Finally, the Food

Sirsa took us on a food adventure in the La Latina neighborhood yesterday. (La Latina is only a 5 minute walk from where we’re staying. ) It was so good. We started with fresh baked churros. They were hot and served with melted chocolate.

Next came the tapas at Restaurante Casa Amadeo Los Caracoles, serving tapas since 1942. Our group (a couple from Texas and their 2 year old, a woman from Florida, the guide’s mother and us) had a private room where we shared olives, patatas bravas, bits of pork, and snails. We surprised ourselves by really liking the snails.

The final stop was Mercado de la Cebada, an incredible place for all sorts of meat, fish, produce, and lots more. Since the 16th century, the site has been a market, originally of open air stalls where barley, produce and other items were sold / traded. In the 19th century, the site became home to a large building which housed the stalls. In the 20th century, it was renovated.

We had a charcuterie board of meats and cheeses, a tortilla (more like a frittata than what you might expect), and a wonderful tomato salad. We finished with ice cream and sherbet. The food and company were great!

We rested for the rest of the day. Even Gail took a nap, a common afternoon past time for me, a rarity for her. One of the factors contributing to our jet lag is a 9:30 PM (21:30) sunset. OK, wait, you may be wondering, I certainly did, how can Spain, which is further south than Portland, have a sunset that’s almost an hour later? So I looked it up. Turns out that during the Spanish Civil War, Franco changed Spain’s time zone to match Germany’s. So Spain is in the wrong time zone.