Croatia - July 2021

 Eric and I enjoyed a week-long trip to Croatia in July of 2021.

Saturday, July 3rd and Sunday, July 4th

Saturday:

We arrived at Denver International Airport and got through security in only a couple minutes.  We hung out in the United lounge for a bit before boarding our plane to Frankfurt.  The agents needed to check everyone's COVID documentation, which took quite a long time.  Between this and "severe weather" east of the airport, our plane took off about an hour late, which worried me because our connection in Frankfurt was only 80 minutes.

The flight was about 9.5 hours.  I slept for maybe 30 minutes or so and I'm not sure Eric slept much at all, so we arrived in Frankfurt tired and anxious to make our next flight.  However, we landed with about 20 minutes before our plane would be taking off, and we knew it wasn't going to happen.

Sunday:

The Frankfurt airport is really something else.  We had to go through security to even attempt to make our next flight.  Despite there being minimal people in line, the (first) security check took about 30 minutes because security was pulling every single bag and meticulously searching every item.  One person had his hair gel taken out of his bag and inspected by several different people.  While we were waiting for our bags, and about 15 minutes after our flight had taken off, we met 2 other Americans who had also missed the flight to Dubrovnik.  We later met a 3rd and the 5 of us joined forces in attempting to get booked on the next scheduled flight.  When I checked my United app a bit later, I found out that United had automatically booked us for the next available flight (about 4-5 hours later) but our boarding passes were not available on the app.  The others in our group found themselves in the same situation.  So, we began the process of attempting to get our boarding passes.  We went to several different gates/desks and everyone kept telling us to go somewhere else.  Throughout this chaos, we had to go through security another 2-3 times, each time taking longer than necessary.  Finally, we were guided to the master line for those needing help with a rebooked flight.  The line was massive.  There were people from all over trying to get all over the world - Nigerioa, South Africa, you name it.  The line was slow moving and everyone was becoming irritated.  After over an hour standing in line (we got some hot dogs during the wait), an agent announced over the intercom that this was not the line to be waiting for a new boarding pass, and boarding passes would be provided at the gate.  The line was angry.  People began yelling that's not what they had been told (this is also not what we had been told).  The agent said if I announce your name, I will give you an itinerary ticket to show to the next gate agent.  The agent announced our name, we took our itinerary tickets, and trusted that we'd get our boarding passes eventually.

While waiting for our flight, we stopped at a restaurant in the airport for some German grub and beer (non-alcoholic for me).

Eventually, we (and the 3 other Americans) boarded our flight and were on our way to Dubrovnik!  We landed in Dubrovnik at about 6pm, quickly made our way through the passport check, and got into a taxi for our hotel, Hotel Croatia Cavtat.  It was a quick ride to our hotel.  We checked in, dropped off our bags, and began exploring the area around our hotel.  

  Pictured below is one view from our hotel. 

We spent a little time down by the water before meandering to a nearby restaurant on the water for dinner.  We noticed right away that there are a lot of stray cats in town, which Eric happily fed some of his steak to.  Dinner, and stray cats from the first night, pictured below.

 

Monday, July 5th:

We began the morning with some breakfast at the hotel's breakfast buffet. The outdoor seating overlooks Cavtat harbor, which is very picturesque.  We then got into a taxi to Dubrovnik for our scheduled Game of Thrones walking tour.  The walking tour was very interesting with lots of Game of Thrones tidbits and 'behind the scenes' information.  We saw where Cersei did the walk of shame, where Joffrey's wedding took place (*spoiler alert* when he was poisoned), and various other filming locations.  Game of Thrones is definitely a big draw in Dubrovnik, with many souvenir shops dedicated to Game of Thrones merchandise.

 

For lunch we went to Mea Culpa inside Old Town, a nice little pizza restaurant.  I got a 4-cheese pizza and Eric got a burger and fries. The pizza was very good.  We meandered through Old Town a bit more before getting some ice cream and boarding a small boat back to Cavtat.  This was a mistake as I tend to get seasick and felt woozy the whole ride over.

