This was our 3rd trip to Spain. So why go back? The answer is there is just so much to see. We hit some new areas and in places we had visited previously we found other things of interest to us. For example the first 2 times I was not into Roman history, so this time in Sevilla we went out to Italica, a Roman city. There were three main objectives that I had and our friends had one. My three were:
- New Wine Areas – mainly Ribera del Duero and Toro, with a hint of Jumilla
- Romans – we visited 2 villas
- Cultural Event – the Feria de Caballo in Jerez was the event we planned our trip around
Our friends, Dave and Corrie, had a cousin that moved to Spain so Corrie wanted to visit with them in Hondon de las Nieves located in Alicante province.
- Madrid
Madrid is where you fly into. Being the capital you can find influences from all over Spain; the most important for us is the food. Paella is everywhere although it originates in Valencia. We were able to sample some pintxos, crostinis from the Basque country.
The ladies had to try sangria when we hit the rooftop bar at El Corte Inglés. They kept trying sangrias for the rest of the trip but none bested this first one. I tried it later and that drink would hold up on any cocktail menu. The other must stop for us is San Gines a chocolate and churro shop that has been around since 1894. The chocolate is thick and dark and Spanish churros are like the Mexican ones but without the cinnamon sugar. You don’t need the sugar when you have chocolate.
We took a day trip out to Toledo. I would suggest you do more research and find a better tour than VTP Tours on Get your Guide . It was basically transportation (big bus) out to Toledo. You couldn’t hear the guide.
B. Seville
This is still one of my favourite cities in Spain. It has an energy in the air; for example we saw several guys walking down the street playing guitars, some singing. We also stumbled upon the gala for the next Netflix Money Heist series at Las Setas. Las Setas de Sevilla is a sculpture that resembles giant mushrooms: Setas means mushrooms in Spanish that is why it is known by its nickname. We had tickets to walk on the Setas and almost didn’t make our reservation due to the barricades set up for the gala. It was pretty neat being able to watch the celebrities walk the red carpet from above. We actually saw a few getting on the train in Madrid.
The Alcazar is the premier site but we had seen it so we went out to Itálica. Itálica is a former Roman city of some renown. It was the birthplace of Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian, and possibly Theodosius. It was astounding that such beautiful mosaics are just sitting out in the open. Most sites protect their mosaics from the sun. The guide said there was no interest in these Roman ruins until Game of Thrones. The Roman amphitheater of Itálica served as the Dragonpit of King’s Landing in Seasons 7 and 8. If you enjoy Roman ruins including some mosaics check out the more in-depth discussion in the Roman section.
The second day we all went out to Cordoba. The premier site here is the Mesquita which we had seen, so our friends went there. We went out to the Medina Azahara. It is pretty much a ruin, so not visually spectacular. I didn’t realize this was the headquarters of the Umayyad caliphate, which I had heard about on the History of Byzantium. Apparently the caliphate was initially established in Syria but were defeated by the Abbasids in 750, the Umayyads then moved their headquarters to Cordoba.
The other highlight in Sevilla is Flamenco. There are many venues from small and intimate (which we saw last visit) to theater style, which is what we did this time. There are also dinner shows, but I figured we should eat at establishments designed for eating (i.e. Restaurants) and watch Flamenco at a place designed for dancing. In addition to watching these artists/athletes dance there is the music, the singers and the guitar player.
C. Jerez de la Frontera
On our previous trip we had seen some ladies dressed up fancy in Cordoba. We had also seen all the dress and fabric stores in Sevilla. I don’t recall exactly where we heard about the Feria de Abril, but it supposedly had large tents that you party in and everyone dresses up. So when we were in Columbia we met a couple at dinner from Jerez. We told them we were planning this Spain trip and thinking of going to the Sevilla festival. They suggested we go to their festival instead because it is more intimate and friendly; it is called La Feria de la Caballo – or Festival of the horse. We are so glad we listened to them. We wondered into many tents and were never turned away. The festival is exactly what I was looking for. People, primarily the ladies, were dressed up all around town. Most were probably coming or going from the fair grounds but we saw a group eating at a restaurant.
Although none of us are horse lovers, we do appreciate their power and grace. We took in a couple of horse activities. We saw a performance at the Royal Andalusian Riding School which was pretty impressive. We also took a carriage ride around the fair grounds. The locals were doing it too, so don’t judge.
