hola paella!!

yes, we are back from a great holiday and i am super duper fast in posting it. it's got to do with a 7 hour time difference which my body is still acclimatising to so might as well blog.

18 nights in 7 cities (6 spanish and 1 portugese), drove approx 3500 km and i think we have a pretty good idea of the iberian peninsula.

we chose spain because we reckoned its mediterranean winter would be more forgiving but hell, no! a cold wave swept over europe while we were there and some nights, the temp dipped to below 0. in ronda, we walked out for dinner and walked back in again after 10 mins and ordered in pizza :-)

these are my bite-sized memories of our spain trip:

1. spaniards don't eat dinner before 9 pm. that's an hour before my bedtime!

our first night in barcelona, we circled around a deserted but decent looking restaurant, at 8.30 wondering if it was closed. found wait staff busying inside and now wondered if it was sooo bad, nobody wanted to patronise it.

but we were hungry and cold so we walked in, tentatively. turned out  we were the first customers. and we were first customers for many dinners in different cities, haha... in fact, one restaurant oz called up to make a reservation for 8.30 told him: but we only open at 9.

2. they give you the breakfast menu when it's already 12.30pm. 

we early risers have our breakfast in the apt by 7am. by noon, we were ready to tackle a cow. so had to settle for sandwiches. again.

3. they really have the siesta after 2pm. 

we were shopping at 2 when xru heard the radio DJ chirping away, something like: siesta, siesta.

and the shutters were half down when we were paying at the cashier, big hint for us to disappear fast so that they could go have lunch and koon.

4. it's the land of paella.

it's short grained rice cooked in chicken stock and filled with either seafood and/or meat such as chicken, beef or rabbit (yes, those buck-toothed fluffy floppy-eared types).

tended to be a little salty (as is spanish food, we found) but satisfied our yearning for asian food even though the texture of the rice is slightly different.

on the last day, oz and i went hunting for packeted paella mix and found them in a big supermarket. we bought enough to feed 150 people but since the expiry date is in 2012, i guess i can find 150 mouths to feed.

that is, if his idea of a spanish food feast materialises. he thinks i should be able to make great sangria too ( see ronda below). we'll see.

5. we didn't stay in any city for more than 3 nights and oz tried to rent service apartments with washing machines. yes, but they don't come with dryers or sufficient hangers in some. so laundry is always hanging around, on the table, on back of chairs, over kitchen counters, on door knobs...

6. talking about door knobs, they do have interesting ones.

this is a door knocker, my fave.

7. spain=mountain-cured ham, known as jamon.

you'll see these unappetising-looking  slabs hung in every restaurant or bar. they look mouldy and hard and dried.

but remove the layer of fat and this is what you get:

sliced paper-thin, jamon is salty but yummy. eaten as it is or with cheese or on a baguette, it is the national food and snack. oz esp loves it when served with chilled spanish melon as an appetiser.

yes, he's hoping i can replicate that too.

so we carted back two kgs of sliced, vacuumed packed jamon iberico, supposedly the mother of all jamon. 

incidentally, it was mentioned in today's lifestyle that only 3 spanish producers of jamon are approved here in singapore. well, dunno if what we have is approved but since i have already eaten my next three years' quota of ham during these 18 days, i might as well just go the whole hog, pun fully intended.

8. the stories you hear about pickpockets and thefts are real and it happened on our first day in barcelona.  

we were having tapas at the counter, perched on high stools. i was carrying my handbag but xru and wei left theirs on the floor, in front of their bar stools. while waiting for my food, i happened to turn around and saw this well-dressed elderly woman, using her foot to 'fish' xru's bag! i gave a yell and unruffled, she shifted her foot a little and pretended to rub her ankle, as if she was in pain. her two male companions, one who looked like her husband and another, her son got into the act and seemed concerned. they moved to the bar behind us and sat down as if nothing happened. i glanced back at them a few times and noticed they didn't order anything, just talked. the next minute, they were gone.

real pros, these fellas. they debunked the myth of pickpockets being young and scruffy looking. after this, the girls left their bags behind in the apt, leaving their cash stuffed in pockets and xru hung her camera around her neck.

because the rented volkswagen hatchback had a small boot, we had to refrain from shopping in every city until the last leg cos that would mean having to leave our purchases in the back seat and invite thieves. the other thing is space being a premium in the bigger cities, parking is not always within the apt premises. 

