Lunch

Driving in Spain is an absolute pleasure. The roads are very under utilised. We have usually plotted routes on Google Maps using the ‘avoid motorway’ option yet the roads offered are frequently straight and bypass villages so there isn’t an obligatory ‘slow down’ needed as there so often is in France.

It’s just not possible to over emphasise the spectacular nature of the landscapes. There is nowhere with which to compare this country. So much of it is unable to be farmed and it is left in the raw, rocky, dramatic state. The gorges, outcrops, mountains, lakes and reservoirs are too numerous to mention. If one were to highlight on a map these regions it would be covered in coded colours.

We dropped into yet another small town for morning coffee and unusually I went to the bar rather than staying seated outside. The tapas looked attractive and thought “why not?”, so I ordered one anchovy and one jamon.  The barman placed two of each on the plates, even though I reminded him in my best Spanish hand flapping that I only wanted one. He seemed to suggest that they were on the house.

So there we were, truly embracing the life. Coffee and tapas in the late morning sun, in a lovely village square.

A doorway suggested Menu del Dia would be served for €11 which was tempting and it’s been a while since the last one (€8.50) but what to do, as it wasn’t 2pm? These places DO NOT start service before then. We peeped inside and it was empty but all the tables were set with white tablecloths.

We wandered around and caught the end of the village market. The stalls always seem to be the same with focus on clothes, fruit and veg and sometimes pulses, nuts and sweets. We bought fruit and veg to replace supplies and also had managed to refill our water from one of the village hydrant-style water taps.

Then we kept an eagle eye on the time and the restaurant entrance. An ambulance pulled-up and a young woman and older guy got out (from the front not the back) and walked slowly across the square. Surely not, they wouldn’t go for a restaurant meal would they?

They walked up and went inside. This was it! We went too and were shown to a table and as we tucked into our three modest courses, the place filled up with mainly workers in various states of work clothes who all picked from the menu.

It was another example of different culture. Who spends €11 on their weekday dinner or takes an hour for it? Builders and construction workers that I know often don’t stop. Life is different and that’s what makes it interesting to travel.

In the window of a shop there was a decorated tile with a nice picture and the words in Spanish said,

Not a day goes by when we are not in paradise for a moment.

That made me think.