When we got back to Cavtat, we spent some time at the "beach" by our hotel.  I bought a floaty so I could float in the water, which was fun.  We then had another dinner on the harbor, ice cream on the harbor, before coming back to the hotel for bed.

 

Tuesday, July 6th:

Tuesday morning we walked around the peninsula in Cavtat. It was a very pretty walk, and we discovered lots of cats, more "beach" spots, what appeared to be a small vineyard, and scouted out some potential dinner options.  We then spent most of the day relaxing by the water.  For dinner we went to a "fast food" burger place.  The burgers were interesting.  It looked like the buns were made out of pizza dough, they were quite flat and large, and I think had mozzarella cheese?  But surprisingly, very tasty.

Wednesday, July 7th:

Wednesday was definitely my least favorite day of the trip!  We woke up early to catch a 9am boat out of Dubrovnik for a full-day tour of the Elaphiti islands, a group of inhabited islands outside of Dubrovnik.  While the tour was advertised as visiting 3 islands with snorkeling, we were told early on that we were unable to visit one of the islands, which was going to extend our time at the other 2 islands.  I suppose I was envisioning these beautiful beach islands and a fun day of snorkeling.  Instead, we arrived at the first island after about 90 minutes on the boat and I could tell it was going to be a real dud.  It looked like a very sad, desolate fishing village.  The first thing we saw after getting off the boat was some locals carrying flowers and a coffin to what appeared to be the town's chapel.  We saw a sign for "olive oil and wine tasting" and followed the sign but never found where the tasting was supposed to be. We headed back to the water and hung out in the water for about 20 minutes.  We were never given any snorkeling gear.  So, after getting out of the water we pretty much sat around until the boat was ready to head to the next island.  In between, we were fed a sad lunch of under cooked chicken and bland side dishes.  When we arrived to the second island, we were told we'd be there for 4 hours!  Again, no snorkeling gear was ever given out.  While this island had more shops and restaurants than the other, that was about it.  It was also SUPER hot, so walking around for 4 hours in the blazing heat was not an option.  We sat on the beach for quite a while, went in the water, had some ice cream, and again waited for the boat to depart.  In hind sight, we would have been better off doing a day trip to Montenegro or Bosnia.  Live and learn...

 When we got back into town, we went to Old Town to find a restaurant a friend had recommended, Dalmatino.   On the way, we passed by an old church where several cats appeared to be living.  We found out from a local that the city does not have a cat shelter, so there are many, many street cats.  She informed us that she feeds the cats everyday.  She was very nice and told us which cats were friendly and which were not, and also told us which way to go to get to Dalmatino.

We had an amazing dinner at Dalmatino!  We got caprese salad and mussels as appetizers.  The mussels were very fresh with a delicious white wine cream sauce.  Eric got a lamb shank entree and I got a beef cheek pasta.  Both were delicious.  Dinner was the highlight of the day.

Thursday, July 8th:

Thursday was a great day in Croatia.  We headed to Dubrovnik after breakfast for our kayaking adventure tour.  We got into our kayak and began paddling (Eric did most of the work) through the Adriatic sea, around the Lokrum island, where our guide would stop the group about every 10-15 minutes to tell us some little tidbits about the city or the island.  We stopped in one cave for a bit for anyone who wanting a quick swim, before reaching our final destination of Botina beach cave.  We had some time for swimming and eating our light lunch provided by the company (ham and cheese sandwich).  Eric jumped off a cliff with the tour guide, which was sort of horrifying because it looked like they were going to hit a rock on the way down.  After about 30-40 minutes, we kayaked back to the starting point.

 

We then wandered into Old Town and had some drinks and french fries at a restaurant on the Stradun, the main street in Old Town (again, non-alcoholic for me).

 That evening, we had dinner, followed by ice cream, back in Cavtat.

