Six weeks ago, we had a lovely Eurotrip. It began in Brussels, continued to Madrid, and culminated with our wedding celebration in Barcelona. This is the last installation on the blog about that wonderful journey. Many people asked us "why Barcelona for a wedding site?" as we do not have any family ties to the city. We answered "why not?".  It is easily accessible by plane or train, the sun is always shinning, and fantastic food. We were fortunate enough to travel to Barcelona last October to scout a location for our party and were completely sold with the city for the celebration, especially since most of our guests were coming from Europe.

At Bar Rosso at Hotel Market Photo by Italo Morales

We had friends arriving from as far as Beirut, Atlanta, and Vienna and as close as Madrid and Barcelona. The goal was to spend as much time with our friends and family whether it was their first or tenth time in the city.  Thankfully, the Dutchman and I have been to Barcelona several times and have had our doses of La Sagrada Familia and Las Ramblas.  We wanted to spend time eating, celebrating, and spending time with our friends who traveled from so far.

The Cellar of Jaume Giro i Giro Photo by Carlis Sanchez

Drink:  Given 95% of our guests came from outside Spain, we wanted an affordable and well situated hotel. We found that in Hotel Market, lovely boutique hotel nestled in a residential street of Eixample neighborhood. One of the features we enjoyed the most was the hotel bar, Bar Rosso. The bar is a popular spot for locals with its carefully crafted gin and tonics, beautifully upholstered furniture, and dark red interior. There, we had a lovely cocktail party with our guests, shipping on their signature mojitos and gin and tonics.

New Friendships Over Cava

As many of our guests have been to Barcelona before, we wanted for them to have a unique experience. Given the tips of local friends, we planned a tour of the Cava cellar of Jaume Giro i Giro in Sant Sarduni d'Anoia in the Penedes region. We had a private tour of the winery by the owner, Ramon Giro. He passionately went into detail about their artisan method of cava making and gave us a tour of the grounds. We had planned to go to other cellars bur ended up spending the afternoon drinking cava at the beautiful garden of the winery.

Dish from Little Italy BCN Photo by Little Italy BCN Website

Eat: One of the main reasons we chose Barcelona is the food. From tapas at a bar to haute cuisine, Barcelona has an amazing culinary culture. One of my favorite places to eat is El Born. We met up with friends and had tapas at Mercat Santa Caterina.  I love the open location and the diverse menu from traditional tapas to Asian noodles. One of our most memorable dinners was at Little Italy BCN.  Funny enough, I found it via Instagram and love how cozy and welcoming this restaurant is. We dined on a Thursday night, when they play live jazz during dinner hours. Although we had a large party, we had a lovely time on the lower dining area with great live music in the background. We sampled tuna tartare and risotto, which was to die for. One of my friends kept on raving about the yummy mojitos.


Walking the Streets of Barcelona Photo by Italo Morales

Be Married:  In my previous post about Ca la Nuri, I raved about the the delicious meal we had at the restaurant. One of the highlights of that special day was taking pictures with Italo Morales, a friend and amazing photographer. We walked around the inland neighborhood leading to Barceloneta to take pictures. Not only did we take lovely pictures, but we felt so much love from the people of Barcelona. We received well wishes from the twenty-somethings having their Cañitas at the bar to a couple celebrating their 45 years of marriage. We made it to Ca la Nuri close to sunset where we were met by the sound of the Spanish guitar and our friends and family sitting at the terrace to witness our exchange of vows. 


Getting Marriage Advice From the Experts Photo by Italo Morales

At the Terrace at Ca la Nuri Photo by Italo Morales

When I decided to write the Restaurant of the Month series, I wanted to focus on DC, but April is a special exception.  We spent a wonderful week in Barcelona to celebrate our marriage with our European family and friends. The highlight of the trip was our wedding party at Platja Ca la Nuri.  Last October, we scouted several restaurants for our party along the coastline of Barcelona.  At a recommendation of a friend, we visited Ca la Nuri.  It was the first restaurant we visited. Although we visited others afterwards we knew it was the one when we tasted the paella. 

Restaurant with a view: Ca la Nuri Photo by Italo Morales

The restaurant is located in Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta (Somorrostro Beach) which an ample terrace on the sand facing the ocean.  We also loved the views: to your left facing the ocean you have the iconic Frank Gehry Fish Sculpture and to your right you have the amazing architecture of the W Hotel.  During our initial tasting, we fell in love with three things: the mussels, goat cheese salad, and of course, the paella. We worked with the special events manager, Vanessa for months with the menu and the details of the party. She did a wonderful job at keeping us informed and helping us put together a delicious menu. She even added to the menu a mille follie of potato and bacon the chef, Toni Bosch had posted on Instagram that I fell in love with. The day of the wedding, the team was spectacular, taking care of every detail from the free flowing cava to the delicious cocktail hour tapas (sad I missed those as we were taking pictures) to the spectacular dinner menu.

Starting with Calamari

The Dutchman and I are both foodies and it was one of the main reasons (aside from the beach) why we chose Barcelona for a wedding destination. Needless to say, we did not have many regrets when we sent out the map-themed invitations. One of the main things we wanted to offer our guests was an unforgettable dinner.  Mussels, goat cheese, and calamari were served as starters. For the main course, the guests were able to choose (on site, which I loved) seafood paella, chicken in a prune sauce, or a cod filet. Instead of a wedding cake, our guests had a choice between profiteroles sitting atop a brownie, mango panna cotta, or chocolate mousse with berries. 

Dessert Being Served Photo by Italo Morales

We said our vows close to sunset and our guests witnessed sitting at the terrace. We laughed, we cried, and we were taken by the locals passing by taking it in as much as we did. We drank plenty of cava and ate until stuffed.  We had a vision of what we wanted and the Ca la Nuri executed it exactly how we wanted it. When in Barcelona, make sure to make a visit. I recommend the lunch menu. 

All photos by Italo Morales

The Night Forever Began

A Lovely Day at Barceloneta

The Best Salad I've Ever Had, Ca la Nuri

A Happy Ending at Ca la Nuri

We continued our search a visited Pez Vela, which had a great location and exquisite food. Sadly, the space could not occupy all of our guests for a sit down dinner.  However, we were impressed with the tapas: from the octopus to the croquetas, every little bite was to die for.


Pez Vela at Night

The following day, we headed to the little town of Garraf, where we had a beautiful tour of La Cupula.  The restaurant sits on top of a small cliff with an idyllic view of the sea. Sadly the venue did not fit our personalities, it was geared towards larger and more traditional wedding banquets. However, we do plan to take our parents there when we return for the wedding. The view is worth the drive.


Restaurant with a View: La Cupula

From there we moved on to Les Marines, a beautiful restaurant tucked away in the town of Gava Mar.  The restaurant has a beautiful and classic facade.  There we enjoyed one of the best meals we had during our trip to Barcelona. The cochinillo (suckling pig) was one of the tastiest meals I've had in Spain....ever.  Although the place was spectacular, there were two drawbacks: the small forest between the beach and the restaurant (no view of the sea) and the location was too far away from the city for our guests.


The Cochinillo a Les Marines

After two days of gorgeous views and excellent food, we decided on our first choice, Ca la Nuri. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the level of service and quality of food we received in Barcelona.  There are many mixed reviews of Barcelona (my first time in 2007 was not the greatest).   However, the two days we spent looking for the perfect place to declare our love in front of our loved ones reaffirmed we made the right decision. Now we look forward to celebrating our marriage in front of the sea with the ones we love most.