Tour de French Cuisine-Stage 6-Gerone to Barcelona

So for stage 6 we are still in the Tour de France but just not technically IN France. Today the Tour crossed over for a little spin in Spain. After a drive from Perpignan the riders stayed the night in Gérone, some of them most likely in their own houses. A lot of riders live in Gerona during the season and use it as their European base; Lance Armstrong lived there for years before he retired in 2005.

 

Gérone is located at the confluence of the Ter and Onyar, Galligants and Güell rivers. Along the rivers you will find alleyways and stairs that lead you to the old quarter that occupies a hill overlooking the riverside and the brightly restored houses along the Rio Onyar. Arab influenced narrow streets and the well preserved Jewish quarter give some clues as the rich history. Its positions on Roman and medieval roads that connect to Southern France with the Iberian Peninsula making Gérone an important crossroad.

  The impressive Catedral with its Baroque façade can be reached by a grand stairway has the widest single span Gothic arch in all of Europe. A place of worship since Roman times, before that a mosque stood on the same site in 1038. Most of the building was built in the 15^th century, though parts are 400 years older, notable the five stories Torre de Carlemany and the Romanesque cloister.

 

Just 27 kilometers and over 350 curves of the Corniche, Sant Feliu de Guixois is a busy beach town with modern buildings all evidence of the prosperous 19^th century cork industry. Going back to the 10^th century when settlement was created around the Benedictine monastery where the ruins now include the Porta Ferrada still stand in Place Monestir. The church of Sant Feliu es la Marc de Deu dels Angels has a beautiful crafted crucifix dating from the 10^th century, but later rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 14^th century.

  At the end of the tortuous Corniche, the Roman town of Tossa de Mar is one of the prettiest along the Costa Brava. In the old town is the Vila Vella it is a protected national monument with medieval walls that enclose fisherman’s cottages and an 18^th century church. But the best way to visit Tossa is to arrive by boat for a perfect view of the medieval walls and turrets are pale and shimmering in the Mediterranean sun. Home to the 19^th century Far de Tossa, a innovative home to Mediterranean lighthouses, but just below that the 15^th century ruins of the gothic church stands a statue of actress Ava Gardner who made two very popular films in the 1950’s here, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman.

 

Just a few kilometers past Tossa de Mar is Lloret de Mar, a large tourist town with packed beaches but underneath that there is a centuries old town with a 15^th century church and Spanish mansions and some hidden rocky coves tucked away on either end of town.

 One of the longest beaches on the Costa Brava is in Blanes but the town also has another attraction for those that don’t want to sit in the sun all day. The Jardi Botanic Mar i Murta, the gardens designed by Karl Faust in 1928 and their spectacular location above the cliffs is the perfect place to showcase the 7,000 species of Mediterranean and tropical plants.

  The Tour ends today in Barcelona, the capital of the Caralunya region and home to the 1992 Olympic games and the most cosmopolitan of all the Spanish cities. Barcelona has been the home of some great artists and their touches can be seen all over the city. Picasso, Miro, Dali, Tapies all called Barcelona home and architects Gaudi, Joesph Lluis Sert, Bofill and Bohigas are all over the city. Gaudi being one of the most famous, you can’t find a book or picture without a nod to the Casa Batllo a building that was restored by the Art Nouveu architect Antoni Gaudi in 1905-1907. Locally it is know as the Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), covered with tiles and topped with a curved roof and multiple chimneys. It is one in a million and you might be able to look at it for days and still find something new.

At the end of the stage the riders will have to head up a steep hill to get to the finish line in the Montjuic district. Home to the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya which houses the national collection of Caralan art and the contemporary art in the Caixa Dorum and the famous Catalan artist Joan Miro in the Fundacio Joan Miro. Montjuic was chosen as the site for the International Exhibition of 1929, the slopes were laid with gardens, terraces and fountains, with Neoclassical buildings were added to the North side and many were later adapted as museums.  The riders will finish on the Avinguda de l’Estadi that leads you right past Barcelona’s most celebrated sporting sites, the Ricardo Bofill’s Institur Nacional d’Edicacio Fisia de Catalunya, the Piscines Bernat Picornell that has swimming pools and a sports complex and the Japanese designs steel and glass Palay Sant Jordi. The Olympic stadium itself, the Estadi Olimpic holds 65,000, built for the 1929 exhibition but then refitted for the 1992 Olympics.  If you watched it today, you should have been amazed at how beautiful the final few kilometers were, a large Avinguda lined with large palm trees and beautiful buildings and at one end a “magic fountain”. Stage 7 leaves from Barcelona, can’t wait to see more.

 So for the “tour de French Cuisine” we have a slight venture out of France so tonight we are in the “tour de Catalunya Cuisine”  A few months back at the library I was looking for a Spanish cookbook and came across the Mario Batali cookbook that was based on his PBS show that he did with Gwyneth Paltrow, I have to admit I never saw the show, Mario and his orange shoes are a little much for me. But this is a great cookbook; I love the way it is laid out and the graphics and how it is broken out by area, exactly what I want to do for a French version. So in the Catalunya section there is a Mixed Grill Catalan-style with Shrimp, sea cucumbers or scallops with red peppers and onions, tossed in some olive oil and then grilled for a few minutes. It was delicious, light and tasty and preserved the full flavor of the fish. Sometimes simpler is better.

I paired it with Pan Con Tomate which is a slice of rustic bread, grilled then rubbed with garlic and a little olive oil. Then you cut a tomato in half and rub all over the bread. As it says in the book “it is more of a method then a recipe” this can be found all over the area with every meal.. and it was great!

 

 

 

“Buen Apetitio”