Friday, July 9th:

Friday was a nice leisurely day, our last full day in Croatia.  We ate a later than usual breakfast, enjoyed the views of the harbor, then went back to our room for a bit to relax and get a little work done.  We then headed to Dubrovnik to visit Old Town for some shopping and our last bit of sight-seeing.  We purchased a few souvenirs, some traditional Croatian candy, ate some delicious Croatian pastries on the steps of a church with our cat friends, stopped at an Irish Pub for a couple drinks, before meandering to Dalmatino again for another delicious dinner.  We shared a scallop and shrimp ravioli appetizer, Eric got a steak entree and I got (yet another) truffle pasta.  I will say the beef cheek pasta was better, but Dalmatino was definitely the best restaurant we ate at in Croatia.

 

 

We headed back to Cavtat to stroll the harbor one last time, got some ice cream (which had become an evening tradition), then ventured to the other side of the hotel with a full view of the Adriatic sea and a private beach and swimming area on the rocks/cliff.  The swimming area was pretty large for being in the sea, but I think the water is so calm that you could really swim a ways out with no concerns.  I really wish we had found this area before our last night because it was really pretty.  We watched the sunset over an island out at sea before heading back to our room for the night.  Friday was a great way to end our trip to Croatia!

 

In Summary:

 Overall, we had a pretty good time in Croatia.  It was a lot hotter than I anticipated, which I think put a damper on some outdoor activities (for example, the Elaphiti islands may have been more enjoyable if it weren't sweltering hot).  The food and drinks in both towns was more expensive than I was anticipating, and wasn't the best food that I've had in Europe (Rome definitely still holds the crown).  However, Dubrovnik and the surrounding areas are very scenic and we got our first taste of a Mediterranean town.  It's easy to see why there were so many yachts out and about.  I'm also glad that we decided to stay in Cavtat, as it was nice to split our time between Cavtat and Dubrovnik. If we had only stayed in Dubrovnik, I think 3 days would have been sufficient (we met a few other Americans who were spending a few days in Dubrovnik and a few days in Split - that's probably the way to do it).

Puerto Vallarta - October 2020

 Hola! It's been a while but I wanted to get our Puetro Vallarta blog out there.

Day one, October 7th:

We set out to Puerto Vallarta early in the morning from DIA with a quick layover in Houston.  We went to the United Club in Houston for a couple drinks and snacks and then it was just a quick flight from Houston to PV.

When we arrived at the airport, temperature checks were taken in the customs/immigration line.  We quickly made our way out of customs, only to be bombarded by a dozen airport workers trying to sell various excursions.  Eric got sucked in to one offering free margaritas and shots of tequila.  We ended up agreeing to attend a timeshare presentation instead for a ride to our hotel, bottle of tequila, and an excursion that included snorkeling and horseback riding.  More on that later!

It was a quick taxi ride to our hotel, the Marriott Puerto Vallarta.  The hotel was pretty nice and our room had a great view of the ocean (pictured below).

After settling in, we changed clothes and walked around the hotel property to get the lay of the land.  We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening lounging by the pool and having some drinks.  It was nice and relaxing.

 

Our hotel was all-inclusive and we discovered a Japanese restaurant within the hotel.  This place was amazing - so amazing we ate dinner there all but 1 night of our stay.  The sushi was fresh and tasty and the service was top-notch.  I would stay at this hotel again just for this restaurant.

Day two, October 8th:

Day Two was a full day of relaxation (after sitting through the timeshare presentation at a different hotel that was had agreed to attend.  That itself was quite boring).  After this was over ... we headed out to the pool area of our hotel, where we set up shop for most of the day.  The pool itself was very large and had a cool swim-up bar that we frequented a few times.  It was a nice afternoon.

Day three, October 9th:

Day Three we set out for our full-day excursion.  We took a taxi to the port and waited to board our boat.  We were given a small breakfast on the boat while we set out for our destination.  The boat ride itself was pretty fun, the host was very entertaining, telling jokes, playing games, and there was an open bar and everyone was given various cocktails such as tequila sunrise.  We went snorkeling in a really cool area that kind of reminded me of the Phi Phi islands.

