Gluten-Free Travel: Barcelona
Barcelona may be the Texas of Spain as it wishes to split off and become it’s own country, in this case Catalonia. This is a city that loves art and architecture and many buildings reflect the talent of Gaudi and other artists.
I have visited many beautiful churches in my time and wasn’t interested in seeing more, but Sagrada Familia was in a league of its own. The church will be finished in 2026, but what is completed is awe-inspiring.
The construction evoked nature from the bunches of fruit decorating the outside to the columns that mimicked a forest of trees on the inside. Certainly, an edifice to inspire faith as the architect Antoni Gaudi, would have wished.
We admired the temple as we ate dinner at the nearby cafe called Kurt and Gut which offered a gluten guide on the menu.
We stopped at the 4 Gats (4 cats) cafe for a coffee. Founded in 1897 this was the first place that a young Pablo Picasso found to display his art.
Crossing La Rambla (the main avenue of the old city) we found our way to a restaurant recommended by Findmeglutenfree.com, Gats. Cats must be very important here in Barcelona.
Gats had a very agreeable ambiance, with a few tables outside and some inside the modern yet rustic restaurant featuring rugged wood and stone interior accents. As advertised, one could request a “sin gluten” menu with a key to many other possibly allergic ingredients in the dishes – gluten, dairy, and even celery, parsley, and fennel. They advertise only 100% organic foods, and the quality was evident.
Paella Barcelona style
We planned to attend a flamenco performance at the Palau de Music and happened on a lovely little place nearby, Casa de Lolea.
Casa de Lolea provided a GF bread option, and the bread arrived warm and still in it’s wrapper, which I assume is to avoid contamination for those with celiac disease.
Our fellow diners at the next table told us that this restaurant had been recommended as having the best sangria. We put that recommendation to the test, as well as testing out some of the tapas we had yet to sample. We enjoyed it all.
The next day was my birthday and I picked Bloome by Sasha to eat. I was excited to have a chai latte with oat milk and eggs benedict on a black GF bread. The best was the sweet potato fries and aioli that accompanied my breakfast. All my faves!
We loved the modern yet ancient vibe of this city, but do be wary. It is notorious for pickpockets and indeed my husband and a fellow traveler were robbed even before we were out of the airport. Luckily, two plain-clothes policemen recovered the items quickly, but it was not a happy start to our trip.
For the GF traveler, this may indeed be among the top five. I guess I will need to visit the other four to compare. Such a hardship!
