In our research we came across AnnieB’s Kitchen – a Scottish lady who had moved to Vejer to run Spanish cooking classes, sherry tastings and tours.  Sounded right up our street so we set up a sherry tasting class.  It was off season which meant we had AnnieB to ourselves for our class and what fun that turned out to be.  We had been advised to taxi in and out of town as driving was not a good idea after a sherry class!  AnnieB runs everything from her house in the centre of the old town – a 3-4 story building dating back to Moorish times. She has a swimming pool and a roof terrace that looks over Vejer and out to the North African coast. Annie has expanded her “home” over the years by buying rooms from adjoining properties, so she now has 7 rooms for people to stay for her

cooking school. Having consumed quite a bit of sherry over the years our sherry class was not a steep learning curve, but tasting ice cold Pedro Ximenez served with a wedge of orange and slices of the local almond nougat was a delicious new twist!

We had such fun and really liked Annie so we booked a cooking class for the following week.

The weather had turned pretty shitty with heavy rains and the start of the Levant. Temperatures were quite cool in the evenings so our wood pellet stove was a lovely flickering warming addition.  After dinner we would put our feet up and watch our Roku shows in front of the fire.  We were pretty much limited to NetFlix, but we did find a fascinating Spanish soap called Mar de Plastico with a Guardia Civil special investigator in the lead role.  Set in southern Spain around Tarifa and featuring the clash between the local and illegal African immigrants working farms of plastic covered vegetables – all in Spanish with English sub-titles.  We did actually pick up some colloquial Spanish that we then tested on Gary!

One of my diabetic drugs is temperature sensitive so not easy to travel with.  After my supply from England was getting low we went to the Farmacia in Vejer, which had an English speaking pharmacist. I showed him my subscription app from Roper St Francis. He said he was not familiar with the drug, but he would check it out. A few minutes later he said it was fine and he would have the subscription filled by 5.00pm.  Now that’s service!  All he asked was that Dr Cain send him a confirming email; which he did.  Super nice people and the cost cheaper than the UK.

Cooking class with AnnieB arrived and she picked us just before 10.00am and said we would have breakfast at Beca del la Frontera which was a tiny bus stop village that we passed through on the way to Barbate.  Looked like a real bus stop / truck stop place so we had never thought to try the restaurant, but Annie said it did one of the best breakfasts in the area.  So it was Tostada, ( where we learnt of the different types of bread your could order for your toast!) Tomate, Lomo Mentecca, and coffee to start our cooking adventure.  Then is was off to Barbate market which is a fish, meat, and vegetable market right in the centre of town.

We learned the local etiquette for queuing – you have to ask who was the last in line so you knew when it was your turn.  Also, no touching!  The vendor is the only one who can touch the produce so you rely totally on what he gives you.  No knocking or smelling the melons before you buy!  I suppose it is such a local market that the vendors can’t afford to mess with their customers as the word would soon spread.  We loaded up on prawns, fish, fish roe, and vegetables – all at great prices!

On our way back to the car Annie took us to her favourite bakery, which had an amazing array of cakes and pastries.  While she was buying bread for our lunch I discovered a section of “diabetico” pastries. It seems Andalusia has a high rate of diabetes and just about every bakery produces sugar-free delicacies.  I loaded up on a selection of their pastries, which turned out to be seriously good.  Just love Spain and her food!

Then it was back to AnnieB’s to prepare and cook lunch with Annie’s assistant Pepe.

Fried and marinated anchovies, garlic prawns, picadillo with fish roe, sea bream baked in salt, and an orange almond cake (an easier version of Ann’s awesome almond and orange cake made from our orange tree in Charleston) all served with sherry and a local chardonnay.

What a meal and what fun. We rolled out of cooking class with bags of food we hadn’t eaten and took another taxi home!