After snorkeling we docked at a large island and walked up a hill where our donkey ride would begin (most other people had horses, but we were given donkeys).  It was a fun donkey ride up to a waterfall.  The donkeys stopped maybe 1/4 mile away from the waterfall, we walked the rest of the way until we got to the top.  It was a very pretty area with a  bar built into the side of a cliff which was neat.  We spent some time up here enjoying the scenery, having a drink, and Eric jumped into the water once or twice.  We had a late lunch at a nearby outdoor restaurant before boarding the boat back to PV.  For dinner that time we again went to our very Japanese restaurant. 

Day four, October 10th:

Day Four was another full day at the ocean and pool.  We went jet skiing, hung out by the pool, had some drinks, bought some souvenirs from a beach vendor, and ventured into town for a bit where we got a couples massage.  For dinner this night we changed things up a bit and went to the hotel's sports bar, where I had an interesting but tasty pasta dish (pictured below).

Day five, October 11th:

We bid farewell to PV on Day Five.  We had a delicious chilaquiles breakfast at the hotel's breakfast buffet, hung out on our patio for a bit, before checking out around 11am and hanging out in the lounge area of the hotel for a bit before catching a taxi to the airport.  We had a smooth and easy direct flight back to Denver.

Overall, PV was a nice COVID getaway and fun little trip!  We didn't have much planned as we had to cancel Cancun at the last minute due to the hurricane there and flew to PV instead; however, it was still a good time and we made the most of it.  Until next time Mexico!

Barcelona Trip - February 2020

Hola!

We recently returned from a week long vacation in Barcelona, Spain and thought I would document our journey.

Beginnings:

We set off on Friday, February 14th from Denver International Airport, en route to JFK on Delta Airlines.  Everything went very smoothly, including an encounter at the airport with baseball great Todd Helton, and the international Delta flight was enjoyable.  International flights are always so much better than domestic, mainly because of the unlimited alcohol and the free food.  We received a menu that said we'd be receiving a "welcome cocktail" (peach bellini) and a few different choices for appetizer and dinner.  The food was pretty good!  It was a nice flight, but we didn't sleep much.

Day One:

We arrived in Barcelona around 10am.  We quickly found our way to the Aerobus - a bus that takes you straight from the airport to the heart of the city.  It was about a 30 minute drive, and the bus stop was only about a 5 minute walk to our hotel.

We stayed at the Hotel Continental Palacete, which was off of La Rambla, a long, busy street that is full of shops, restaurants, and bars.  It was in a quieter area than a little further down the street, although at night we could still hear people hooting and hollering until late at night.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay at Continental Palacete.  The best part is that our hotel had a 24/7 buffet that included beer and wine (red and white).  The buffet was definitely a benefit both at breakfast and later in the evening, being able to have a glass of wine in the room.  There was also a fro-yo machine!

Our room, and view from our room, pictured below.




We began exploring the sites. On our first day, we visited Casa Batllo, Casa Amatller (Batllo and Amatller are right next to each other), Casa Mila (La Padrera), and the Arc de Triomf.  These are definitely all worth a visit.

Inside the Casa Mila, and outside of Casa Batllo, pictured below.

Afterwards, we were excited to experience our first tapas dinner in Barcelona!  We found a great tapas restaurant close to our hotel, Cuidad Condal, where we were able to sit outside since the weather was pretty nice.  Maybe it was the excitement of the trip, but I definitely feel like we couldn't have chosen a better place for our first taste of authentic Spanish tapas.  Everything we had was great: Sangria, Spanish ham, bread rubbed with tomato and olive oil (pan con tomate), garlic shrimp, potatoes with egg and ham, mini steak baguettes, Spanish omelette, churros, bread pudding.  It was quite the feast.


