For visitors and locals alike, Spain drips with history, culture and food. Roman and Moorish ruins stand in the midst of narrow city alleyways and in rural villages across the country. No matter how, where and when you approach this country, there is something for you, whether you want to laze on the beach, drink sangria and eat fresh seafood or if you want devote time to amazing museums with more Miro, Picasso, Goya and Dali (just to name a few masters) than you can imagine.
I’ve been to Spain before, but I’m here for the next several weeks, spending a good deal of the time in Granada. But before arriving at our temporary home away from home, my wife and I landed in Barcelona for a quick couple days of indulgence before heading down the eastern coastline, from Valencia to Granada, via Alicante.
Once we stowed our bags at the hotel, straight off the overnight flight from New York, a walk was in order, and we knew exactly where we were headed: Mercat be la Boqueria. This enormous and wonderfully overwhelming covered market contains aisles and aisles of vendors hawking the freshest and best of Spanish foodstuffs. Fresh figs from the south, salty, rich jamon from the high plateau, a dizzying variety of cheese, seafood, bread and so much more will get you hungry, even if you just ate. But when you’ve been on a flight overnight and your body thinks it’s the wee hours of the morning, tapas is the answer, and this market has countless bars to cozy up against for food and drink (beer for me). We went for some semblance of breakfast with a potato omelette, but then mixed it up with some grilled squid and the most amazing mix of wild mushrooms, spiked with garlic, asparagus, scallions and sea salt, dressed with olive oil, of course. Fortified, we spent the rest of the day checking out some of the major sites. The next day, after I went to a meeting, we did much of the same, walking, eating and drinking off our jetlag. On a local’s recommendation we ate dinner at Taller de Tapas, a restaurant with a few locations in the city. The place was packed and well worth the wait. The next morning we were on a train to Valencia.
Neither of us had been here, and we went because my friend, the photographer Luz A. Martin, is a local. Nothing better than letting a local show you around! Walking around the cathedral, we were filled in on the city’s history and how it related to different stages of building. As the bells chimed and night approached, Luz explained how the city had been walled and the rings were timed to alert travelers that soon the only open entrance to the city would demand a fee. We ate at Luz’a favorite tapas place, which she made me promise I would not reveal. Opened in the very early twentieth century, the rustic feel matched the food perfectly. Leaning up against the bar, throwing napkins, olive pits and shells on the floor, we ate and drank and ate and drank. The highlight was a special type of seasonal mussel much fleshier and less briny than a typical mussel. We had them steamed in a spicy tomato-based broth and in a croquette. After some more wandering of the city, which was besieged with more tourists than usual because of La Tomatina (a festival in nearby Buñol during which participants more or less swim in overripe tomatoes), we parted ways with Luz, well past 3am. We were tired, but Luz and her friends were just getting started.
We were psyched to spend two days on the beach in Alicante. It’s a short train ride from Valencia and we were on the beach by the late afternoon. Summer vacation is in full swing over here so the beaches are crowded, but pleasant enough, especially if you swim out past the folks standing around close to shore. We did check out Castillo de Santa Barbara, a sixteenth-century castle perched above the city, which offers amazing views. After a late-night tapas tasting menu at La Taberna Del Gourmet it was an early morning bus to Granada . . .
