After a week in French wine country, I was ready to head to Barcelona for a change of scenery and to swap excessive amounts of red Burgundy and succulent French foie gras - for Rioja and ham.Yes, ham.  Not the ham of your mom's ham-and-cheese sandwiches, mind you.  We're talking about...

After a week in French wine country, I was ready for a change of scenery and to exchange my alcohol intake from red Burgundy to Rioja.  As the train travelled from Lyon through the Pyrenees to my final destination: Barcelona, the excitement of my first encounter with Spain was quickly...