interesting night out on the town, start off at a cava bar by the sea. At CavaMar they do cava and tapas, an excellent combination. While most cava is white, you could also try their rose cava, which I quite like on a summer evening. In addition to cava, they also serve 12 cocktails, wine, and sangria. I have heard it said more than once that sangria is for tourists, but maybe such is not the case if it is cava sangria? Either way, it is worth a sip.

Cavamar also serves wine

After tapas, a bottle of cava, or maybe even dinner (Cavamar also offers a dinner menu) head down the boardwalk to the clubs (Opium, Catwalk, Shoko) if you are a club kind of person, or try your hand at the casino, which is also nearby. If none of these options suit you (I am not much for clubbing and casinos) then head from Cavamar in the opposite direction into the Gothic Quarter towards Calle Ample, where many more bars and nightclubs (some with live music) await you.

More on Cavamar here: http://www.cavamar.com/index.html

Photo Credit: The Spain Scoop

Park Ciutadella, Barcelona

A group of friends and I came across Can Luis one summer night in 2009. We had been having a picnic at Barcelona’s Ciutadella Park, where all summer long they have free jazz concerts on Friday nights. It was one of those balmy nights where everyone has had a bit too much wine, too much good food, and too much fun. The concert ended, but we weren’t ready to go home. We rallied and set off into El Born, the neighborhood siding Park Ciutadella.

Jam Session at Can Luis

The brave leader of our expedition was Dolores, a Barcelona native, who planned to take us to the grungy and often packed, Bar Pony. We arrived to find Pony closed, and so ducked into Can Luis on the other side of the street from Bar Pony. This is usually how I come across interesting places – by accident. Can Luis has a series of instruments set up in the pack of the bar, and musicians of all skill levels are invited to jam,sing, strum the guitar, shake a maraca, tweet on a flute or run their fingers across the piano. Usually, there are quite a lot of people playing, and the result is pretty good.

Jorge plays at Can Luis

A friend of mine immediately went over and bumped a girl playing the piano off, taking her spot and then playing some very inspired numbers. Not a musician, I hugged the bar and sipped my drink, which was a bit expensive for a place like Can Luis, which has charm, but is by no means fancy. Drinks are expensive at Can Luis I assume, because of the live music. Still, I can’t really figure that one out, because the music is supplied for free by random customers jamming…..Either way, it is worth it to pay almost 3 Euros for your beer in order to check out this lively scene and hear some (probably) good live tunes.

Grab your map and find Can Luis on : Calle Portal Nou 18, Barcelona, Spain