Emirates SIN-DXB-BCN in Y: Paella, Xuxo & FC Barcelona vs Sevilla@Camp Nou (Part I)

[yflyer]

The morning after we arrived, Mrs yflyer waited patiently until I woke up, then declared where we would be heading for breakfast that morning: Boqueria Market...



This is a market, close to Las Ramblas, which has both fresh produce and seafood, as well as several notable eating outlets, some open for breakfast.

Our first stop was Pinotxo Bar, whose long bar counter was already full when we arrived...



A huge menu was available for breakfast. None of this "continental breakfast" nonsense that airlines (and some hotels) try to pass off as adequate for a morning meal. Apart from pastries and bread, there was a huge selection of meat and seafood dishes to choose from, all arrayed in a long glass counter along the bar...



...and like so many notable restaurants, this establishment had a face to it...Mr Juanito Bayen, the warm and friendly proprietor, who was manning the expresso machine on both occasions we ate there.



He warmly welcomed us and showed us to our seats, right across from where he prepared deliciously looking latte's and cappucino's...



The first time we were there, we asked him for recommendations for what to eat...their speciality was delicious Xuxo's (Pronounced "Choo cho's"), soft, crumbly pastries with creamy custard filling...





...we ate Spanish omelette and bread with rubbed tomato...



...and a plate of fragrant, spiced, chickpeas...



...but that was just the tip of the iceberg, looking around us, other diners were indulging in many other delicacies, including octopus, and a meat dish in gravy...those looked delicious! What was it? We returned a few days later to find out, this time starting with tender baby squid and beans...



..and this next dish, an amazing plate of stewed beef cheeks...



"...that's not fat...those are cheeks, collagen...good for smooth skin...", one of Mr Bayen's assistants said as he placed the platter in front of us, gesturing towards his cheeks to get the message across. He obviously was keen to ensure we ate it all, and we did!



...despite speaking almost no English, Mr Bayen was a very warm host and seemingly made it his personal goal to ensure that Mrs yflyer and I (as well as everyone else along the counter) had a great time there!

[yflyer]

On the evening of the day we arrived, I brought a slightly jetlagged Mrs yflyer to El Xampanyet...a small, and very lively, tapas bar in the Born area of Barcelona...



It opened at 7pm in the evening. When we walked by at 6.20pm there was no-one there, but when we returned at 6.40pm a crowd had already formed -- and when doors opened at 7pm, the crowd (Comprising both locals and a whole lot of visitors) surged in to grab tables -- if you missed the initial seating, you would be in for a very long wait before you got your table!

We managed to snag a small table near the entrance, and we began, like almost every other table there, with a bottle of the house-made sparkling wine, which the bar is named after.



I ordered a few tapas, many of the favourites from my visit here the previous year, but another good strategy was to simply look at anything interesting the other tables were having, pointing to that and ordering it yourself!

Clams...



Two kinds of anchovies...



Jamon Iberico, the Spanish ham which is a must try in Barcelona...



Tender fried lamb, accompanied by green chilli peppers...where most were mild, but one out of every 20 or so is said to be quite hot. I know this for a fact now, because I ate one of the ultra-spicy ones!



Mrs yflyer said that the lamb was some of the most tender and tasty she had ever eaten...

We also had squid...



We eyed the octopus that a gentleman at the next table was eating, but were just too full to eat any more.

We finished with a popular dessert here: a selection of sweets, cakes and a hard biscuit/cookie which you dipped in the sweet liquor in the middle...very tasty!



If you want a quiet, intimate dining experience, this is not the place. You are sitting (or standing) around a cramped table, surrounded by other diners. It is packed to the gills, noisy and very festive, which is not surprising considering the amount of food and alcohol being consumed. And yet, service is ultra friendly, cheerful and very quick. And the food is simply delightful! Worth a visit just for the ambience...

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

Barcelona is a very easy place for visitors to get around. The city is fairly compact, and is great for walking.

The subway is a very convenient way to get around. Subway tickets are charged by the trip. Rather than buy individual tickets (More expensive), you can buy a stored value card good for 10 trips, or better yet, buy "Hola BCN!" transport day-passes for between 2 and 5 days. These passes are good not just for the subway and trams, but also for the newly opened subway line right to the airport. This new airport subway line just opened in February 2016, so not that many people know about it.



The subway itself is quite user-friendly...