There wasn’t much music on the grounds but each casita had food and drinks. The food was good, not great.
Jerez is Sherry country so we were drinking some nicely chilled Fino sherry and Croft Twist (a sparking Fino sherry).
Speaking of Sherry, the first thing we did when we got to town was to go on a sherry tour. This was a great learning experience. We were able to try 4 different sherries. First though we need to ask what is Sherry?
Sherry is a fortified wine, meaning alcohol is added during the process. Fino is fermented dry then aged with a layer of yeast on top to prevent spoiling. This yeast provides a bready note to the Fino. I found it paired well with food. 2nd The third one we tried was the Amontillado which is a Fino that has its yeast layer removed this allows the sherry to oxidize resulting in nutty and dried fruit flavours. The last one we tried was a cream. A cream is a sherry, typically a Fino, that is sweetened. …….winery used Px to sweeten the wine. Px is the abbreviation for Pedro Ximinez a very sweet and delicious dessert wine. I thought it was odd they didn’t produce their own Px, they buy it from another winery. Yes sherry producers call themselves wineries.
D. Cadiz
This was a short visit because we decided to add in Ronda at the last minute so Cadiz got the short shift.
Cadiz is a nice city but not a lot to do, so one full day was fine. Our first day in town was nearly a full day because the drive from Jerez to Cadiz is only half an hour. I was able to hunt down a local guide [name] and the tour was great. She told us about the history of the buildings and town and pointed out some unique features. Many buildings have towers built on top of them; this is where merchants could see the ships returning from the New World. The ships would signal what they were hauling, and the merchant would signal his interest and that was the start of the transaction. The other fun fact is Cadiz was pretty strategic so there were lots of naval battles. There were so many cannons lying around, the town installed them on street corners to protect the buildings from drivers who turn too tight – steel doesn’t give like plaster.
A local tapas dish that is well known and delicious is the Tortilla de Camarone. It is baby shrimp in a thin batter that is fried. Although they originate here, we did have a few in Jerez (only 30min from the ocean).
E. Ronda
On the way to Ronda we stopped in Arcos de la Frontera, one of the white villages. Rick Steves rates Arcos a 3 and Ronda a 2, I would switch those around. Arcos was nice but no nicer than any other town we were in. Ronda is so much more dramatic.
The bridge over the gorge is famous I guess. I think it shows up in pop culture today. I know the Disney movie Ferdinand used Ronda as its setting. Dave had seen images of the bridge and really wanted to see it. We had been there before but the hike down the valley has been modified. A path was built to take you to a viewing area where you can see the water gushing out from the gorge. It costs a few Euros, but it is a neat view, I love waterfalls so it was worth it.
Next we toured the bull ring. Even though nobody had any interest in actually watching a fight, the history and cultural significance makes the visit worthwhile. The museum is done very well, with lots of history and artifacts.
We wanted to go to Tragata for dinner which we had been to before. It appears the owner, Benito Gómez, now has a two Michelin star restaurant in town, so you get the same quality just less fancy at Tragata. So everyone else had this figured out and made reservations or got there early. Brenda loves pizza so we dropped into Cerveceria la Giralda. It was a proper pie, no gimmicks, good chewy crust. They have no wine menu, but they do have one local red wine she promised we would love, and she was right.
F. Granada
On the way to Granada we made a quick stop at the Dolmens of Antequera. This is a megalithic monument (so is Stonehenge) built during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The video in the interpretive centre shows how they were constructed. This is an example of the type of non touristy site you can visit in Spain. When I was planning the trip I was constantly bumping into interesting sites along our route. You would never plan a trip around them but they do add some extra spice to the touring.
Like Ronda we have visited Granada before but wanted Dave and Corrie to see the Alhambra. Instead Brenda and I relaxed in an Arab spa. I use Calm to help with sleep and they have a story about this spa; the stories kind of work like brainwashing, so we had this strong desire to visit it. The spa is called Hamman Al Andulus and is beautiful inside. I’ve only been to a Nordic spa and similarly they have a hot pool, a warm pool and a cold plunge(yikes!). The architecture and tiles set the tone. The endless tea was lovely. We also booked a half hour massage; I asked for hard and got it in spades, Brenda asked for relaxing and when it was done she asked if she had to leave.
We had two lovely meals, well 3 actually. The first was a Moroccan dinner in the arab section of town, Moroccan food is one of the world’s great cuisines and this section of Granada has over a dozen restaurants.
