Because Sangria is for Tourists

I knew it was trouble when he started pouring it from a bottle. I reluctantly took a sip and as I originally assumed, it wasn’t good. This wasn’t the sangria that I signed up for.

It seemed like a wise choice, after all this was Spain. It was 2pm and I was already two glasses of Cava down. In need of something lighter, I went with sangria. Because again, Spain is known for sangria, right?! Or did I make that up?

I coughed up this substandard experience to just being in a place that was obviously mediocre. Later that night after a grueling kickboxing class (who takes kickboxing class on vacation?), I ventured out at 1030pm for dinner. (This was one of my favorite things about Barcelona. Eating dinner at 11pm on a Tuesday was no problem at all.)

Anyway, my destination for the night was a modern tapas restaurant that turned out to be my favorite meal in Barcelona. In an attempt to redeem Spain of the experience that I had earlier in the day, I ordered a glass of…you guessed it…sangria. After one sip, I knew this was the same swill that I had earlier in the day. I asked the waitress if this was of the bottled variety and she confirmed that it was. Then she offered the reason: Sangria is something only tourists order. She then placed a “No offense,” at the end of the statement.

My soul died a little. Needless to say, this ended my adventure with sangria in Barcelona and I switched to drinking vermouth like a civilized person.