Tips from this last trip

I am always looking for a fantastic dining experience.  Especially when I am on vacation in a place that is known for it’s great food.  Often however, if you get stuck in the tourist areas or simple just don’t know where to look, your meals are less than you hoped for.

In both Rome and Venice I found fantastic local guides to restaurants and nightlife.  Weirdly, I found them both in Museums.  So, the next time you find yourself abroad and are looking for some help in finding a great place to eat, look at the gift shop of a museum.  They might just have the skivvy on what you are looking for.

Venice.  What can I say, it is beautiful and has some of the most well known architecture going but absolutely has the worst maps for trying to figure out how to get around on foot.  We ended up finding our way because Skye has an IPhone and she used google maps to navigate us.  The published maps don’t have half of the street names on them and sometimes there are more than one of the same street in different sections of the city.  If you don’t have an IPhone, the water taxis are the best bet to get you at least close to your destination.  Or see if you can get google maps on your phone.  This will be especially helpful if you are only in Venice for a couple days and want to see as much as possible.

For the love of Chocolate!

Ok, so if you are anything like me, you love chocolate.  So how excited was I to find that Barcelona has a MUSEUM OF CHOCOLATE!  That’s right!!  And the first thing you get, as you admittance ticket is….a chocolate bar!

Apparently if I had done some research before I went, instead of just stumbling upon this, I would have discovered that Spain is where chocolate first arrived in Europe and has some of the most fantastic chocolate in the world.  Now we were there the week before Easter so there was a lot of chocolate in the windows, but apparently Spain is a major producer year-round.  I always think Belgium or German, but no, Spain.  So you go in and get to learn a bit about chocolate; the history, the production.  And they have these Amazing chocolate sculptures that even I thought definitely too beautiful to ever eat.

However, you end the tour at the gift shop and you should pick up a few samples.  It’s really good chocolate.  They are linked to the Barcelona Confectionary Guild & Pastry School.  So next you should know my top picks on places to visit to get the best and most interesting chocolate in Barcelona.  Don’t worry, I sampled quite a few.

Xocoa.  (Carrer Petritxol 11-13).  This chocolate boutique is really cool.  It is for the more adventurous chocolates eaters.  The flavors range from lavender & saffron to orange and framboise.   They also do have a great selection of plain chocolate as well.  However you should go out on the edge and try something new!  We have come a long way with food and now we are doing the same with our chocolate.   Their wrappings are really interesting as well.  The owners hired a graphic designer to design all their packaging so that is a work of art in and of itself.  They also have a great selection of dessert wines that they will help you to pair with your delicious chocolate.  And if you want to smell like chocolate or have the smell of chocolate wafting through the air all the time, they have a great selection of candles, soaps and other body products to choose from.