Ham, pan con tomate, Sangria

We were definitely more than exhausted on the first day.  We both had some of the worst jet lag ever.  It's like you're walking around sleepwalking, but you don't want to waste anytime so you just power through it.  The sleepiness didn't really go away until about 3-4 days in.  But, we went to bed stuffed and happy.

Day Two:

Day Two consisted of another full day of sightseeing.  On today's agenda, we saw the Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, the Barcelona Cathedral, Basilica of Santa Maria Del Mar, and walked through the Ciutadella park.


H and E pictured at Parc Guell

                                                    Outside of Sagrada Familia

Unfortunately, half of Parc Guell was under construction, so we didn't spend a ton of time there.  In fact, there was a line to take a picture at this iconic spot, because half of this long, colorful bench was closed off.  But I would definitely recommend this place to anyone visiting Barcelona, as well as all other sites seen on this day.  Ciutadella Park would probably be a nice place to have a picnic in the summer.  This was the only cloudy day of the trip, but it was still nice enough to not wear a jacket.

For dinner, we returned to Cuidad Condal, and again had a tapas feast.  We tried a few different tapas this time, and made sure to try the calcots - a Catalan specialty, which happen to be in season in February.  These are essentially really big green onions, and they are served with a romanesco dipping sauce.  They were interesting.  My favorite tapa tonight was the mini Mallorca sausage baguette. 100% recommend!

                                                   Calcots with romanesco dipping sauce

Day Three:

Day Three, Monday the 17th, was probably my favorite day of the trip, but I may be biased because it was also my birthday.


We set out in the morning to go wine tasting about an hour outside of Barcelona in the "Penedes" region. There appeared to be several wineries in this area, and today we were going to visit 2 of them. We first stopped at a cava winery, Pere Ventura, where we toured the cava wine caves and learned all about the production of cava.  After the tour, we tried 4 different cavas with a variety of light snacks.

We then headed to the Can Bas winery, which was beautiful.  We took a tour of the grounds and then rode a jeep through the vineyards.  This was definitely a cool experience.  We again tried 4 wines with a variety of tapas.  The Can Bas winery was definitely one of the prettiest that I have been to.

Anyone that knows me knows that wine tasting and touring vineyards is one of my favorite activities - it is a great way to spend part of your vacation - is there anything better than drinking local wine overlooking a beautiful wine estate and vineyard? I think not.

                                                    Jeepin' it through the vineyards

                                                    Can Bas Winery

Day Four:

Day Four consisted of another full day of sightseeing in Barcelona.  Today, we headed to Montjuic Castle. We did this by taking the subway, and then the funicular, and then the gondola up to the castle.  It was a clear day, and you could see all of Barcelona from the gondola.  It was a really cool experience.

                                         View from the Gondola ride

After touring the castle, we took the gondola back down and visited the Olympic stadium (where Eric got to check out the local rugby team, the Catalan Dragons, practicing/playing against the Sydney roosters), the Parc de Montjuic, the Montjuic Fountains (we were hoping to see a "magic fountain" show, but the fountains did not appear to be turned on), and Poble Espanyol.  We really enjoyed Poble Espanyol.  Poble Espanyol is hard to describe.  It's like a mini village of everything "Spain."  It has a museum, shops, bars, open spaces.  It was really cute.  We wandered into several different stores and everyone was super friendly.  This is where we bought the most goodies to bring back home - Spanish candy, mini bottles of sangria, olive oil.  We also wandered into a cute little wine bar and were able to have a nice chat with the owners, both of whom were from Argentina and now living in Barcelona.  They kept giving us more wine and snacks, and took a picture of us for their Instagram page (for anyone interested, the picture can be found on their IG: "Winedelduero"). Great place!

                                                    Poble Espanyol

We then continued to wander through town, visiting the Placa Reial (beautiful spot) and wandering through the Gothic Quarter a bit more. It was a busy, but fun day.

