Kazan — summer 2012

I had purchased a 5-day “Barcelona Card” for my stay, which gives me unlimited access to the major public transport services and also free entrance to dozens of museums and nearly two hundred discounts. Among the free entrance coupons was one to Le Museu de xocolata. I had to go. Here is the entrance.

Once inside my coupon was exchanged for a ticket, and the ticket was a dark chocolate bar (73%) with an ennumerated wrapper.

The museum itself is an odd little place. There are mock-ups of various bits of chocolate history making, some video and audio, and a hallway of famous Catalonian chocolatiers, a microhistory of the industrialization of chocolate making, and many devices that are used in the production of chocolate. And then there was something I entirely did not expect: multiple cases of chocolate art. By which I mean statues and dioramas made of regular chocolate and white chocolate and painted chocolate. There was a diorama of Don Quixote having fallen on the ground after tilting at the windmill, with Sancho Panza looking on in laughter, which was about 2½ feet tall. There were chocolate cartoon characters, includi Tom & Jerry, Asteryx and his huge side-kick. There was a chocolate Sagrada Familia. There was a chocolate Pietà (übertacky, offensive). They were all quite amazingly produced.

The museum empties into a chocolate shop, where I decided to have their hot chocolate.

This was the thickest hot chocolate I've ever had. See the video; I'd say it was a bit thicker than the standard Hershey' Chocolate Syrup.

The original drink of hot chocolate had chiles and spices in it and was not at all sweet. Some day I'd like to find a place that has such a thing. That would be interesting!