Category Archives: Spanish Food

Galicia, what a treat!

Went to Galicia, in the North West, with its rugged Atlantic coastline, the food, the wine, the people. What a treat!

Our first stop was in Sanxenxo, overlooking the Ria de Pontevedra, where, from the hotel, we were able to watch the dolphins disporting in the water.

The Rias Biaxas are home to one of Spain’s iconic white wines, albariño. We visited Pazo Rubiales to sample the wine. Even after many visits to wine producers, there are new details to learn. The vines this area of Galicia are grown high to protect from the damp.

This Pazo also has an important botanical collection, and we learned many interesting facts about the collection and the history of the estate.

We spent a bit of time in Combardos, the centre of Albariño production. With a small unspoilt centre, this town was a pleasant place for a stroll and a glass of wine or a coffee.

Another unspoilt coastal villa is Combarro. This was a small fishing village and still has a large collection of horreos and cruceiros.

From here, we took a cruise around the Ria, accompanied by mussels and albariño.

We were shown the platforms where mussels, scallops, and oysters are farmed.

The high point of this boat trip was almost certainly the dolphins swimming around the boat. The boat crew was proud that we enjoyed the trip in the full glory of Galician weather, rain!

The afternoon was dedicated to swimming in the sea and pool for the brave few, with a session in the spa to warm up again.

We now looked inland and, going via Ribadavia, where we visited a thermal bath, we relocated to Ourense, our gate to the Ribera Sacra. Here, we spent a day exploring this town founded by the Romans due to the hot springs and gold to be mined nearby. Crossing the Miño river are both the old and new; the Puente de Velas and the Puente Milleneo.

With better weather, we ventured to the cañon de Sil, heart of the Ribera Sacra. A boat cruise  took us up an impressive gorge, equally spectacular from above.

From the boat, we were able to see the small patches of vineyards on the steep slopes. known as viñeras stoicas, all the work, including carrying the harvest, is done by hand. Having sampled the wine from the rias baixas, we had to do the same for this spectacular region. After a hair-raising drive along narrow mountain roads, we arrived at the Bodega Alma das Donas, one of the viñeras stiocas. The owner showed us how to reach the vines on the narrow terraces before we sampled the wines on a veranda overlooking the river Sil, a view so spectacular it almost distracted from the wines!

Our last day saw us being “peregrinos” as we visited Santiago de Compostela. First stop was Monte del Gozo. This is the point where the various pilgrim routes all meet for a view of the city before the final walk to the cathedral. After the pause here, we went on to the cathedral, where we went to see el Portico de La Gloria, having a view of el botafumeiro swinging during the mass.

Having completed our religious duties, we separated to find lunch. Some of us found ourselves at el mercado de abastos, where we could have some delicious tapas. The traditional drinking cup in this part of Galicia is the cunca. Our last work was to track down bars that serve in these dishes.

Having successfully achieved our pilgrimage through the rias and cañones of Galicia, it seemed only right to award ourselves the vieira of the pilgrimage!

Carnival 2020

Carnival, French culture, German culture, Hispanic Heritage, Italian cultura, multicultural Bedford, Spanish cultura, Spanish Food, , ,

It has been the first time Bedford Language Centre has covered this topic. Carnival, the time of the year to party before lent, is well celebrated in a lot of countries in Europe. In Germany it is celebrated wherever the Catholic  faith is kept . The Nice carnival in France lasts for 3 weeks. In Italy each mask is linked to a town. In mainland Spain the Cadiz carnival has been going for centuries. Without doubt the best known Carnivals in Europe are Venezia in Italy and Santa Cruz de Tererife, the biggest after Rio in the world.  Alessandra gave us a very interested presentation. We also learned  about different dishes in different cities and of course we had a great time and sampled delicious food. Can’t wait for the next year! Thank you to everyone who helped on the day and to everyone who wore flowers and masks.

Trip to Olite (Navarra)

Hispanic Heritage, Spain, Spanish cultura, Spanish Food, Spanish travelling, Spanish wine

Navarra is one of the oldest of the kingdoms that make up Spain. It has a wonderful mix of history and nature, not to forget the food. Just before New Year, BLC spent a few cold days in a foggy Navarra to inspect the area and scout out the Bodegas.

Foz Arbayun is the biggest gorge in Navarra. A great introduction to the Spanish Pyrenees, it will stay on the itinerary, with some spectacular scenery and “buitres Leonado”.

The area is home to a number of monasteries and classic Romanic churches. Having looked at a number of these, a trip to the foothills of the Pyrenees led to a combination of the two. A night in the monastery of Leyre, known for its services with Gregorian chants. This will give the opportunity to listen to these in both an evening and a morning service.

The area also has unspoilt medieval hilltop towns such as Ujue with its beautiful church and views of the Pyrenees.

The plan is also to fit in a visit to Pamplona, famous for its bull running. Here you can follow the route the bulls take, or have a coffee in the cafe frequented by Hemingway. As always there is more, such as the fortifications and the bars with the typical pintxos.

And so to Olite. This was the main residence of the kings of Navarra. The palace is notable for the several towers. Apparently there are views. In December the fog hid these! With its small unspoilt medieval centre Olite is a pleasant place to pass the time. We investigated some Bodegas to find one for a tasting but even the losers in this competition have wines that are worth trying and can be found both in the town’s bars and restaurants as well as in the bodegas and their associated shops.

We don’t only think about wine! The nearby area of the Roncal Valley is famous for its cheese, Ujue is known for its caramelized almonds and we also found a seller of local honeys.

A visit to the Bardenas Reales, one of Spain’s deserts, showed it to be interesting but  we will leave it for another trip as this won’t be the best time of year to visit.

Lots to investigate, great people to talk with!

Salud from Sherryland!

English Heritage, Hispanic Heritage, Spain, Spanish cultura, Spanish Food, Spanish travelling, Spanish wine, Uncategorised, ,

        

Just back from Cadiz, Spain, the area where sherry is produced. What a privilege to take some of our Spanish students on this cultural immersion. A joy for the wine lovers, history lovers and culture lovers

Sherry, we called it Jerez in Spain is a fortified wine only produced in this part of Spain, the Sherry triangle, and covers the towns of Jerez de la Frontera, Puerto de SantaMaria & Sanlucar de Barrameda.

This time we stayed in a lovely converted convent, Monasterio de San Miguel in Puerto de Santa Maria. A place full history, this is an excellent base to explore the area.

To learn more about sherry visiting a couple of bodegas is a must. To really appreciate it, one has to taste the different wines, fino, oloroso, Pedro Ximenez just to mention a few, as well as my favourite one, Palo cortado.

This area of Spain is well known for their Andalusian horses. A horse riding performance is only possible to watch in Jerez and Vienna. We did not only go to a performance but went on a “calesa” (carriage) ride.

Cadiz, claimed to be the oldest city in Western Europe, was reached by ferry from El Puerto.

A culture pot, Founded by the Phoenicians, every other civilisation helped to shape this city full of character, light, sun and welcoming people.

In Sevilla with our fantastic guides Emma and Aidan we moved to the times of Jews and Moors living together. At Los Reales Alcazares palace Christian traditions and Moorish architecture get put together. This mixture of cultures could be found in a lot of aspects of Spanish life, and a good example is in the Spanish cuisine that we sampled on numerous occasions.

What a fantastic experience! Thank you everyone for making this trip so special!!