The restaurant we went to was called Las Palmeras. The second meal was at a Carmen, these are grand houses in Granda with a view that have been turned into primarily restaurants. The only one we were able to make a reservation at, Carmen San Miguel, turned out not to have a view of the Alhambra but it did have a great view of the Sierra Nevada mountains (fun fact: Sierra means serrated and Nevada means with snow, and sure enough the mountains were snow topped). We got the best seats in the house and the food and wine were great. Dave and Corrie couldn’t wait to try Paella and they got a good one with table-side final prep. The last place I’ll mention was the breakfast spot at our hotel Shine. It was nice to have an eggs benedict, as most of our breakfasts were Spanish. A very common breakfast in Spain is a piece of toast that you top with olive oil, grated tomato pulp and a slice of Jamon (ham),I miss it now. Bigger hotels had buffets.
G. Hondon de las Nieves
This was our vacation from the vacation. It’s nice to have one of these when travelling, but with so much to see and do one often skips it. As mentioned above Corrie’s cousin and wife lived here; to be specific it was an acreage a couple of miles out of town. We didn’t sit around all day and chat, we did some touring. I love the fact that in Europe, Spain for sure, there is always something interesting nearby. We were in the middle of nowhere and within a half hour to an hour there was the sea, 2 wine regions, and many towns.
The set-up was great with a 2 bedroom casita for our group, a beer fridge just outside and an electric juicer. You do not get any fresher orange juice than walking out your front door, picking 10 oranges and then juicing them – every single morning! There was also a large outside table where we sat and ate and drank and visited.
The first day was vacation mode. We did go into town to pick-up some ingredients for the dinner I planned on making the next night. There is a winery in town, Bodegas Cerda, that you see when you enter, so we tried a flight. This is not a good winery. A world class winery is located where the grapes grow, and they typically have a designation from that area. This winery was making wine from all different regions in Spain. The lack of focus really showed in their uninspiring wines. The afternoon was spent swimming and lounging around. Spent the evening eating, drinking and visiting.
Day 2 was a touring day I had planned from home. The highlight was the olive oil tasting we did at Almazra deortegas. I especially liked their mushroom flavoured finishing oil. We went to a cheese factory, that google indicated had a store. There was no store, just the factory. A worker ended up selling us a piece of cheese. And the real bust was the wine tour that I thought had been booked. NOTE to self and you the reader, always get a confirmation of the tour; sometimes you have a conversation indicating what you want and thinking we are on the same page, and then there is nothing when you get there because it was not confirmed. I did want to get some wine for dinner so we stopped at Barahonda (available in Alberta) and picked up a bottle of Syrah. Tours only offered at 11 in the morning. The Spanish cassoulet I made that evening turned out great thanks to the fantastic chorizo we picked up at the butcher shop in town.
Day 3 we went into Alicante, located on the Mediterranean, and did a tour Corrie’s cousin recommended. After parking we walked by the city beach which was just hopping and apparently bathing tops are optional. We then took an elevator up to the castle. Such a spectacular view from there. We stopped in the city market to pick up some food for our tapas meal that night. We then stopped for lunch at “30 y Tantos” and had this warm bread with olive oil that was so comforting.
Day 4 we headed into Elche to see the palm trees – they were fine but Alicante had some too, I would skip this trip. We decided to have a snack (croquette) and a beer. I haven’t explained croquettes yet; they are a breaded and fried cigars of creaminess and goodness. They originated in France and then became popular in Spain. My experience with Spanish food is they excel at taking a dish from France or Italy and riffing on it and often making it better. Croquettes are on virtually every tapas menu; our favorites were jamon (ham) and mushrooms. That evening we went to a very nice Spanish restaurant run by Dutch people called Bar Mucho.
In summary everyone enjoyed their vacation from the vacation. A large part because of Monique, Corrie’s cousins wife. She is quite an impressive lady, having run a B&B operation in Amsterdam, scouted out and bought the house in Spain. Her hospitality was exceptional and Art always had a cold beer for us. So for you the reader, Alicante is a lovely city and I would suggest you base yourself here and then go for a wine (Jumilla and Yecla are about an hour away) and olive oil tour one or two days.
