BARCELONA - When Aicard Guinovart tells us we’ll be dining in a steakhouse that’s located in a former bullfighting ring, the wise guy in me can’t resist. “No bull?” I respond.

VALENCIA, SPAIN - The city pulses with the energy of two million tourists, the sizzle of rice paella cooked on wood fires on the streets, and the crackle and flare of firecrackers thrown to the ground.

FIGUERES, SPAIN - This is a surreal place, as I discover when leaving the main rail station, and looking up I see multi-coloured cows hanging from wrought iron balconies and giant eggs sitting atop roofs.

PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN - The lunchtime crowd at the Bodega Tapas Bar on trendy Avenue La Rambia are too busy consuming pinchos (small snacks) to notice the strangers in their midst.

MAHON, SPAIN- The streets of this knobby little island that juts out of the Mediterranean Sea just east of the Spanish mainland are almost deserted the afternoon we start to explore.

BARCELONA - I’m being a glutton. While taking a break from the relentless heat in a cool, air-conditioned butcher’s shop, I stare at a small snow cone-sized cup, overflowing with glistening slivers of finely cut Iberian ham and try to rationalize the €4.50 ($6.80 Cdn) purchase with my stomach.

BARCELONA - This is a city whose architecture you either love or hate. And I hate almost everything connected with Antoni Gaudi.

BARCELONA - It was 9 p.m. and my growling stomach was getting angry. It had been nearly eight hours since my last meal.

BARCELONA - Food is a main ingredient in the Catalan culture and the region’s unique cuisine is one of the big reasons tourists find Barcelona so appetizing.

BARCELONA - Outside my window, Europe is whizzing past. First Holland, then Belgium … France … Switzerland … Italy … Spain. Small towns, their church spires sticking up like pins on a map, pass by in the blink of the eye.