A man comes into town... to eat and drink. Barcelona and Ronda.

Well, well and well. So far it seems most days are like this.

Church, Museum, Bar, Home.

Or Church, Bar, Castle, Museum, Park, Home.

Or Beach, Bar, Church, Bar, Home.

And last night it was Bar, Bar, Bar, Bar, Bar, Bar, Home. Next day Church.

And I suppose that is how I roll or rolled or am rolling. I am in Sevilla now after a whirlwind tour of Barcelona, Grenada, Malaga and a smaller town by the name of Ronda in which I stumbled upon a pretty suave sherry bar. (note picture above) The good time had at this wonderful establishment would have been just a bit better if I didn't have so many water spots on my glass. I am glad to report that it has been the only serious violation I have found concerning water spots thus far. I am not however suggesting in the least bit that all glasses have shined and sparkled but that a majority have been deemed sufficient and not required further inspection.

I was fortunate in Ronda to meet up with two of the shops regulars, Mark and Alena and their wonderful kids. Of course we took in a wine bar and the tapas were outstanding and the wines at about 3.50 a glass definitely delivered. Vino Blanco always hits the spot in Spain.

So I am going to back up a bit and take you on my word tour of Barcelona. The highlight of Barcelona was meeting up with a former customer, Erica and her husband Jonathan. Friday night, I was invited to a wine tasting for Ribera del Duero wines. The tasting was in Spanish but I was provided with a solid translation by Jonathan and even picked up a few words on my own.

So the hit of the night was the Alion 2005 (second label of Vega Sicilia) and the evenings wines were followed with a nice selection of cheeses, pan con tomato, some jamon serrano and blood sausage. Had a bandito not tried to lift my wallet at the subway stop a few hours prior to this nice event, I would have brought my camera and taken some nice photos of the event but I left it and my phone at home. It was a rookie traveling mistake.

Often I find in cooking that some of my favorite foods are simple. Pan con Tomate has certainly found beauty in its simplicity. It is easy to make... toasted bread, rubbed with garlic and fresh tomato then drizzled with olive oil and a bit of salt. Often one may then place a bit of cheese or sausage on top.

On Saturday, I found myself walking around a street by the name of Las Romblas in Barcelona and found their market after a stellar breakfast of Chocolate con Churros. Basically donuts and a warm seductively beautiful chocolate drink. Oh if Homer Simpson was a connoisseur of food he would eat and drink nothing else. (Thanks Amanda for the recommendation) A lively, massive market the kind that breathes life and teases your senses. The market was compartmentalized just as a store with sections for everything you could imagine. Now, at this point in my trip I had taken around 60 photos. In the two hours I wandered around in the market I took about 70 photos. Eventually, I will learn how to post them to the web as I hope to have captured a bit of that wonderful market and the intensity of thousands of people looking and buying with all their senses. If only I could have convinced one of them "Tu casa es mi casa". I am coming to dinner tonight... it's okay, I am an excellent guest and I'll bring the wine.

That evening I met Jonathan and Erica for dinner and had once again one of my favorite wines from Bierzo. The Corullon by Alvaro Palacios from the Mencia grape always delivers in a French Burgundy sort of way. Earth, animal scents, a bit of funk that wafts in and out and a smooth delivery down the pie hole.

That's it for today. I am going to start posting more as quite frankly I think that is the whole idea behind blogging.

Hola, Madrid.

So I took the show on the road, but you already knew that.

My drinkabout was kicked off with a wicked event at the ole 33 last Saturday. I think by the end of the night my arms were tired from the amount of hugs I had given out. I also had the pleasure of being hugged by Shamus a few times. During these times, Shamus who is 7 feet tall ( I round up ) lifted me high off the ground and swung me around. It was kind of disturbing to those watching but oh so fun for me. A sincere thanks to all who made the trip in on that Saturday or during the last few weeks and months to say good-bye.

So I jumped on the plane...literally with a realization that a much needed re-centering was about to begin.

I thought briefly about giving the liver a few days rest as over the past several weeks I had spent my fair share of saying good-bye with a toast and hearty farewell. That idea ended rather quickly as I found myself on Tuesday walking through a jam packed plaza in Madrid. Miraculously my liver as it usually does took over on auto-pilot and steered me directly into a bar for an order of Paella and glass of Vino tinto followed by Vino blanco. I thought it would be nice to try the Spanish equivalent of our house wine. The red from Rioja for approximately 2.75 USD (thanks to the latest screaming while falling dollar) was so, so but okay. So I switched to the white and well, well, well. Rueda Blanco came through again and I thought to myself about all those Rueda Blanco's that graced 33's by the glass list over the last several years and teased your summertime palates.

Get this... There is a statistic for Madrid stating it has 6 bars per 100 residents. Well here is a little something about something. I walked the streets in Madrid on a Tuesday night until a little after Midnight and they were packed. Not just one full bar, not just one full street. I saw families with little kids out at 11:30. (The kids were not drinking.) I saw people of all ages listening to music, drinking wine and eating. Best yet, they were enjoying it.

I left for Barcelona the next morning as I am set to return to Madrid for a few nights before my flight leaves to hurl me back across the ocean for a two week regrouping in the states before the French segment of my Drinkabout begins.

Also of great note. On my first day in Barcelona I was walking miles around and I became somewhat parched and decided it would be best at this time to quench the thirst with water. So I stumbled into a grocery store and found this glorious revelation not far from the Sagrada Familia. 1 liter of water costs 1.50 Euro. Wine costs 1.35 Euro.

So I bought a bottle of wine. Actually, as I write this I realize I should have bought wine. I am sorry if I let you down. But I can assure you it was for my health whose needs may may not always coincide with the needs of the drinkabout. I can assure you only in certain threatening decisions will I choose water over wine. One is serious dehydration, the other is if a bandito held a glock (not the musical instrument) to my head.

Now, lets go back to the Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia is a stunningly beautiful and a bit odd church began by the famous architect Gaudi in 1882. It is still not completed. In fact, they expect the work to take until after 2020. They did however finish the gift shop and it seems to be fully operational.

My thoughts: If wine costs me less than water, I would get less work done as well. On another note, it kind of does away with the idea of how cool it is to turn water into wine. This now represents a net loss business situation of .15 Euro. Not so cool anymore at least from a financial position. Still a somewhat wicked trick though.

That's it for the first installment from Europe. Thanks for reading. Keep your nose in the glass and your ear to the ground. I am going to a Spanish wine tasting tomorrow evening with a 33 customer who now resides in Barcelona.

It will probably give me another chance to work on my Spanish. Yesterday, I asked someone speaking Spanish if they spoke Spanish.

Tu hablas espanol?

Oops...