We added further supermarkets to our list with Mercadona in Conil and Carrefour in Chiclana.  Carrefour was the only place I could buy chilis and Mercadona had the best Nespresso capsules – you could get a Forte strength 12 – a real morning eye opener.  None of the coffee capsules were made by Nespresso and were a fraction of the price and just as good as the so called genuine article.

Gary said his ex now runs their restaurant, La Vista, in Medina Sidonia, another pueblo blanco about 15kms north of Santa Lucia, and did a great Valentines dinner – would we like to attend?

So Lolo drove us to our romantic dinner!  What a setting – on a clear day you can see just about see the whole of the Costa de Luz – and at night we could see the lights of Cadiz through to Tarifa.  A very pleasant dinner, with a heavy expat showing, where we met Gary’s ex, Kirsty.  Our bonding over food with Gary, a professional chef in his former life, developed into weekly trips to restaurants in the area that we would never have found on our own. This is where 15 years of local knowledge is so good, plus Gary’s Spanish fluency with menus and specials was a big assistance as most of the places did not have English menus or speak English. It also helped us attune to the local Spanish and its food. It was tremendous fun and it was a joy to travel with Gary. Plus Gary got to visit a few restaurants he had heard about but never had the chance to visit.  In the midst of our culinary tours we found out it was Lolo’s birthday and agreed with Gary to go shopping for suitable presents.  He had told us how Lolo had been laid off from his job of running boring machines for roads and railway tunnels for medical reasons and his pension was tiny.  Gary said clothes would be the best presents for him as he had a limited wardrobe and really didn’t have the money to buy nice clothes, so it was off to the Chiclana mall. Between us we got him a shirt, trousers, a belt and shoes – all at a very reasonable price. Of course when we finished shopping – Ann needed a new belt – it was lunch time and off to a new restaurant – Bodegas El Carretero.  It was a restaurant in a sherry warehouse in the port area of Chiclana – another great experience.  We agreed we would take Lolo out to our local restaurant – El Toro – just up the hill from our house on his birthday.

 

Lolo’s Birthday Lunch

Their speciality is ham, eggs, and potatoes, but the ham is Iberico Jamon, and the eggs fresh from their farm!  All washed down with sherry, wine and beer!  Lolo was stunned by his presents and burst into tears while giving us huge hugs.  A memorable lunch to say the least.

Then it was off to Sevilla and Cordoba.  After research and checking with Gary we booked the Hotel Amadeus la Musica, once again in the heart of the old quarter so we could park the car and walk everywhere.

And once again it was blocking the lane to unload our bags and getting instructions to the garage, which this time was in a municipal/private underground car park with 2 different security barriers; but we made it! As you will have gathered there was a distinct music theme to our hotel and the rooms were packed with musical instruments, but well run and comfortable, and great breakfasts (included) on the roof garden of the hotel.

Wandered the streets of the old town, and saw the cathedral, complete with horse ramp tower, the Alcazar with its stunning gardens, and  visited the Archaeological Museum in the exposition park built-in the 1930s, as well as the Jewish Museum and a synagogue that had been turned into a Catholic church.

The Alcazar, Savilla

 

 

Much to our dismay the town was crowded with visiting school/university groups, many of which were American, and worst of all Leicester Football Club yobs over for a league match against Sevilla.  As they were loud, intent on getting drunk, and all wore the same blue poly-something shirts we were able to avoid them most of the time.  Another eye opener was the dining scene!  We had located an Italian restaurant close to the hotel that had great reviews so rocked up at 8.30pm for an early Spanish dinner only to find the place rammed!  Full of bloody touroides who had rushed in as soon as the place opened – we got the last available table!  Our waiter was super and spoke very good English, and we asked him was it always like this?  Yes – tourists in early and then the locals come in at the normal 10.00pm dinner time. Super food and we had 3 courses – sharing each course – old people dining on the road!

