croquetas and confusion

Saturday, April 30, 2011

help me, ronda

Apparently there's a song called Help Me, Rhonda and as I'm fresh out of wit that is what this post shall be called. A while ago (apologies for the time delay) I spent the day in a town called Ronda with my friend Erica and her parents. I was supposed to go when Tim Tom and Jood were here but a particularly pleasant bout of food poisoning stopped us. I happily tagged along a week later on another family outing and it was well worth it because Ronda is stunning. Many people list it as one of their favorite locations in Andalucia and it's easy to see why. A quaint, white-washed town, there is a massive gorge in the middle of the center with incredible views of the countryside. Ronda is also very famous for bullfighting, many of the most famous bullfighters in Spain have trained at the Ronda bullring. We wandered around the town, took lots of pictures and took a great tour of the bullring. You even got to wander through the ring from where the bull starts its day to where it ends it...and when I say "it" I mean it's life. The bull doesn't win, I learned that the hard way.

View in Ronda

Ronda

Toro

The Ronda bridge

Ronda

Pretty little streets

White-washed houses

Church in Ronda

Ronda

Zig-zag down the mountain

Bridge

Panorama, so high tech

Bullring

Where the bulls come out

Vamos!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

the parent trap

Maybe you can guess by the title of this post, but if not then I'll just tell you: my parents (better known as Tim Tom and Jood) came to Spain for 10 days in the middle of the month. We had a really lovely visit starting in Madrid before heading south to visit Toledo, Granada and Malaga. They also went to Cordoba but I had to work, so I wasn't able to see the famous mezquita with them. It's okay though, I saw it a few years ago.

I hadn't been to Madrid since 2007 but was very pleasantly surprised to find that I liked the city just as much this time as I did a few years ago. It was nice to get out of Malaga for a few days and experience a more cultural side of Spain. Madrid is the capital of Spain as well as home to the Prado Museum, the Reina Sophia Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Retiro Park and countless delicious restaurants including Sobrino de Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world. We spent a nice weekend taking in some culture, exploring the city, and having some really nice meals before driving (yes, driving, in Spain, sans GPS) down to Malaga.

Jood and a Picasso

Tim Tom and Jood at the Reina Sophia

Moo

Calder mobile at the Reina Sophia

Good thing we don't look alike

Thompsons on the move

Retiro

Parque Retiro

Lake (Pond?) in Retiro

Parents in Retiro

Me and momma at the park

Statue in Retiro

Parque Retiro

Tim Tom and a statue

Statue in Retiro

Hotel

Sobrino de Botín, or Restaurante Botín, is the oldest restaurant in the world. Founded in 1725 the restaurant is famous for its cochinillo (suckling pig) as well as extensive wine cellar. We sat downstairs in the old wine cellar that was built in the 1500s. Botín has been visited by many famous actors, politicians, writers, etc. and is mentioned in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. It lives up to the hype, the food was delicious and I feel very cool after having dinner at the oldest restaurant in the world (according to the Guinness Book of World Records, as the menu will tell you).

TT at Botin

Me and Jood at Botin

Sunday, March 20, 2011

istanbul: part 3

More often than not, my favorite part of any trip is the food. I love to try new foods, I eat a lot (maybe I ate 11.5 tacos for dinner as a 10 year old...) and I'll eat anything in the world except scallops. I don't like them, I've tried, sorry. Since food is so unique to each culture I like to taste the traditional foods and understand what they mean to each community.

I didn't know what to expect before we went to Turkey. Since it's a middle-eastern country Islamic country I grouped it with other Mediterranean cuisines and guessed there would be lots of hummus, olives, grape leaves and pita. On the one hand I was right, but Turkey is also known for kebabs, köfte (grilled meatballs), and baklava, which quickly became one of my favorite desserts. The diet is a lot simpler than in Spain, consisting mainly of bread, meat and potatoes with many Greek influences. Or maybe the Turkish influenced the Greeks, I'm not sure, but their food is similar. Turkey is also known for its tea and coffee, which are served strong in short glasses. The tea was lovely, but the coffee has a grainy texture that takes a bit of getting used to. However, Istanbul (unlike Malaga) has Starbucks, so we made a few stops there for a taste of home.

I give you a week of eating in Istanbul...