Day Five:

Day Five consisted of a full day tour to Montserrat.  This was definitely a FULL day - about 12 hours.  We met our tour group in front of the Hard Rock Cafe in the Plaza Catalunya and set off for Montserrat, a mountain region outside of Barcelona.  I wish someone had warned me that the road we'd take up to the mountains would be full of twists and turns for about an hour - I would have packed a Dramamine - good tip for anyone else who experiences motion sickness!

When we arrived, our tour guide, Merak, talked us through the history of Montserrat and the Montserrat Church that we'd be visiting.  We had quite a bit of free time here, so we walked through the church, through the shops where we sampled some local liqueurs, and through the farmer's market where we probably sampled about 50 different kinds of local cheeses.  At the church, we waited in line to touch the hand of the "black Madonna."   There were some what appeared to be Eastern Europeans behind us in line that would have been great candidates for the Instagram page "Influencers in the Wild" - these people were having a full-on photo shoot with literally everything in the church.

                                         Montserrat

We then rode the bus down the hill to a local Montserrat winery, Oller del Mas.  We enjoyed a 3-course lunch with wine, which consisted of potato leek soup, duck breast with Spanish potatoes, and a caramel cake of some sort.  After lunch, we toured part of the winery including the castle that is on sight.  We climbed to the top of the castle, before headed back down to the main winery building for a wine tasting.

We tried several of the estate's wines, and learned more about the history of Spanish wine and European wine in general.  We then had some free time to enjoy the grounds and relax with a glass of wine before heading back to Barcelona.

                                                   Balcony at Oller del Mas winery

On the grounds, we saw some Catalan donkeys, which are apparently close to extinction and also a symbol of Catalan culture, so the remaining donkeys are free to spend their days grazing the pastures.

We returned to Barcelona, and headed to Cerveseria Cataluna, a place I had found on Trip Advisor close to our hotel that had a lot of great reviews.  The place was pretty packed, but we were able to get some seats at the counter after just a few minutes of waiting.  This was another great tapas experience, and I finally got to try some "bombas" - little potato balls with two delicious creamy sauces, one lighter, and one darker.  This is apparently one of Barcelona's "must try" foods, and I would highly recommend getting some bombas when you visit Barcelona.  So good!

                                                   Bombas, garlic shrimp, and a glass of sangria.

Day Six:

Day Six was our last full day in Barcelona, and I wanted to spend the day checking out anything we may have missed that we originally planned to see, as well as take it a bit easy since the trip had been very "go, go, go."  After breakfast, we walked down to La Boqueria, Barcelona's main market place.  This is a huge market - it has everything - restaurants/bars, meat, seafood, vegetables, bread, olives, spices, candies, nuts, sauces - you name it.  I had read online that Pinotxo Bar was worth a visit, so we decided to check it out.  Apparently, this place is super popular and it's hard to get a seat later on in the day, but luckily we got there pretty early.  We ordered a glass of cava and a serving of their specialty - the chickpeas.  They were definitely the best chickpeas I've ever had.  The chickpeas were in an olive oil and lamb sauce - it was delicious.  It might have been the best thing I ate on the whole trip.  From what I could tell, they serve some staples and also some dishes that rotate depending on which day you're there.  An adorable old man in a bowtie, Juanito, apparently the owner, was hard at work behind the counter.  He was very nice, and clearly loves his job.  I believe he is somewhat of a Barcelona legend.

                                                    Chickpea dish at Pinotxo bar

                                                   Our cava, and Juanito, owner of Pinotxo bar

After wandering through La Boqueria, we journeyed some more through the Gothic Quarter, and wandered through the Frederic Mares Museum.  This museum had a lot of 19th century gadgets and gizmos - old guns, swords, pipes, cameras, clocks, walking canes, playing cards, pictures.  It was interesting but I don't know if I'd consider it a "must see."

Note: we tried finding the Barcelona History Museum for a long time.  I don't know if it really exists. People kept pointing us in different directions, but we never found it.  Now I'm not sure if it's a real museum or just a collection of things scattered through the city?  Anyone?

