We had our last Barcelona dinner close to home, at the Arola restaurant at our hotel. Sergi Arola is a Madrid chef who runs La Broche, probably our favorite restaurant there. His Barcelona outpost had opened just a few days before our arrival, and we were quite eager to try it. Decor was very funky, a bit space age mixed with a '70's, Wallpaper magazine furnishings style. The restaurant was very high energy, and the whole place felt like a crowded bar rather than a restaurant. Service was fun and friendly, although a bit off in a couple respects, probably because it's a new restaurant. The best example of this is when the maitre'd seated us and handed us our menus, he put his hand in the candle on the table, setting his sleeve on fire.

Food was great, although less grand and less experimental than the Madrid restaurant. It was basically a tapas style restaurant. We mangled the ordering, though, because the waiter insisted we order lots of starters since they were tiny, and only one main, because they were substantial. This didn't sound very tapas-like, but we did as we were told, which was a mistake, as the starters were huge, and everything else was tiny. (Food-17, Decor-17, Service-18)

We departed early the next morning, which was a disaster. We took some no-name airline, Spanair, from Barcelona, and check in took an hour due to the idiocy of the check in person. Then they managed to lose one of Somchai's bags on the 45 minute direct flight. We had to choose between waiting for the lost bag or catching our flight to Bangkok, so we sacrificed the bags. Unfortunately this bag was full of Somchai's new clothes, so he was very moody, but when our Thai Air flight stopped in Rome, we got the good news that they had found the bag and it would be following us on the next flight to Bangkok.

Some photos of the great views from our (rather dirty) hotel windows. We had a view over the whole city, and a partial view of the ocean, since our room was so large. But the city's not particularly attractive from this distance, so a full ocean view would definitely have been preferable. Actually that reminds me of another slight negative. The hotel is the anchor for the redevelopment of the old port, that took place in connection with revamping the city for the Olympics. That makes it the only hotel on the beach, but it also means it's a bit far from the rest of the city. It's probably only a fifteen minute walk to most places, but it's a very depressing walk, involving running across eight lane highways and tramping over abandoned lots. The wasteland between the hotel and the city has probably been developed by now, but if not, you may want to opt for something more central, or rely on taxis.

124. Barcelona

One good aspect of Barcelona's airport is that it's basically in downtown. I think the distance we walked inside the airport was less than the distance from airport to hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Arts, a Ritz Carlton hotel. It was built as Barcelona's preeminent hotel, a mix of luxe and trendy that was really Barcelona's first top class hotel. It's the tall building with the crisscrossing girders all over it. Service is fantastic, as friendly as they are efficient, and the setting is perfect, right on the beach, which is what really differentitates Barcelona from all other European cities. The pool was a constant party and a great place to unwind, and the overall hotel gave us a nice vibe. The room was huge, a big living room, then a smaller living room and the bedroom, all of which was decorated like a college dorm room. Beige carpeting, cheap sub Ikea furnishings and polyester bed spreads, the whole thing a symphony of beige. Quite possibly the worst room I've ever stayed in. I imagine they've redone the rooms by now, but check before you go because you'll be staying on a very high floor and the decor can make you want to jump out the window. Hotel Arts: overall-8 (Room: 5, Service, 9, Facilities, 9). The room gets a 5 because it's huge and has great views, but you'll throw up if you look inside rather than outside. And the overall rating is a bit higher than it should be mathematically because in many ways it's a perfect hotel, and I gave them the benefit of the doubt on the redecorating.