Some of the best trips, or best bits of trips, come down to discovering a great cafe early on (or whenever it strikes you) and returning there many times over even the few days you are in the destination, city or otherwise.
There is nothing quite like making yourself an instant regular, as it were. It gives you a home base, a place to meet one another and the locals, and a lense to experience your experience through. And a place to miss once you return home, or wherever you are on to next or later.
Our family week in Barcelona was lovely, and we all miss Bar Calders, the little cafe around the corner in an alley that our rental agent suggested to us for our first coffee and lunch when she checked us in. We returned there, for one drink or snack or another, day after day, first thing in the morning or last thing at night. We watched the corner of the screen from outside as FC Barcelona played the European Cup and drank free cava poured by the owners when they won. This is where I first discovered Vichy Catelan, and the perfect way that Barcelona cafes serve iced espresso (a small glass of espresso, and a big glass with giant ice cubs on the side). Nevermind the cava, the sangria, and the theatrical way they poured a little bottle of tonic water down a straw to make the gin and tonic.
A home away from your home away from home seems even more critical when sharing accomodation with family members. But it is always a treat, even when traveling alone.