There is very precise information about exactly when the next train will arrive, with displays counting down the time to the second...



Taxi's are not expensive compared to the UK or Germany, but we did not use too many taxi's while there, as the subway was so convenient, and the weather was perfect for walking.

There are also open-top tourist buses that are great for an initial orientation to the city.

[yflyer]

Hi yflyer, I have yet to read again your Kansai TR after I went there 2 weeks ago that you are already on something else

Great start to the trip !

Thanks, Durian! Wish I could have made it to the first SIN-KUL A350 flight to meet you and the others! Hope you enjoyed Osaka!

How were you entitled to enter the EK lounge in DXB ?

Well it's a long story, but it essentially boils down to the fact that my travel is almost exclusively in economy class. I started out flying only SQ, but I realized that despite flying between 150K-200K BIS miles per year for many many consecutive years exclusively on SQ, I would never have any benefits on SQ beyond KF / Star Gold.

Since that time, I've essentially flown SQ each year only up to the 50K miles KF/Star Gold qualification limit, then for the rest of the year, after qualifying for Star Gold, I fly Oneworld, using my Qantas FF membership, and have always qualified for either Gold or Platinum on QF (e.g. OW Sapphire/Emerald) in the remainder of the year, which is how I can access Oneworld lounges.

And purely by luck, because of the QF/Emirates tie-up, I can also access the Emirates Lounges in DXB or anywhere else (These are not open to regular Oneworld FF's unless they are QF FF members).

So these days, I fly SQ, LH, CX, KA, BA, JL, QF, AA and EK on a regular basis, and have found a lot to like about all these airlines, even if SQ remains my favourite.

It might be difficult to describe, but does a 777 with 10-abreast feels like ? More cramped or much more cramped ? I assume it depends on your body type... are aisles narrower too ?

Immediately upon entering the 777 10-abreast cabin, a frequent flyer on 9-abreast 777's will find it noticeably more tightly packed. You know the feeling when you board a 737 and it feels slightly more cramped than an A320? Think of that feeling, but amplified a notch or two.

If you are in an aisle seat, or have an empty seat next to you, or if you are travelling with a partner or family member, it doesn't actually feel that bad.

But if you are in a middle seat on a full 10 abreast 777, in between two large or even normal sized people, it does not feel good at all. I could take it for 2-3 hours, but not much longer than that.

When I fly in an SQ 10-abreast A380 main deck, a 9-abreast 777, or an 8-abreast A330, I am comfortable during the flight. I can relax and even sleep. On a 10-abreast 777, after 2-3 hours, I just want the flight to end. Not unbearable, but not comfortable either.

[Durian]

Hi yflyer, I have yet to read again your Kansai TR after I went there 2 weeks ago that you are already on something else

Great start to the trip !
How were you entitled to enter the EK lounge in DXB ?
It might be difficult to describe, but does a 777 with 10-abreast feels like ? More cramped or much more cramped ? I assume it depends on your body type... are aisles narrower too ?

Good observation about the crew wearing specs
Very true that I do not recall one wearing some on SQ ! Probably the same type of requirements on SQ about how the SQ Girl must look like...

[yflyer]

Hey yflyer,

For a moment, I thought you were writing about my latest trip!

Just got off an EK flight yesterday. Was in cool and wet DXB (19 deg in the day, drizzling in March!) for work, and had the partner come along.

- SIN-DXB on the 777-300 (with old AVOD IFE). Yes the seats were obviously narrower at the shoulder, but leg room is superior to the A380. The B seat was empty, but I imagine that it will be very uncomfortable if I had someone seated right next to me.

- DXB-SIN on the A380 (with first generation seats and IFE...but still very good). Selected the D and G seats (also separate PNRs) at the back of the bus. Flight was 70% full in Y. As anticipated, E,F remained empty. Partner slept very well across E,F and G.

The EK Terminal is huge and very crowded. If you belong to the class of people with no lounge privileges, DXB is not where you want to transit. 80% of floor space in the departure level is dedicated to retail...leaving 20% for general seating/resting, washrooms and gates. I learn to appreciate Changi more after each trip.

Wow...yes...we have very similar approaches to seat selection, icn.sg!

Regarding seat pitch, I always felt the EK A380 was at least as good as the EK 777, although maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. Will look more closely next time. In terms of Y seat width and overall cabin ambience, the EK A380 is much better, though, so maybe because of that I didn't really notice the difference in seat pitch.

