28 Tuesday Aug 2018
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Travelling in August, and especially arriving on a Monday, is not great for finding places open. At least half of the recommended pintxo bars on my list were closed for holidays. Perhaps because of this we found the food a bit uninteresting (and very mayonnaisey!).
We fared better at Casa Rufo (below), a restaurant that was recommended by my landlord. Cosy ambiance, great staff, delicious food and wine… AND we got to sit down. đ
27 Monday Aug 2018
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Wish you were here!
16 Thursday Aug 2018
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So it won’t be long before I head out on my second week of summer holidays. This time to places I have NEVER been to before. Bilbao and San SebastiĂĄn. Well, okay, back in May 1992 I did pass through San SebastiĂĄn on my way to Spain from Bristol, but we couldn’t find anywhere to spend the night where we could safely unload all the crap in our car (all my worldly belongings), so we moved on.
Fast forward 26 years and I will be visiting these two fabulous cities with friends and also with a lot of great local advice as to what to see and – of course! – where to eat. All those little black stars you can see mapped out are recommended places to eat. And yeah I know, won’t get to most of them, but I love having that comfort factor, knowing I don’t ever have to experience a bad meal somewhere.
The other stuff – monuments, museums, etc – are much easier to sort out. And it looks like I’m even going to be going up a fucking funicular in Bilbao (eek!). But I am really excited about this GETAWAY because they are places I don’t know and have always wanted to visit.
Meanwhile, don’t worry about the cats. A cat-loving friend is coming to spend the week at Casa Azahar and make sure everybody is sufficiently fed and cuddled. And my friend is also looking forward to a WEEK WITH CATS.
Does anybody else have any late-summer travel plans?
27 Wednesday Jun 2018
The main reason for the latest SanlĂșcar Getaway was to partake of a couple of the free bodega visits being offered during the DĂa de la Manzanilla celebrations. The first was the Visita Nocturna on Monday evening at Bodegas La Gitana, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as it wasn’t the actual Visita Nocturna (which includes tasting VOR and VORS wines). Instead it was just the regular morning tour but held in the evening. Oh well.
The second was a visit to Bodega ArgĂŒeso, which I had never been to before. Peter joined me in SanlĂșcar the next morning and when we arrived at the bodega I was very pleasantly surprised to see Nuria (whom I’d first met at Delgado Zuleta a few years ago) was now working at ArgĂŒeso. The tour was fun and interesting and included stopping by the tonelerĂa (cooperage) to see the skilled artisans constructing and repairing the sherry barrels.
You can see a complete list of all the sherry bodegas I have visited (20 so far) here…
26 Tuesday Jun 2018
I had sort of half-planned to go to SanlĂșcar de Barrameda for DĂa de la Manzanilla (which was actually four days, Saturday to Tuesday) but didn’t actually decide until about 10.30 Monday morning. Then it all came together, booking sherry tastings, a hotel and train tickets, and by 12.00 I was packed and on my way.
I pretty much got the last room available at Hotel Barrameda (other than a rather expensive one with its own jacuzzi) and with the price they quoted I wasn’t expecting much, especially when they said it was an interior room. So I was very pleasantly surprised when I opened the door to this loveliness. It was perfect. I’ve stayed here before and, really, don’t think I’d want to stay anywhere else in SanlĂșcar. The location is perfect, right on beautiful Plaza del Cabildo and easy walking distance to pretty much everywhere you’d want to go. I already want to go back. đ
casa azahar 