La Mezquita – a cathedral built within a mosque
doves in the ancient medieval city wall
the food – my favorite, spinach and garbanzos
the Roman temple
the courtyards
more courtyards
Madinat al-Zahra
Best of Córdoba
Tag Archives: Food
Olive country
olive country in Andalucía
We love olives! Drove through the heart of olive country on our way from Granada to our new home (for the next five days, anyway) in Córdoba. Stopped in two quaint little villages: Baeza and Úbeda. I don’t think they see many English-speaking tourists here! It’s pretty remote – not on the usual path from Granada to Córdoba.
interesting olives!
Look at the olives we were served as our free snack with our beverage order. I’ve never seen an olive so oblong before. Even the pits are long. The meat was very dense, and they were a little less brined than most. Different, but yummy!
Marcus’s first attempt at paella
Inspired by the fantastic paella we had in Valencia, Marcus did some secret research and surprised me with this paella while we were in Granada. Despite the lack of a paella pan, which is kind of crucial to the appropriate texture of the rice, it was delicious. I think I know what I’m going to give Marcus for Hanukkah when we get home! I would love for him to experiment some more!
By the way, no bunny rabbits or snails in this one; just chicken and chorizo!
Picking olives
On our relocation drive from Valencia to Alicante we stopped in Dénia to visit the castle and “caught” this young man picking olives on our hike up the hill. I just assumed it was perfectly legal to harvest olives from town property (I mean, who else is going to collect them?), but maybe not. As soon as he saw us, he stopped and stared intently out to sea while we passed. Yeah, I’m sure he was there just for the view! And those are dog treats in the bag, right?
Wandering in Valencia
Mercado Central from the outside
Valencia, the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, does not have many sights per se, which makes it a great city to wander in. No agenda, just mosey down any street that strikes you as interesting. And when you feel you are hopelessly lost, pull out Google Maps. Here’s a bit of what we discovered.
Mercado Central on the inside
evidence of the Moorish influence on architecture
typical Spanish street life
our favorite hangout – real craft brews, very rare in Spain
beautiful palm-lined streets
the glass-domed ceiling in the post office
Plaza de Toros
Where paella was born
paella valenciana for two
Had to have a true paella valenciana as Valencia is where paella was born. This is rice country. The Albufera estuary, just west of Valencia, is full of rice paddies. Most people associate paella with shellfish, but the true Valenciana paella includes chicken, rabbit, and snails. Okay, we had to forego the snails (thank goodness!) because Marcus is allergic, but other than that, this was the real thing.
Most restaurants in Valencia serve paella. There are some restaurants dedicated to it, called arrocerías (arróz is rice). I had never had “the real thing” and we were at a craft brewery, but it was on the menu and the timing was right. It was fantastic! Cooked perfectly from scratch after we ordered. It took about 45 minutes, but that gave us some time to enjoy a few genuine IPAs. Perfect meal in Valencia!
Tarragona
Circus Maximus, Tarragona
Nice stop in Tarragona as we made our way from Barcelona to Valencia. Tarragona was once a capital of Roman Spain, the first to be toga-certified. Residents were allowed to wear togas, meaning they were considered to be full Roman citizens. Maybe it was the wine. Now that I think about it, Rome may have conquered all the Mediterranean countries just for the wine and olive oil. Can’t say I blame them. It’s a strong motivation!
the Roman amphitheater – nice backdrop!
the Costa Brava
the Costa Brava
We are on the Mediterranean coast now, and each section of it has its own name. The northernmost Spanish coast, between the French border and Barcelona, is called the Costa Brava (Strong or Wild Coast). Just the name draws me. We thought we’d check it out.
Cadaqués, home of Salvador Dalí
Our first stop was Cadaqués, home of Salvador Dalí. We stopped at a little place called the Bar Marítim, which was listed in Fodors, and checked out the menu placed out front for passersby to review. Looked good, so we selected a table right on the beach. We ordered beverages and asked for the tapas menu. No menu; chips or olives. He must have misunderstood me; we saw the menu. Marcus went inside, retrieved one, and brought it back. We made our final selections, waved the server down, and ordered. No, only chips and olives. ¿Por qué? Because the kitchen is closed. ¿Por qué? Because the kitchen is closed. He walked away. At lunchtime? On a Tuesday? We finished our drinks and decided to head inland from the beach to find an open kitchen.
olive groves
olives turning from green to black
We found a cute little place with tables in a cover courtyard called Don Quijote. What’s not to like? At least the owner has a love of literature. We were the only people in the place. It was a bit early by Spanish standards, 12:30. The Spanish lunch “hour” is from 1:30-4:00. [They used to call it siesta, but I was corrected when I called it that. I think Spaniards are trying to up their image and not appear too sedentary or noncompetitive.] We had a delicious lunch of fried eggs, French fries, and pork filet (me) and chorizo (Marcus). Some of the most flavorful food we’ve had in Spain! [They always warn us when food is picante, or spicy, and it always so mild we can barely taste the spice.]
The owner of the restaurant was sitting at a table reading his newspaper. After we finished, Marcus went up to him and thanked him for the great meal and service. He leaped up from his table, shook Marcus’s hand, slapped him on the back, thanked him, turned to me, thanked me, shook my hand. OMG! I think we made his day!
Cap de Creus
We drove on to the northeastern-most point of Spain, Cap de Creus, only a few kilometers from the French border. If I had known how gorgeous this place is, we would have spent the whole day here hiking! (Okay, maybe not. Our feet were killing us from the four straight days of personal-best walks in Spain: 18,000+ steps.) So many amazing trails with so many gorgeous views!
Quintessential life in Spain
Cervecería El Vaso de Oro (Cup of Gold)
Tapas and drinks are the typical stuff of daily life in Spain, and we’ve not come across a better example of Spaniards enjoying their two favorite pastimes than El Vaso de Oro (Cup of Gold) cervecería (beer establishment, not that they don’t serve every imaginable type of refreshment as well).
We had spent the day hiking up Montjüic, bypassing the funicular to hike back down, and walking across the waterfront to the other side of the harbor to find this place. All I wanted was a place to sit and rest my tootsies and a cup of something gold and cold. There wasn’t a seat to be found in the place, which was predominantly a long, narrow bar with stools, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves so much we couldn’t leave. We ordered beers and tapas and hunched against a shelf hanging on the wall. Ten minutes later two people left, and we grabbed their stools.
…and this is a Monday afternoon!
The food was delicious; we had these little pork filets on toast drenched in olive oil and some chorizitos (little chorizo sausages) with a basket of bread to soak up the drippings. The beer really quenched. We also enjoyed watching the crew behind the counter interact. There is so little room to navigate back there that they each had their stations, calling out orders to each other and passing food and drinks back and forth – always with a sarcastic comment or shout. Fun!
Ham on Wheels
Ham on Wheels!
Jamón iberico, or Iberian ham, is the national meat. Not sure that Spain officially has a national meat, but if they did, this would be it. Every bar, café, and restaurant in the country serves it, and every tenth shop is a ham shop. There are so many different grades, starting with what the pig ate (the best hams are said to come from pigs whose diet is exclusively acorns, and the best acorns come from a region in southwest Spain called Huelva) and ending with what part of the leg you’re cutting from (the top side of the “wrist” is best) and what you’re cutting with (hand-carved is considered better quality than machine-cut).
Love the logo of this ham store we saw in Barcelona, Ham on Wheels. They deliver!