H. Valencia
Valencia was the biggest surprise of the trip. There is so much to see here. Knowing this was a big city and it being our first time I booked a city tour. Looking at the tours I concluded a bike tour was the best option to get a glimpse of everything. The Bike Guy VLC is a Brit who has been in Valencia for 10 years. He introduced us to so many sightseeing options, in the old town, it would have taken another 4 days to see it all. We rode out to the beach which was huge; we just stopped for a drink. The main reason for going a bike tour was to get out to the Plaza of Arts and Sciences. This is an architectural wonder by Santiago Calatrava (same guy as Calgary’s peace bridge). You have probably seen it in a movie, it makes an appearance in Andor. Our ride back was wonderful as it was along a greenway/park.
We arrived the afternoon before and did some exploring; it’s a beautiful city. For dinner we had to have Paella now that we are in the home of this famous dish. Well actually the home is a few miles south, but more on that later. There are multiple versions of the dish now, branching out from the original Chicken, Rabbit and Cockles (a bivalve similar to a clam but generally tastes sweeter and more pronounced). Brenda and I simply picked what we like – shrimp and chicken. It was great but frankly I think you could probably find just as good in Madrid; Dave and Corrie still liked the one in Granada at the carmen the best.
Day 2 was spent visiting a couple of areas outside of town. The first was a visit to an orange grove to learn about the famous Valencian orange. The estate called Huerto Ribera is in the area that was the birthplace of orange production in Spain. It was interesting to learn about oranges and other citrus fruit that we eat every day.
The second tour was to Albufera, a few kilometres south of Valencia. This is a lagoon where the rice used in Paella, Bomba, was originally grown and still is today. It is also the birthplace of Paella. After some confusion on the location of our tour we had a lovely ride around the lagoon. There were quite a few birds flying around. After that we walked into town and had some Paella at Restaurant Albufera. They had pictures of the Spanish Royal Family visiting the restaurant. Brenda and I had the lobster paella. It was fantastic; although it wasn’t any better than the one in Valencia.
- Cuenca
The reason for stopping here was the Roman villa of Noheda. However everyone enjoyed the town more than the villa. I was able to figure out that the town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the history and the hanging houses. I found a guide on some site about local activities. When I contact him the day before to make sure everything is set for our tour, he says who are you and why are you bothering me. Yikes, so I ask what is he going to do for us. He rounds up Chistian, Mr. Cuenca, this man knew everyone in town. This is the kind of person with a big personality and a zest for life. He knew all the history and sights to see and gave us a recommendation for a great restaurant.
The other highlight of this town is the hotel we stayed in; Hospederia del Seminario. It is a working Seminary,
where catholic priests train to become priests, with a good portion of it converted to a hotel. It wasn’t posh but it had classic décor and a fabulous buffet breakfast.
The next day we visit the Roman villa. It is a dirt parking lot with a lady trying to explain in Spanish you need tickets from their website. I go on and pay. Our Spanish language tour then starts; we walk to a quonset which is covering some mosaics. Very disappointing as we were expecting something like what we saw in Sicily. To this day I don’t know the story of who built Noheda.
J. Ribera del Duero
Our home base for this wine region was Hotel Las Barones in Santa Cruz de la Salceda. I was looking for something more intimate and did we find it. Aranda del Duero is the main town in the region and driving by it looked like a major city with warehouses, so that was a good call. Santa Cruz de la Salceda is so small, Las Barones was the only business open in town during our stay. I knew they had a kitchen; although they had funny opening times. They were good about us shifting the times. None of the staff could speak English so it was an opportunity to practice our Spanish. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We would get a beverage from the bar and play cards outside. The hotel people would ask us where we toured that day. It was a glimpse of Spanish life.
Day 1 of wine touring was provided by Madrid Wine Tours. I looked high and low for a wine tour company from the area but they don’t exist. If anyone wants to semi-retire to Spain, this would be a great business opportunity. Ribera means banks, so the area is the Banks of the Duero. There are 320 wineries. The DO was only founded in 1982. These are the three wineries we visited on the tour:
- Dominio de Cair – owned by Luis Cana from Rioja
This is a big commercial winery with excellent staff. Apparently a small amount of a white grape called Albillo can be added to the red wine.
2. Alvides – this was just crazy fun. Apparently it is very common in the area to age wine in cellars. This was a tiny cave, just enough room for about 6 people. We tasted 3 wines and Brenda bought the Reserva Tempranillo. The owner/wine maker only spoke Spanish but our guide Raul translated. The stone pillar with the holes in the top is a ventilation shaft to let air into the cellar.
