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"   This week&amp;#039;s episode begins in Catalunya, with Claudia and Gwyneth cruising around in the Mercedes like two teenagers. Claudia gives Gwyn a quick nighttime tour, pointing out a few beautiful buildings designed by Gaudi. They make a pit stop so Gwyneth can attend a press event for her perfume, Pure White Linen. She looks super hot in a short white dress. (I&amp;#039;ve made a resolution to say at least one nice thing about her per recap.) After some autograph signing, Claudia takes her to get some &amp;quot;snackies&amp;quot; at a gourmet food store. Gwyn seems shocked that fancy food shops exist here. In Barcelona. Oookay. They stock up on cheese, ham, olives, and hit the road. The next morning, Gwyneth and Mario drive to the region on the Mediterranean sea that produces cava, the Spanish version of Champagne. Mario praises the affordability and quality of Spanish wines, which are just now getting the attention they deserve. Gwyn agrees, noting that these wines are so cheap there&amp;#039;s no excuse for people to drink box wine from the fridge. We get the message, GP: we&amp;#039;ll try our best to class it up a little. They arrive at the winery, explore the cava cave, and learn more about how it&amp;#039;s made\u2014same method as Champagne but drastically less expensive. &amp;quot;Cava is for the people,&amp;quot; Mario &amp;quot;Che&amp;quot; Batali explains. &amp;quot;Champagne is for the rich.&amp;quot; Mario and Gwyn turn and jiggle the bottles, treatment they get twice a day to move the sediment. Fun fact: the sediment in cava is removed by creating an ice cube at the top of the bottle, which traps the particles. The pressure inside the bottle propels the sediment-filled cube out, leaving a clean bottle of wine. So much for the educational portion of our program. Meanwhile, Claudia and Mark take a boat trip to watch clams and mussels growing on ropes. Mark samples some raw, but Claudia turns them down because she&amp;#039;s recovering from an illness (or is that just what she&amp;#039;s been telling Bitty?). Hungry for a real lunch, they head over to Rafa&amp;#039;s, a seafood restaurant right on the water. They eat oysters, mussels (well, Claudia is content to just sniff the shellfish), and an assortment of other seafood, all simply prepared and caught in the surrounding waters. Afterward, they take a post-lunch nap on the dock, then hit a local seafood auction, La Lonja de Sant Carles de la R\u00E1pita. Claudia compares it to a casino, and she&amp;#039;s right\u2014customers use remote-control-like devices to bid on bins of locally-caught seafood that move along a conveyor belt. Muy interesante. Mario and Gwyn do another cooking demo (yawn), sauteeing spinach with pine nuts and currants, and grilling an assortment of seafood and vegetables. I space out while they make juvenile jokes about the tubular espadrilles. The food looks good, but I&amp;#039;ve seen this scene a million times already.  Luckily, they&amp;#039;re back on the road again fairly soon, this time, blaring REM. Foreshadowing, much? Mario says something about the area being so deserted you could go for miles without seeing anyone. &amp;quot;Except this random hitchhiker in the middle of the road...&amp;quot; Gwyneth says, not yet realizing it&amp;#039;s her BFF (apparently), Michael Stipe. She screams like a groupie circa 1988 when she realizes who it is. Michael hops in the Bentley that&amp;#039;s been tailing them (didn&amp;#039;t this raise any flags?) and joins the caravan to Barcelona. Dinner is at Inopia, a tapas bar owned by Albert Adri\u00E0, the younger brother and partner of Ferran Adri\u00E0, of El Bulli fame. The last twenty minutes or so of the show take place around the table as the celebrity power trio inhales course after course after course. The food looks dazzling (eggplant with molasses ruby red seared tuna, bacalao, pineapple with lime zest) and their orgasmic moans communicate the experience pretty effectively. At one point Michael Stipe says, &amp;quot;This is so good, it&amp;#039;s stupid.&amp;quot; Whatever that means. As delicious as everything looks, this segment is interminable. (Insert joke about the last three REM albums here.) There&amp;#039;s some pleasure in watching Gwyenth Paltrow shovel down French fries, but after awhile you just have to say, &amp;quot;I get it already! Being famous is awesome! Now when do those dorks from America&amp;#039;s Test Kitchen come on?&amp;quot; Highlights: During their grilling session, Gwyn asks Mario how to eat a langoustine. She watches as Mario pops one in his mouth, shell and all. Then, without missing a beat she reaches for a knife and fork. That&amp;#039;s our Gwyn. Gywn&amp;#039;s genuine shock and excitement at seeing Michael Stipe on the side of the road. I have to admit, it was kind of cute. Mark and Claudia lounging on the dock, full and happy after a seafood lunch. Who needs the glamour of Barcelona? Lowlights: The excessively long dinner at Inopia. The food is reason enough to visit Barcelona, but they could have shaved ten minutes off that scene. Michael Stipe murmuring on his phone during dinner. Hello, manners? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/restaurants/a29902/the-end-of-spainon-the-road-ag/>