Spain - Oct 2010

The mountaintop old city is a picturesque visit.

Streets are narrow...
There's no running this red light (rising bollard!)...
Smartcars are handy in Toledo...

This UNESCO World Heritage Site, built on a hilltop above Granada, contains a fortress & various Moorish & Christian palaces built from 14th C to 16th C. It also contains the magnificient Generalife moorish gardens.

Deep in Lavapies district, inner Madrid, I was able to enjoy a modest lunch whilst on my own exploratory walking tour...

A 7 Euro menu offered a typically Spanish lunchtime choice of 2 courses, accompanied by Pan(bread), preceded by a drink (beer) & rounded off with Cafe(coffee) or Te(tea).

I chose a big Paella pollo(chicken) for primera(first course), to go with my Cerveza Sin-Alcohol.

Followed by a plate of simple fish & potatoes...

Basic, more than nourishing, delicious.
Perfectly civilised.

Cazuelas (casseroles):
Rabo de Toro - Ox Tail casserole, at a main street 'taverna' in Granada, southern Spain.

Bacalao Ajoarriero - Cod flakes with peppers & tomato sauce.

Preceded by a platter of tomatoes/black olives/cheese/olive oil.

(Er, it's difficult to get a shot in before stuff disappears off the plate!)

In Granada also... I enjoyed a very fine plate of grilled Calamar (squid)... simply perfect, maybe better than mum's :-D

Cerveza sin-alcohol - one of the excellent low-alcohol beers in Spain...often a good choice when beer is offered early in the day... which it often is!

Toledo, 70kms south of Madrid, is the Marzipan capital of Spain - local convent nuns have made the almond & sugar specialty for generations.

Madrid's renovated San Miguel market, in the evenings esp, is bustling with middle class locals vying for upmarket tapa dishes. Near to our apartment, we joined the crowd...

The biggest queues were at the Oyster & Champagne bar... local raw oysters to die for, disappeared downwards faster than I could whip out the Canon S90 :-) The best oysters ever, Lily reckons... v. large & sweet & not inexpensive (2.80 Euro ea). Bluff oysters seem bland in comparison, she said (heretic!).

However I was able to get these shots before they were scoffed:
Olives & red peppers, stuffed variously with cream cheese, anchovies... plus sun-dried tomatoes.

Spanish style 'rollmops' & 'dolmas' (vine leaves filled with rices, spices, etc).

This bar serves Caviar & vodka!