Spain: From North to South
The Heart of Galicia
Having just returned from my 13th (!) trip to Spain, my head is still spinning with images and reactions and thoughts. You’d think that I would be less affected by Spain after so many visits, but al contrario, amigos. My husband and I went to the northwestern region, Galicia, then to Madrid in the center and last to Sevilla and points south. Since it was his first trip, I wanted him to have a broader picture than visiting just one area would paint.
Galicia is rainy, green and Celtic. Fortunately, it did not rain while we were there. They eat turnip greens! Besides Pulpo a la gallega (octopus Galician style – my favorite dish), I love their scramble of eggs, turnip greens and shrimp. Our favorite meal was in Padrón just south of Santiago de Compostela. I should explain that S. de C. is where St. James is buried in a crypt in the huge old cathedral and it is the end of the 500 mile pilgrimage route across Northern Spain. Anyway, we hopped a bus to Padrón and had ‘comida’, the big mid-afternoon meal. We had Pimientos de Padrón – little green peppers fried in olive oil that taste like fried okra – and pulpo in olive oil and grilled vegetables drenched in olive oil. Maybe this is going to be the olive oil diaries. Or, how I ate my way through Spain!
Segovia
Madrid is enormous and full of historic places and museums of all types. We went to the Prado and saw paintings by Velázquez, Goya and Bosch, all favorites of mine. But wait! First we ate. In the Plaza Mayor. Lots. And really good paella. We also had a great meal with friends, Madrileños all, at a well-known chef’s restaurant, la Bodeguilla de Pedro - lots of great tapas at 9:30 PM. Late for us, early for them! We took a high speed train to Segovia (a day trip) and saw the great Roman aqueduct and the castle with what must be the deepest moat of all time. The ‘castillo’ looks as if it were the pattern for Disney World’s castle. Lucky us – still no rain, just cool with a light breeze.
The "Alcázar", a Moorish fortress
Another high speed train and we are in Sevilla! This city has a tremendous Moorish influence and the third largest cathedral in the world. Just ask us! We climbed the minaret of the cathedral (it used to be a mosque) and sweated as if we never had done any exercise. In the cathedral we also saw Columbus’ tomb. I think that his body made a few world cemetery tours but it’s believed that this is where his remains are. I had my worst meal here and one of the best. I won’t talk about the worst except that dried up shrimp in tasteless rice doesn’t do justice to Spanish cuisine. The best was an accident. We were wandering through the ‘barrio’ to get back to our hotel and found a short side street with a little pub (called ‘bar’ in Spain) that had street side tables. We had French – no – “Spanish” fries with a great white mayonnaise-y sauce – not aioli but something like. Just good all the way round, and, we were eating with the barrio folks. That’s the best!
We rented a car and drove to Ronda, one of the White Towns of southern Spain. I had to call our hotel, El Molino del Santo, to find out how to get there. It’s at the end of a road in a small village near Ronda. Google it! Lovely! It’s a former olive mill on a hillside (or maybe mountainside) nestled on a little stream. There are hiking trails up into and around the mountains and, as one Brit told me, they are the loveliest mountains in southern Spain. Another of our best meals was at El Molino. They have a fantastic kitchen! We had the best paella of all and the most tender pork loin ever. And the staff got some really tasty gluten-free breads just for me! They do understand Celiac disease in Spain.
El Molino del Santo
We had two adventures.
One: climbing up the mountainside and meeting an elderly man who was up in an olive tree with a saw, pruning the tree. We were curious about the fellow and the olives so on the way down we stopped and chatted. He proudly said that he was 86 years old – in a little olive tree that was clinging to the side of the mountain! He told us all about his trees and the price of olives and how to harvest and which olives were which. Delightful!
Two: we saw on a trail map that there was a cave with prehistoric paintings further up the mountain. So, instead of resting as we planned, we went to the cave. Fortunately we drove because, had we climbed to the cave and done the cave tour, we would have been totally wiped out instead of partially wiped, as we were after the cave adventure. There was a limit of 25 people on each tour and five kerosene lanterns. After our first climb up steps and down, one of the lanterns was dropped and then there were four. Occasionally the lanterns became quite separated and we were in almost total darkness . . . on stairs . . . made of slippery rock and with steep drop-offs here and there! The paintings were like 25,000 year old graffiti. There were quite well drawn bulls fighting, as well as deer, enormous fish and then hash marks to keep track of fertility. I kept imagining some shaman walking out and leading a rite-of-passage ceremony. Walking up and down the slippery steps, in semi-darkness, not far from crevasses and pools, was exhausting, perhaps from fear and tension.
There you have it. Not even half of the experience but at least you get the culinary flavor and a bit of the ‘ambiente’ of Spain 2010!
