Day 3 Madrid
B: Fruit
L: Went to the local supermarket and had home-made ham and cheese and smoked salmon and cheese, on fresh baguettes, rating 7.5. Also took the opportunity to stock up on cheap and delicious stone fruit, apricots and peaches. And Sangria !!
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| Paella |
D: Went to a small Spanish restaurant, and sampled a 3 course meal, firstly paella, with chicken, beef, chorizo and prawns, grilled freshwater trout, chips and salad, followed by crème caramel, a delightful introduction to Spanish food, rating 8.0. Washed down by an Amstel beer 5.5%, still a nice drop, rating, 8.0.
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| Trucha and Salad |
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| Spanish Rose & Amstel Beer |
B: Cereal OJ, Coffee and Toast, savoury goods, chorizo, ham cheese, yoghurt, supplied as part of our stay in Madrid, we would go to bed with no breakfast set out, and miracously, overnight the breakfast fairy would lay out this feast. Many thanks Angel..
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| The Breakfast Fairy has been again ! |
L: Went to a Ham Museum,(we learned whilst we were there that there are 5 more such establishments in Madrid) it is also a working delicatessen and butcher shop, diner and more formal restaurant, had a promotional special on 1 euro for an Amstel beer and a parma ham fresh crusty roll, coupled with a plate of complimentary marinated kalamata olives, which were delicious, for quality control purposes I had to try a second sample, the parma rolls got a 7.5, and the Amstel got an 8.
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| Tasty treats from the Museo del Jamon |
Not surprisingly, it seemed a very popular lunch spot for workers, at $1.20 a combination, I think I would frequent such a place in my lunch hour too, or in fact any spare hour, for that matter.
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| Jamon Museum Bar, note hams hanging from ceiling |
D: After a big lunch, had ham and cheese on crackers and fresh fruit.
Day 5 Madrid
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| Desert Bar |
B: Cereal OJ, Coffee and Toast,yoghurt, creme caramel, savoury items, cheese chorizo..
L: Found another small place, and had another 3 course meal, seafood paella, followed by steak and chips, with a choc almond coated vanilla ice cream for dessert and a strong coffee to finish, not as good as 1st Spanish meal, rating 7.5. Also got to sample a Mahou Spanish beer 5.0%, which in my opinion, is not as good as Amstel, rating 6.0.
D: Fruit and savoury snacks.Day 6 Madrid
B: Cereal OJ, Coffee and Toast
L: Visited central Madrid, and found an all you can eat restaurant, very popular, at 10 euro ($12) per head, and I can honestly say in all our travels to date this is the only place where I overdid it. The food range was large, and the desserts were too appealing.
Sampled, beef, noodle and vegetable soup, paella, pork casserole, roasted pig trotters, chicken wings, salads, pasta with bolognaise sauce, and that was before desserts. I tried crème caramel, a bread type pudding with burnt caramel sauce, almond croissant and 2 lots of vanilla and chocolate ice cream (it was more like mousse), and watermelon and fruit salad, rating 8.5.
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| All you can eat buffet |
This establishment would be better suited in the U.S.A, where instead of supersizing the meals, it could just be a plain simple pig out.
D: My stomach was still hurting at 9.30pm, so no dinner required.
Day 7 Madrid
B: Cereal OJ, Coffee and Toast
Went for a long walk around the suburb (El Pozo) where we are staying in Madrid, must have been the guilts after the overeating yesterday, at the buffet yesterday, and we discovered the weekly markets with all manner of goods for sale, clothing, hardware, shoes, souvenirs as well as fresh fruit and vegetables and a range of olives, antipastos etc, all at really cheap prices, so we bought some plums, cherries and nectarines for our travels in the week ahead.
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| Fresh cheap stone fruit |
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| Olive Heaven |
L: Went to supermarket to get some supplies (beer and rose) to watch Euro 2012 final, soccer Spain vs. Italy match this evening, so we picked up some fresh baguettes, smoked salmon, ham and cheese for lunch, rating 7.5.
D: Home-made pasta with Neapolitan sauce and parmesan cheese, simple tasty meal, rating 7.5. On recommendation of our host, did some quality control work on Spanish beer Estrella Galacia. The beer was a bitter ale and I don’t like XXXX, and it reminded me off that crap, rating 5.0.
Week 15 Madrid /San Sebastian/Pamplona
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| San Sebastian Tapas (Pintxo) Bar |
Day 1: Madrid – San Sebastian by train.
B: Coffee and on the train to San Sebastain /Donistia.
L: Fresh baguettes, and fruit.D: Fresh fruit, with baguettes, smoked salmon, chorizo and cheese, rating 7.0.
Day 2: San Sebastian
B: Fruit, Barista Coffee with thick French toast and apricot syrup.
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| King Keler |
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| More Pintxos |
L: Finally found our way to a Tapas bar (of which there were literally hundreds, picking 1 to try was the hard part), they had a local Basque beer on tap, called Keler 6.5% alcohol, a really tasty lager, tried 2 to be sure rating 8.5. Also, decided to sample a couple of different tapas plates, battered cod, spicy battered octopus and chorizo with crusty bread, all very tasty, rating 8.5. Went down a treat, and didn’t break the bank, Lizzie had a local cider and tuna tapas, total cost 18.5 euros, about $22.
D: Already mentioned how many bars there were, one positive spin off is big numbers makes for hard competition, found a bar that had Happy Hour for 5 hours, they sold 2 Keler stubbies for 3 euros, cheap sangria and 2 for 1 cocktails, that covered the drinks, beer rating again 8.5, (they didn’t do food).
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| Still more Pintxos |
We then picked another Tapas bar to try, didn’t have Keler so I tried Cruzado beer, 5.0%, not as pleasing as Keler, rating 7.0. I sampled "Fruits of the Sea" skewer, which was crumbed mixed with coconut cod, prawns and scallops, cod omlete, chorizo and crusty bread and caramelised onions, sun dried tomato and camembert cheese, warmed up, and a parma ham, green capsicum and cooked quail egg on a crusty bread, very tasty ensemble, rating again an 8.0.
Day 3: San Sebastian
B: Barista coffee and a chocolate croissant.
L: Found a restaurant (with a queue) that had a 3 course lunch for 10 euro, so I tried, the beef lasagne, crumbed cod and chips and an ice cream (chocolate drumstick), not the gastronomic adventure of the previous day, but still a reasonable meal , rating 7.0.
D: After a big lunch, and watching the last 30 minutes of Queensland down the cockroaches for the 7th time in succession, thru a window, as the bar was packed with mainly NSW supporters, some of whom I reminded in my usual calm manner about who the better side was, I celebrated with 6 Keler stubbies, at the same bar, and they tasted just as good, rating 8.5.
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| Sports Bar 2 King Kelers for 3 euros and made on the spot Sangria |
B: Barista coffee with chocolate croissant.
L: Fresh crusty baguette with chicken, mayo, cheese, lettuce and tomato, rating 7.0.
More about Dinner after the train trip down to Pamplona.
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| Shipping Containers converted into Bakery/coffee shop & Wine Bar in San Sebastian/Donastia (all baking done on sight) |
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