3. Aster – and now for something completely different. This is a huge complex with winery, hotel and restaurant. In addition to the tasting we had an exceptional lunch with Morcilla (blood sausage) and croquettes to start and roasted lamb for the main course. Note to self – don’t book a wine lunch at the end of a day of wine tasting – we were all a little drunk when we got back to the hotel.
Day 2 of wine touring David was our chauffer. Here’s the line-up:
- Tinto Pesquera – was one of the early wineries that contributed to the creation of the D.O. We really liked their Reserva and Gran Reserva. Not a fan of the white grape Albillo – but it was good to try it.
2. Lubiano Dominio- is owned and wine made by a lady. She was a bit bitter about the lack of traction she is getting in the market. There is nothing wrong with her wines, they were as good as anybody elses.
- Emilio Moro – we stopped for lunch and a small tasting flight. Everything was great.
- Val Sotillo – was a real find. I booked it because I knew they had a cave for storing their wine. What I didn’t realize was the extent of the cave system in this area of Spain. 90 out of 100 caves are still used today for wine storage and parties. Our guide (wife of the wine-maker) showed us a map of the caves – there are miles of them. You can tell you are in cave country by the ventilation stacks scattered around the area. Val Sotillo actually connected one of these tunnels directly into their winery.
We felt much better this evening; learned our lesson and skipped the glass of wine at lunch. It was fun playing cards, sipping on a beverage, and watching the local kids playing at their first communion party.
K. Saldaña
I really liked this little town. Yes, it is spelled the same as Zoe’s name. The reason for the visit was to give our liver’s a rest, just kidding, the real reason was another Roman Villa called Villa Romana La Olmeda. This is exactly what I was looking for; a well preserved and well documented villa in the style of the Sicilian villa. The mosaics were fantastic and so was the well-preserved bath house. For more details about the purpose of the villa and dozens of pictures see the Roman Blog. We had a great midday meal at the Crooked House and got to watch a child’s birthday party. I had lamb with potatoes and a lovely house wine. In the late afternoon we visited the La Olmeda museum in town and learned more about the founding of the site and its role in the area.
L. Toro
On our way to Toro we stopped in at a church called San Jaun de Baños (St John the Baptist). It was built by the Visigoths in the 5th century. Unfortunately it was not open.
We had a relaxing evening in town, going for a stroll around town and seeing the Duero river, having a tapas dinner and playing a card game. This sculpture of a bull is supposedly why this town is called Toro; Toro means bull in Spanish. The sculpture is credited to the Celts, refered to as Celtiberians in Spain and Portugal.
Toro has an interesting history. Although it only became a D.O. in 1987, it has been around since the time of Christopher Columbus, who took a few bottles on his voyage. It is one of the few areas in the world that has pre-phylloxera vines, due to its sandy soil. Most of the vineyards in this area, and all the wineries we visited have 50- to 100-year-old vines. I still remember a winery in Canada saying they were going to pull up their 30 year old vines and replant the vineyard. The difference is no comparison, the concentration in these Toro wines is exceptional, it will stain your mouth.
Here’s the line-up:
Day 1
- Valbusenda
This is a big commercial winery. Our guide didn’t know English but communicated via Google translate, which was cumbersome but worked just fine. They had a unique “barrel” that had both American and French Oak staves.
- Bigardo
Is owned and run by Kiko Calvo, another big personality guy. He talks a good game, but he backs it up with excellent wine. In fact, my one souvenir bottle is from here. We tried 5 different reds starting at 50 year old vines and moving up to 100 years (I bought one of the 100yr old). We did a tasting in his shop in town. He wanted us to drive to his winery but we didn’t need to see another set of tanks and barrels.
- Velasco & Hijos
Their winery was right in town. They also have a small underground cave where we did the tasting. We tried 3 wines, the Candongo was the only tinto de toro (name of the red wine in the area) we tasted and it was excellent. They also have a wine store as you enter. This is the place to buy wine. I bought the Bigardo wine here because it was cheaper by a few euros. I came back at the end of our second day and bought it because I had tasted all of the Toro wines by then and liked the Bigardo the best.
Day 2
- Bodegas y Viñedos Sobreño
We had some confusion with Farina, so we went there to clear up the problem. I’m kind of glad we didn’t do a tasting here as it looked very commercial. So we called Sobreño and got in last minute. The guys doing the tour were a couple of workers who didn’t speak English. Seeing how the Valbusenda tour worked well with the babel fish (Google translate), Dave whipped out his phone and translated.