Regarding DXB, yes I agree that if you don't have lounge access, DXB isn't that much fun unless you enjoy shopping non-stop ...

Rain in Dubai is a fairly rare event! My friends there always say that the best time to head up to the observation deck at the Burj Khalifa is after any rainfall, since all the dust is gone, and you can see far into the distance!

[icn.sg]

Hey yflyer,

For a moment, I thought you were writing about my latest trip!

Just got off an EK flight yesterday. Was in cool and wet DXB (19 deg in the day, drizzling in March!) for work, and had the partner come along.

- SIN-DXB on the 777-300 (with old AVOD IFE). Yes the seats were obviously narrower at the shoulder, but leg room is superior to the A380. The B seat was empty, but I imagine that it will be very uncomfortable if I had someone seated right next to me.

- DXB-SIN on the A380 (with first generation seats and IFE...but still very good). Selected the D and G seats (also separate PNRs) at the back of the bus. Flight was 70% full in Y. As anticipated, E,F remained empty. Partner slept very well across E,F and G.

The EK Terminal is huge and very crowded. If you belong to the class of people with no lounge privileges, DXB is not where you want to transit. 80% of floor space in the departure level is dedicated to retail...leaving 20% for general seating/resting, washrooms and gates. I learn to appreciate Changi more after each trip.

[yflyer]

We landed on time in Barcelona, just after noon….



…and took a taxi to our hotel, the Four Points Sheraton Barcelona Diagonal (Where I stayed on my previous visit to Barcelona as well, covered in this TR), along Avinguda Diagonal, just a few kilometres away from the Sagrada Familia, and a short subway ride from Las Ramblas, Plaça de Catalunya, and other attractions in Barcelona.

To be continued!

[yflyer]

As the A380 flew towards Spain, we passed in between the Italian island of Sicily, and the small island nation of Malta…



There were great views of Sicily out the starboard windows, with the immense landscape dominated by Mount Etna, the tallest volcano in Europe…



A better view of Mount Etna -- still an active volcano...



And on the port side, the small republic of Malta, comprising 2 large islands, a small one, and many other unhabited islands…just under 316 square kilometres in land area – just under half the size of Singapore in terms of land area, with a population of just under 500,000.



Looking at the islands of Malta, I thought, as I looked out the window, that this is how Singapore would look from cruising altitude, if you took the extreme ends of the islands in the picture to be Changi and Jurong respectively, filled in the empty space between the islands with an imaginary central Singapore….

The international airport in Malta…



Gozo, the 2nd largest island in the Maltese archipelago, after the island of Malta itself.

[yflyer]

I ordered a coffee in between meal times and this was brought to my seat with a big smile a few moments later…



It was soon time for lunch…



As a petit, bespectacled cabin crew member came by the cabin with the meal cart, the thought crossed my mind that I had never seen an SQ girl wearing spectacles…

White and red wine by the bottle…





I chose the lamb with rosemary sauce as my main…



Starter and dessert…



The lamb and rice was quite delicious…



…and came with a fairly large portion of tender lamb…



The other choice of main was roast chicken with thyme…



Each main also came with a snack pack, comprising crackers and dip…

[yflyer]

Beyond that, we flew over Cairo and Alexandria before flying over the Mediterranean sea.



As we flew over Cairo, I tried hard to spot pyramids in the area, but did not manage to do so, as it was fairly cloudy and hazy, with bright sun shine, making anything on the ground quite difficult to spot.

There would be more to see out the window later in the flight, but now it was time to rest…



More pictures of the spacious A380 Y cabin in daytime…an exceptionally large and airy space. No sense of claustrophobia whatsoever. There was a very relaxed vibe in the cabin. If this was a 777 flight, the ambience would have been quite different, and not in a good way.



Shades were spontaneously drawn down as people began to watch movies and TV, or take naps…

The cabin took on a surreal orange glow…



Not everyone rested, though. While the inflight bar on the upper deck was restricted to business class passengers, the rear of the main deck became an informal lounge area on this flight too.

I have no idea who moved the beverage carts to the rear of the cabin, although it must have been the cabin crew, as I can’t imagine pax commandeering a fully loaded beverage cart on their own…



Pax took full advantage of this free flow of beverages (both hard and soft…). No rules about not congregating in groups on this flight!

[yflyer]

The IFE was excellent, but as is often the case on daytime flights (And even some night time flights), I found the best entertainment to be out of the windows.