As we continued through the Gothic Quarter, we passed by a nail/massage parlor, and decided to get a 30-minute foot massage.  This was much needed after 6 days of walking non-stop.  Plus, the 30-minute foot massage was only 18 euro!

I had read online about a rooftop bar in Barcelona with great views of the city, Alaire Terrace, and lucky for us, it was just a few blocks from our hotel.  We ventured over and posted up here for a bit.  Of course, the drinks and food were more expensive here than a normal restaurant, but it was worth it for the views.  We enjoyed a glass of wine and some croquettes (a popular tapa in Barcelona) with a great view of the city, looking directly towards the Casa Mila.  It was really nice.

                                                   Does it get any better?

We meandered back to La Rambla and chose a restaurant close to our hotel where we would be able to sit outside and enjoy our last meal.  Since we hadn't tried paella yet, I knew this is what we needed to order for dinner.  Our last dinner consisted of more pan de tomate (so simple, yet so delicious), meatballs, and the most delicious seafood paella!  Well, Eric ordered steak, but I had the paella.  It was everything I hoped for and more in a Spanish paella!

                                                    Delicious paella

Day Seven:

We bid farewell to Barcelona on Day Seven.  We ate breakfast and walked down to Plaza Catalunya to catch the bus to the airport.  I overestimated how long it would take to get to the airport as well as how long the security line would be (it was very short), so we had some time to kill in the airport.  We had 1 last glass of Spanish cava, and were on our way back to the United States.

Overall:

Barcelona is a great city.  It's clean, friendly, colorful, and warm.  There is plenty to see and do.  We had some great food, wine, cava, and sangria (and it was all relatively cheap).  We actually took the exact right amount of Euros with us - I spent our last 4 euros on a mini bottle of sangria at the airport, which the TSA at JFK later confiscated from me (#EndTheTSA).

However, Barcelona is kind of a "newer" city.  Other than the Gothic Quarter, most of the city did not exist until the 19th century.  This disappointed Eric who likes to see and visit historical sites.  Most of Barcelona's "must see" sites (Casa Batllo, Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia) were all designed by Antoni Gaudi in the late 1800s/early 1900s.  So, it's definitely not on the same level as say, Rome, London, or Paris.  I also think we could have done Barcelona in a couple days, and then moved on to another city in Spain.  However, incorporating day trips and keeping Barcelona as your home base isn't a bad way to spend a week, like we did.  Overall, we had a great time, and I would love to return to a different part of Spain in the future!

Product Review: Trader Joe’s Kale Gnocchi

 Introducing... kale gnocchi!

If you’re a fan of Trader Joe’s, you may have already tried their cauliflower gnocchi or other gnocchi varieties. When I saw kale gnocchi on a Trader Joe’s social media page, I actually thought it was a joke at first. But, it’s real!

The calorie count is similar to the cauliflower gnocchi, but a little higher.  The ingredients are simple: kale, potato starch, chickpea flour, sea salt, EVOO.

Preparation

For the cauliflower gnocchi, I have prepared it both in the air fryer and in a saute pan.  I decided to cook the kale gnocchi in the air fryer so it would get nice and crispy with minimal effort from my end.

I put the kale gnocchi in for about 8 minutes until it appeared to be cooked and crispy.  Here is the gnocchi straight out of the air fryer, no sauce:

I then tossed the kale gnocchi with pesto (Costco brand - delicious!) until it was fully coated:

I gotta say... I was VERY disappointed.  The gnocchi was dry and tasteless.  It was nowhere near the same level as the cauliflower gnocchi.  I usually toss the cauliflower gnocchi in the pesto sauce too, so I'm not going to blame the preparation.  I think maybe it would have been a little better if I had let it get even crispier in the air fryer, but I think that's a stretch.

The verdict?  D+.  I really did not enjoy this dinner.  You know when you feel like you wasted a dinner?  Yeah, that's the kale gnocchi.  It's a no from me!