It was distinctly chilly when we left our hotel this morning but at least it wasn’t raining. Topping the fuel up at Geant, we set off for the Spanish border and then Girona. The weather improved gradually and we stopped off at at the last rest area in France for a very dodgy sandwich, eaten alfresco next to some olive trees.

We crossed into Spain in brilliant sunshine, though I was dissapointed there was no welcoming comittee of Flamenco dancers shaking their castanets once we had passed the road side sign. It wasn’t too long before we got to the airport at Girona where we left the car in an off site car park for the next fifteen days or so. A short walk later and we were at the coach stop, where we were early enough to catch the coach to Barcelona previous to the one we had booked.

Estacion Nord in Barcelona hasn’t much charm as bus terminii go but we managed to find our way out and into a taxi, whereupon we arrived here and were greeted by Edouard the apartment owner who we knew from our stay last year. (it’s the one with the Tardis lift).

We settled in, popped out for some essential food stuffs (Jordans Dark Chocolate Country Crisp) for tomorrows breakfast and got ready for our first evening meal. What? You didn’t think we’d be self catering, I mean…..really?

Last year we raved about Celeri. Well, the chef has left and it’s changed in some ways, not least it’s name which is now Hetta Our waitress was lovely, in fact all the staff were, including the head chef who is Swedish (Hetta means heat in Swedish). We had a fantastic meal, highlights included a perfect asparagus rissoto, a spidercrab canneloni with concentrated leek jus and a warm carrot curry with orange filets and ginger. This was heaven in a bowl and possibly one of the 10 best dishes I’ve ever tasted.

We finished off by sharing two desserts. Strawberries, with mild goats cheese and honey comb and a smoked ice cream sandwich, with an intense cherry sauce and pomegranate ‘rocks’. The strawberries just shaded the desserts for us, we could have eaten another two platefuls of them.

Hetta hasn’t a Michelin star, though most of the food is of that level. For Barcelona it’s not unreasonably expensive either, including drinks it was less than €50 each. We’ll be going again, that’s for sure. Well I’m nodding off over the keyboard, so I’d better get off to bed and rest my stomach for tomorrows adventures…