Spain-General:
As some
of you know, I was in Spain for 10 days before Christmas. I had the chance to
visit several cities including Madrid, Seville, Grenada, Allicante, Sant Carles
de la Ràpita, and Barcelona. Arvind and I had a blast there, trying to cover as
many experiences as possible while there.
People:
The
people of Spain were extremely friendly, which surprised Arvind a great deal.
He had heard that most of them were racist, and thought that they wouldn’t be
receptive to him. We found almost no evidence of this during our visit. Most
people when we were there were very interested in where Arvind was from and to
share with him what they knew about India and the best places to visit during
our stay. Not everyone spoke English, but the ones who did would switch to
English as soon as they heard how bad my accent was, and the ones that didn’t
tried there hardest to try to understand us.
Economics:
We talked to several people about the economic situation in
Spain. They are still experiencing high rates of unemployment: more than a
quarter of their populations is unemployed. One group that we met at a bar told
us that they like to be nice to the tourists because they are what keep their
favorite restaurants open.
Almost every place we went, there seemed to be a high number
of beggars and homeless wondering the streets. Often times they were well dressed and must
have recently gotten to the point of begging. Others looked like they had been
living on the streets for years. There was one guy in Seville who played some
of the most enchanting Christmas songs on his violin. He was on an almost empty
street corner, playing a violin that looked like it was about to fall apart.
Prices in Spain still seem to be slightly higher when
compared to the U.S. especially gas prices, which seemed to be over $5.00/
gallon (it was in Euros per liter so we converted). Barcelona was the most expensive
place we visited. Dinner and drinks seemed to cost us nearly twice what it had
in other parts of Spain, for pretty close to the same thing.
Food is a pleasure in Spain.
The food we often found seemed simple, but often fresher then what we get in
the U.S.
Breakfast:
Breakfast often consisted of toast and jam, toast with a tomato
puree, fruit, or my favorite the Spanish Tortilla. The Spanish Tortilla, often
called a Spanish omelet on the English portion of the menu, this dish was
actually more like an egg and potato quiche without the crust. It was generally
an in and a half thick. We could also often find a large variety of pastries,
fresh squeezed orange juice, and friend eggs.
Lunch/ Dinner:
We
generally ate lunch around 2:00 or 3:00 and generally ate dinner around 8:00 or
9:00 which in some cities actually seemed early. Most of the dishes consisted
of either seafood or pork. The port dishes were quite different from much of the
port we find in the U.S. Much of the ham hangs from meat hooks in shops, and
then is cut off to make tapas or sandwiches. The ham seemed fresher, and filled
with flavor, though admittedly, perhaps less hygienic.
Paella was served in every city that we came to. For any of
you that don’t know what Paella is, it is a spiced rice pilaf normally filled
with seafood, chicken, and/or vegetables. To me, it was almost exactly like Cajun
seafood jambalaya. It reminded Arvind of Indian seafood biryani (see first post
on “India-
Wedding Receptions”).
Drinks:
Coffee
We discovered
very quickly that the coffee was very good at cafes and bars in Spain. It was
normally made fresh ground, strong, with steamed milk. This contrasted greatly
with the powdered coffees found at many of the hotels and hostels we stayed at,
if they provided coffee in our rooms at all.
Whiskey
There
were many alcoholic beverages. Our first night Arvind ordered a Jack and Coke, realizing
quickly that this was probably not one of the best drinks he could have been
ordering. While Jack Daniels was available in many bars it was probably two or
three times more expensive. Arvind later switched to Ballantine’s, a very
expensive whisky when purchased in India, and almost impossible to find in the
states. This brand of whisky is one of
the top selling brands in Southern Europe. Because of this, it is quite a bit
less expensive in Spain then it is in India.
Wine:
Wine is
really good in Spain, but few of them were from bands that I had ever heard of.
I normally just ordered the house red. Sangria was almost always less expensive
than the wines here, and generally ranged in quality. My favorite drink was a
mix of red wine and sprite. Not quite sangria, because it lacked the fruit, but
it was served to me on more than one occasion.
Beer:
The most
common beer here seemed to be Estralla (meaning star). This was served at
almost every bar and restaurant we ate at. It is a fairly unspectacular Spanish
beer, but in many places, it is the same price as a glass of coke. We were also
able to find beers like Corona (called Coronita in Spain), Guinness, and Bud
light.
Cities:
I covered the rest of Spain by city, in the following posts:
http://leahsdailydose.blogspot.com/2013/12/madrid-spain.html
http://leahsdailydose.blogspot.com/2013/12/seville-spain.html
http://leahsdailydose.blogspot.com/2014/01/granada-spain.html
http://leahsdailydose.blogspot.com/2014/01/alicante-spain.html
http://leahsdailydose.blogspot.com/2014/01/sant-carles-de-rapita-alcanar.html
http://leahsdailydose.blogspot.com/2014/01/barcelona.html
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