9. and what a lot of shopping there was to be had.   spain is the birthplace of zara and mango and camper. other european brands are a lot cheaper here too. massimo dutti, H&M....

10. it's worth taking in a flamenco performance. the passion is palpable, the tension controlled, the discipline tightly reined in. yet when all three are unleashed, it's mesmerising, to say the least.

11. we had a friend with us those 18 days and she proved to be most helpful. never intrusive unlike her US counterpart, she spoke only when necessary. 

she is....

tomasina, our GPS lady.

we noticed TOMTOM in every cab we sat in and deduced it must be a european brand. it took a while for us to get used to tomasina's instructions as she's like: turn right when the turn should have been taken two seconds ago. so we learnt to read the graphics before listening to her turning instructions. apart from that, she was wonderful.

my camera alone took close to 500 shots. i went all cross-eyed picking out a tenth to post here. 

at Antoni Gaudi's Casa Mila or La Pedrera, an iconic building in barcelona.

the impressive stairwell.

the main avenues of barcelona are pedestrian-friendly and are punctuated with wide spaces.

the ironmongery here is beautiful as seen in this lamp-post.

buildings are quirky and interesting.

madrid, on the other hand, was more crowded and less orderly in the streets. the gardens, however, were huge, well-manicured and lovely.

oz, however, thinks that madrid is regal, seen in its many monuments and historical buildings.

the girls looked like they were having lessons outdoors at the paseo del prado. sunny winter's day. how nice!

wei's handiwork at the palacio real.

in front of palacio real, , an opulent 18th century palace.

lisbon, turned out to be really pretty and historical. love the tilework.

streets in lisbon are cobbled, windy and narrow, every manual car driver's nightmare. and every girl who owns stilettos should petition for these roads to be tarred. 

actually, the smaller streets in spain were cobbled too.

the first day, wei and i walked hand in hand thanking our lucky stars we got to walk on such roads.  so quaint, so european.

after her ankle injury started to act up on the second day, she thought differently. very differently.

traffic is a nightmare in lisbon. roads are narrow, drivers are impatient and there are too many cars. even the tram cars were caught in a jam.

their many cathedrals are inspiring and awesome. xru does look like she was ready to pitch her camera at her shutterbug sista, doesn't she?

in the same cathedral, we saw two monks. more of these interfaith visits and world peace can be achieved.

had to take this picture at the lisbon apt cos it turned out to be the most expensive stay at 263 euros per night! 

and we didn't even book it in the first place. oz had rented a one bedroom apt with a sofa bed in the living room. but when we pulled out the bed, it wasn't flat. the springs were wonky and the third half of the bed dipped downwards. so no choice but to get a bigger apt. turned out to be so big it could sleep at least four more adults.

the mom doing the motherly wrapping service in case cold gets into your chest and you get bronchitis moment.

it was a really cold day despite the sun.

it was so cold i refused to climb up the ruins.

higher up = colder, no?

xru insisted on visiting the oceanarium at lisbon. was like a kid in a candy store, all wide-eyed a with a silly grin plastered on permanently

roasted chestnuts in europe are different. the shell turned out white in the end (left) and the chestnuts were not powdery; instead they were hard and not nice to eat at all.

celebrated oz's birthday in an italian restaurant. in lisbon. big mistake.

the italian food had portugese influence so it tasted a little weird. 

daddy and his fave girls. all of them had a drop or two, that's why they looked a little dark :-)

had to walk back in the rain after dinner.

now in seville.

oz had booked this lovely apt which was notoriously difficult to locate.

tomasina got us lost cos she kept asking us to turn into one-way streets. after going around in circles, we shut her up and called the apt reception instead. 

this apt was in  a refurbished 16th century building so it had no car park. oz had to park like 100m away, in another hotel. 