Our next dining experience was a 1* Michelin restaurant about 15 mins walk from the hotel, for which we had an 8.30pm booking! We ambled through the streets of old Sevilla and out into the modern section of town, and realised we were going to be early so looked around for a drinking spot and and found one of those modern cafe/bars that are everywhere in Spain.  Fronted up to the small bar and ask for finos, which started a bottle hunt through the fridge, no fino, but there was manzanilla!  Started chatting with the lady serving us, who soon switched to English!  She was the owner of the bar and came from Chile with her husband and two children as they felt they could have a better life in Spain.  Charming, amusing, and a delight to talk to.

Rocked up at Abantal a tad late, but hey it was Spain.  Fabulous restaurant with chic ultra-modern decor and well spaced tables.  We had the 7 course tasting menu, but without all the different wines and sherries, and got our sommelier to recommend a wine that would go with the menu.  A Spanish Pinot Gris would you believe – an excellent wine that worked well.  Our 7 courses actually turned into 9 or 10 with the add-ons that kept coming out of the kitchen.  A stunning meal!

We left Sevilla in the pouring rain and headed for Santiponce about 6km north of Sevilla and the site of Italica.  Italica was the home town of Trajan & Hadrian and we had seen most of the striking finds from this site in the Archaeological Museum in Sevilla.  The amphitheatre seated 25,000 people and was the third largest amphitheatre in the Roman empire, but of the 3 guide books we checked only 1 briefly mentioned Italica.

Italica

A huge site that we briefly visited due to the pouring rain.  We were continually amazed by the amount and size of Roman ruins in Andalusia but they were never advertised or promoted and only appeared on the radar when you saw a small brown sign with a Roman name on it!

It had just about stopped raining by the time we arrived in Cordoba and found our hotel – Los Casas de le Juderia – just inside one of the gates to the old city.  No hassle parking this time as they had valet parking – yes!  Fabulous hotel with the rooms set around a series of courtyards with the reception and lounge in a converted stable block. Our room on the third floor had a huge balcony over looking the swimming pool and the old town.

Hotel Las Casas de la Juderia, Cordoba.

The room itself was really grand with 25′ vaulted ceiling and an extremely large bathroom, and not expensive!

The Mesquita, Cordoba

Visited La Mesquita Cathedral and the Alcazar of Cordoba, and the Mesquita is absolutely stunning – takes your breath away.  This huge mosque was started in 786 and expanded by later Muslims rulers until 1236, when Christianity returned and it was converted to a church, but the building totally overpowers the catholic parts and still remains to all intents a mosque, though inactive.  The Alcazar was interesting but did not come close to the Mesquita.

Cordoba Synagogue.

The old city has one of the 3 remaining original synagogues of Spain – the other 2 are in Toledo – small but well preserved.  It is also the home town of El Cordobes, the 1960s bull fighter who was known as the Beatle of the Bull Ring, and was making a name for himself when I saw him fight at Mijas in 1965!  We really liked Cordoba and our visit was far too brief – it really is a lovely little town.

Headed back to Santa Lucia with a stop of at Carrefour so we could hunker down for the weekend as it was a 3 day Andalusian holiday, which basically meant everything would be closed.

Following the long weekend we went out with Gary to a restaurant just down the coast from us – Mar y Monte – which is renowned for its aged Retinto steaks.  As you walk in the restaurant there is a chiller on your left that houses sides of the said Retinto beef. Gary had booked us a table so we could see the butcher preparing the beef and it was poetry in motion with this chap.  Behind and to his left there was huge wood burning grill that would handle the steaks – yes!  We started with grilled vegetables which included wild asparagus and mushrooms – all smothered with Parmesan.  Ann copped out and had a huge tuna steak while Gary and I went with off the bone rib-eyes.  We watched as the butcher deboned our steaks, which were about 11/2 inches thick, and held up for our approval before being thrown on the grill.  Totally amazing – one of the best I’ve eaten.  Gary found a local red we had never heard of let alone tasted, so another amazing meal with our chef on wheels Gary Biston!

The weather continued being a mixture of beautiful days followed by heavy rain – a little chilly but not cold – and considering it was just the beginning of March certainly a lot better than England!