Not long after take-off, our flight path took us over Egypt, and the Suez Canal…



The 193km long Suez canal took 10 years to construct, and first opened in 1869. It allows ships to travel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, and on to the Far East, drastically shortening sea routes between Europe and the Far East. Prior to the opening of the Suez, ships had to sail round the horn of Africa, through the treacherous waters around the Cape of Good Hope.

These days of course, both cargo and passengers can easily fly anywhere in the world, and I also read that with fuel prices so low, some ships are now taking that longer route around Africa rather than the Suez Canal. (Reference: This article)

But none of that diminishes the scale of engineering achievement that the Suez Canal represents, and it remains heavily used to this day.

From the air, the Suez Canal is an impressive sight.



From cruising altitude, ships could clearly be seen traversing the narrow canal...



Because of narrowness of the canal, there are limitations on two-way traffic. Ships traversing the canal do so in very regulated fashion, as convoys…one such convey was visible that day…



The canal so narrow that ships can only pass each other at specific parts of the canal, where it broadens into a lake.





This is the northern part of the canal leading to the Mediterranean sea, which has a section of the canal with two lanes, one in each direction…

[yflyer]

EK185 DXB-BCN is an A380 service.





Today’s flight was chock full. Pax appeared to come from all over the world, and so did the international cabin crew.



The EK A380 hard product is very comfortable. Seats are in conventional 3-4-3 layout, 10-abreast, but in the context of the A380’s enormous main deck, the seat and cabin felt spacious.

Emirates has several different configs and generations of seating and IFE on the A380. Which you get appears to depend on luck. That said, even the “early” generation A380 seats and IFE are very modern and comfortable.



Seat pitch and recline were good. A far more comfortable cabin than the EK 777.

In-seat USB power…



And A/C power, with a universal plug…



Hot towels at the start of the flight...



On this flight, you would get a continental breakfast after take-off, then a full lunch prior to arrival in Barcelona.



The continental breakfast came with a small selection of cheese and salad, which I thought was a nice touch.



IFE was an excellent, new version of the Emirates ICE system. This had a very wide selection of movie, TV and music options.

The UI was very intuitive as well, although on this A380 the touch screen was the old style resistive type, with soft plastic outer screen layer, which requires some pressure on the screen to register a touch, and may not be that accurate in terms of which spot in the screen you pressed. The screen is ok, but cannot compare to the smooth and responsive capacitive multi-touch screen panels that EK (and SQ) have on their very latest planes.



Very good classical CD selection.



Mrs yflyer watched quite a number of movies on this flight, including this Japanese movie…

[yflyer]

Some of the breakfast selections that day…





No pork served in this lounge. That bacon was a simulated…



Foul medames…one of my favourite local breakfast dishes…apparently originally an Egyptian dish though widely available in the Middle East, made of fava beans, olive oil and garnished to taste with lemon, parsley, onions, cumin and chilli pepper…



Bakery items…I believe these are baked onsite somewhere in DXB…



Dim sum was also available, although it did not look especially authentic…



Another dining area, focusing on snacks, coffee and tea…





One of my favourite areas is at the far end of the lounge, towards the eastern end of the concourse.



There is a large open area, with resting / quiet areas. Perfect if you need to lie down and close your eyes for a few minutes before your connection.



Mrs yflyer and I rested there for a few minutes, watching the sun rise over the desert landscape…



…before boarding our flight to Barcelona directly from the lounge…

[yflyer]

We spent our transit time in DXB in the Emirates Business Class Lounge in the A380 Concourse. This lounge is open to EK / QF Business Class flyers or gold frequent flyers in either EK or QF’s FF programmes.



This is an amazing J lounge that spans the entire length of the lounge terminal, two levels above the main departure level. The entrance to the lounge is in the middle of the concourse, with the two sides of the lounge basically being mirror images of each other. At departure time, you board your aircraft directly from gates and elevators within the lounge.

I much prefer this EK lounge in the A380 concourse to the equivalent J lounge in the other DXB concourse(s).

Lounge seating…







One of several dining areas in the lounge…



Long shared tables, as well as individual dining tables.





Liquor selection…



Wine and champagne…



…including Moet & Chandon Rose-Imperial champagne…



Premium dates from Bateel…these are ridiculously expensive compared to regular dates if you buy them from duty-free downstairs…



Appetizers…