Eating & Sleeping
All my pre and post tour accommodations were recommended in the Rick Steves' Guide to Spain, and they were outstanding, especially this first B & B in Bilbao - the Basque Boutique.
This was my room at the Basque Boutique - perfect! Exposed brick and beams and a wild and crazy headboard!
Open shelving, a fully-equipped bathroom with everything including a curling iron. Each room in the hotel is different - this one is a tribute to Gaudi. The restaurant, the Amarena, which can be seen from the window is excellent. Lots of ladies-who-lunch eat here and the price is fantastic - 14 euros for a three course meal including VAT. I had cheese ravioli, hake in red sauce and chocolate (uh-huh) cake.
Have you ever eaten at a Michelin-starred restaurant? Neither have I, but in Bilbao I came close. Nerua (only open for dinner) is the * restaurant in the Guggenheim, but the same chef oversees The Bistro, their smaller daytime restaurant. I couldn't get reservations at Nerua, but I walked right into the Bistro and was shown to a table - what a show! The service was impeccable.
The fish is a nod to Frank Gehry and covered a tureen of hummus and
bread.
Tomato and watermelon gazpacho with king prawn.
Roasted deboned lamb with quinoa stewed with thyme and sherry.
First perfect lunch in Barcelona: patatas
bravas, a perfect little slice of crusty bread with a perfect sardine and diced sun-dried tomato on top, garnished with pine nuts - my day was made!
30 euros and worth every penny!
Mocha cream, stout beer ice cream and sponge cake.
Our first tour dinner in Barcelona began with manchego cheese and these mushroom, pepper, cheese toasts.
Foie gras The best pulpo I've had in my life! Sizzling garlic shrimp
The Catalonia Portal de l'Angel has very attentive staff. They even printed out a picture of a curling iron for me to take to the local department store to show what I needed. Their breakfast was, by far, the most complete buffet I've ever seen. They gave new meaning to the term "breakfast bar" by actually having the components to make your own bloody Mary!
Blame it on the Sangria! In Barcelona, I was meticulous about recording what I ate, (if not where I ate!), but in Madrid, everything went downhill - I forgot about writing it down, taking pictures - I just ate - the paella was as good as it looks!
Feast of the Suckling Pig
Believe me - this was the best picture of this poor fellow - his hairy snout was not the most picturesque.
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The culinary highlight of our day trip to Segovia was the feast of the suckling pig at restaurant Jose Maria, the chef and owner, who is pictured above with Helen and our bus driver (a really nice guy). They really do cut the roast pig with a plate - it was tender, juicy, delicious.
It was in the mid-80's temperature-wise in Toledo and while everyone else was having cold gazpacho, I decided to try a Toledo speciality - carcamusas. It is made with pork, peas, tomatoes and white wine and was superb. I ate with my faithful traveling companions - cerveza, my cell phone and my torn out section on Toledo from the RS guidebook. By the way, when I was in Edmonds for the tour reunion and visited the RS headquarters, I noticed they sell binder-like things for your torn-out sections. I prefer to take Cameron Hewitt's advice and bring a binder clip with me - useful for the torn out sections and for keeping curtains closed!
The evening before the Alhambra...
This delicate, tempura-like batter clothed a succulent prawn. It was fashioned to resemble the pointed hats of the processional penitents during Holy Week.
It's twilight in Granada and we are in a home/restaurant, having an elegant meal while watching the sun set and the Alhambra become magical in the moonlight - and - it's not a dream! It was more stunning than the pictures can capture and while the dinner was sumptuously elegant, I was more entranced by the stunning sight. No apologies.
Sleeping in Granada:
The Hotel Anacapri was outstanding - right in the middle, yet out of the hubbub of the city. Can't say enough good things about the staff there - friendly, always did what they said they'd do, excellent laundry services. When I remarked to a young woman at the front desk about their beautiful artwork, she pointed out a nice plein air canvas and said "I painted that one." Oh - one other plus, a top-notch bakery right across the alley!
On to RONDA and Hotel Molino
Something I'd had my heart set on while in Spain was being able to order a plateful of anchovies (sardines). I finally had my fill in Ronda, where, again, I ate with my faithful companions - cerveza and the RS guidebook to Ronda.
What's not to love about this room? I mean, who could enter this great pink checkerboard of a room and not feel happy? All this and a swimming pool with a view! On my budget this kind of luxury doesn't happen very often but our tour group took full advantage of this break to have a mini stay-cation from our vacation. Everybody into the pool!
Dinner that night was in the hotel - again, a very elegantly plated and served dinner with a first course of an exquisite molded shrimp and rice (anything with shrimp is going to be a winner in my book.) The ox-tail stew on mashed potatoes looked wonderful. To be honest, it wasn't a favorite but the sauce was tasty. The pannacotta topped the dinner off nicely.
Hotel El Convento and a room with such a view!
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FINAL STOP -
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SEVILLE
VIEW BY NIGHT
VIEW BY DAY
This was our supper on the evening of our market trip to Jerez - what a buffet! Helen was a superb organizer; Cathy and Tracey arranged the food so artistically. The sherry tasting was fun! A fantastic evening with the group in Arcos de la Frontera.
The Hotel Amadeus in Seville is music-themed. I stayed in the 'Strauss' suite, with a violin on the key fob to my room. Throughout the hotel there were rooms full of a variety of musical instruments - harps, violins, guitars, pianos - ready and waiting for any traveling musicians to give them a workout.
Each of the large public rooms had a carafe of wine, water or liqueur that guests could help themselves to.
Temps in Seville were in the mid to high '80's. This refreshing-looking cold tub was on the roof of the hotel.
The hotel offered the option of breakfast served on the rooftop; which is how I found out about the cold tub. AH! NICE!
Wow! What a view!
Same view - a little closer-up.
Tour members became quite familiar with Mateos Gago, the street that led from the cathedral plaza to Hotel Amadeus. Tapas bars, cafes, and ice cream vendors lined each side of the street and over the two days we were in Seville, we melted into the Spanish way of life, sipping sangrias, savoring ice cream, chewing on pizzas while lingering at the outdoor tables. I walked into a cafe alone and there were Tracey and Cathy saying "sit down, join us" and I did, trying out their chicken curry and they trying my garlic shrimp. And a little later on, I spotted Phyllis and Sylvia having pizza at an outside table and they motioned me to join them, which I did. Then Tracey and Cathy came by and we all had ice cream crowding around the little table. We all moved together up Mateos Gago and then we saw another tour member and his wife trying out the little snails. We stopped and watched him - hard work digging out those little suckers with a toothpick! Then two more members of the group came by and we all stood around laughing on the sidewalk as he dug out snails for each of us to try - and we did! And this is what made the tour the "best yet" - the warmth, the sharing, the laughter, the sense of discovery and delight.