- Bodega Vocarraje Vino Abdón Segovia
More confusion here as well, but it worked out for the best. Apparently I contacted them and I thought I had a confirmation and they were expecting a payment to secure the reservation. The reason it worked out well is because we interrupted their labelling operation so the old man (the patriarch of the family) dropped everything and gave us a tour and tasting. The old man couldn’t speak English but he spoke slow and clear so Brenda and I caught over half of what he was saying and Dave used google translate again. Brenda really likes when she gets a chance to practice Spanish in real life, beyond hola and gracias. Brenda is also a vermouth lover and was the only one to figure out one of the samples the old man poured was vermut (the Spanish spelling for vermouth).
- Elias Mora
This winery and the next one were a little distance away from Toro near the town of San Roman de Hornija. We were told there are 60 wineries in the Toro D.O.. We tasted 4 wines ending with the 100 year old vine wine.
- Legando de Orniz
This was a great tour because the owner took us up a hill where his vineyard is. All his vines were bush trained, the norm in Toro. The soil was basically gravel with some big rocks thrown in. Across the road was a plot owned by Marques de Riscal, who uses trellised vines and irrigation for blending with their Rioja! Again we tasted wines with vines starting at only 40 to 50 years old going up to 100 years plus. My second souvenir bottle was a blend of 4 different vintages from the 100 year old vines.
Tasting Discussion
I am still confused about both Ribera del Duero and Toro wines. At home our favorite Ribera del Duero is Val Reinas which has both fruit and earthiness. However every wine we tasted from these areas had an intense sweet note. The closest comparison is the Petit Verdot we get in the Okanagan, it too has that perceived sweet black fruit component. I love that style, its just not what I was looking for. I suspect that the reason we were finding the “sweet” style is because everyone was pouring us their premium old vine wine and what we have been drinking in Calgary is their entry level wines. More research is required, and this kind of homework I can get into.
Back to Madrid via Segovia
Dave really wanted to see the aqueduct and since it was on our way we stopped. Brenda and I had seen it already but we just saw the main part in town. This time we walked the length of the aqueduct to where it starts. The start of the aqueduct is from an underground pipe.
- Madrid
Normally we would stay one night at the airport and head out the next day. Dave and Corrie did that. I screwed up again so we added a few days onto our trip. After a couple of missteps we found a great hotel. The NH Madrid Airport was very nice with a great breakfast buffet and only a 5 minute walk to a metro station. The great thing about a city like Madrid is there are so many options, so we would pick a museum and then hit some shopping. Here’s the 4 Madrid bonus touring days:
Day 1-Banksy Museum
The man is so creative and clever. We thought he only did graffiti murals on the side of buildings, we didn’t realize that he does paintings as well.
Day 2- Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum
This is modern art museum that sits between the classical Prado and the very modern Reina Sofia. It has quite a few impressionists and even pop art’s Roy Lichtenstein has a canvas.
We found a store with some children’s clothing and got an outfit for our grandson.
Day 3 – Museum of Archeology
What a find. These national archeology museums in countries where the Romans were active are a treasure trove of artifacts and information. The one in Edinburg was where we figured this out and Madrid’s did not disappoint. I won’t bore the non-Roman reader with all the pictures and details here; if you want to see them go to the Roman blog.
Afterwards we strolled down a nearby shopping street and found a Muji store. If you have never been you must. Its filled with the most clever Japanese designed items. For example they have the worlds best nail clippers for only 8euro.
Day 4 – Museum of Illusions
Well we were starting to run out of good museums; this was fun for an hour.
We decided to hit a few favourites and have a very good meal. First we went back to El Corte Ingles for their Sangria cocktail. I never had one the first visit and I have to say it was delicious. Sangria can be very sweet, this one wasn’t. Next we decided to go to the oldest restaurant in the world, Casa Botin, founded in 1725 and recognized by Guinness World Records. The décor is underwhelming, yes its old but it didn’t look ancient like I was expecting. Thankfully the food was great. I had sucking pig and Brenda had a veal cutlet. We also ordered a plate of green beans and a half bottle of Protus from Ribera del Duero. I love half bottles – I wish more restaurants offered this option. For dessert we went back to San Gines for churros and chocolate. Having had it a few other times on our trip, I can confirm San Gines is the best. Its their thick dark Chocolate that makes the difference.