but it was worth it. the location was ideal and the apt very well-equipped and pretty.

and we met nora!!! she has been working in seville for about a month now and her kind spanish employers allowed her half a day off to sight-see with us. 

it was good to be able to spend time and talk with her. 

dinner with nora's employers, paloma and juan manuel. despite their busy work day, they made time to meet us, yes, after 9pm at one of seville's most popular eating place.

it was a unique spanish experience where only finger food was served and there was only standing room. smoking was permitted and booze flowed freely. and rolls of toilet paper were everywhere for you to wipe your fingers! according to paloma, it's the only bar in seville with the toilet rolls. 

it's open kitchen and above, you can see the guy trying to slice the jamon. 

i was admiring his slicing skills and that was when juan manuel told me, in halting english, to buy pre-sliced jamon, or at least get the butcher to do it cos it's hard work. good advice.

we had a most enjoyable evening with these new friends and were very glad nora has met good employers.

inside seville's most famous landmark, Cathedral.

a doorway of the cathedral leads to Giralda, a 93m tower, built by the muslims in the 12th century.

no lifts, no stairs but ramps all the way up. 

the ramps were for the imam to go up on horseback to deliver the prayer calls to the city but we had to rely on our legs....

yes, that's all 34 levels up. supposed to look tired after all walking but couldn't help laughing at oz's expression.

don't you think he looked more stoned than tired???

the view from up the tower

the Alcazar's , another muslim palace with its well-manicured lawns.

with nora up at the alcazar.

christmassy feel in seville, a very pretty city.

as ronda is situated above a gorge, the view is simply breathtaking.

so breathtaking people are known to turn stir crazy :-)

the gorge is lit up at night.

but it was also at ronda that we experienced the coldest and the wettest.

we first checked into a very rustic looking apt which would have been perfect if the heating had worked. oh, ok, the washing machine too. 

so oz called management (which was not in the building) and was told in no uncertain terms that the technician would not be turning up cos it was raining.

it was freezing cold too so how would we cope?

he then offered to put us up in a hotel.

ok, except that oz had already parked the car like 1 km away. yes, one of those apt with no parking and oz had to find a public carpark.

so while he walked out in the rain, we had to pack up everything.

and in the rain, we piled everything into the car.

couldn't find parking outside the hotel (no basement carpark this one), had to park some 100 m away illegally to unload.

needless to say, a warm shower was the most welcoming thing that night.

and poor oz had to go find a carpark again and that night, his rheumatism acted up....

but it was also in ronda that we had the best sangria,

best lunch,

and best service from gerardo.

i gave him the thumbs up for the sangria and he very sweetly, wrote me his recipe. he called it gerardo sangria.

in spanish of course.

so he went through with me in his limited english and with my lagi limited spanish and plenty of gestulating, i think i got it.

just as we were about to leave, he asked us to come back for mojito.

my eyes lit up. mojito??? i like.

he promptly wrote it out for me too. 

i have visions of myself being the best sangria mixer this side of town.........

the famed white village at grazalema, 35 km from ronda.

it was well worth the torturous drive up the hills with its hairpin bends. 

no, wei and i didn't throw up. must be the seabands we had on.

stopped for some fresh air but turned out, it wasn't so fresh after all, with all that sheep....

i refused to step out into the cold. notice i was sitting on my hands.

really picturesque and quaint.
with narrow roads.

at granada's Alhambra, oz was fiddling with his audioguide.

didn't take many pictures of the Alhambra cos they won't do justice to this very magnificent building. proclaimed one of the unofficial wonders of the world, it is the epitome of islamic imagination and artistry.

after granada, we then went to valencia for one night. it was more to break the journey for oz cos the journey from granada to barcelona would have been a 8 hour drive. 

we stayed in the suburbs called alfafar, no kidding.

and guess what, it had a big mall......

and it was shopping and shopping from here to barcelona....

what a fitting end to a great holiday. went there with three pieces of luggage and returned with eight!

ok, this has been a superlong post. there may a part two if i am still suffering from jet-lag :-)