I am in love…….

with Madrid, Spain. Actually, Spain in general. I was here two years ago and traveled alone throughout the country and walked the Camino.  Coincidently it was the same time of year, March, which is a bit cool and rainy.  A wonderful friend who I have known for 40 plus years invited me to celebrate her 65^th birthday with a tour group to Spain.  I initially refused stating that I like traveling alone and dislike “those tour things”.  Then I asked myself “Why do you keep saying you don’t like guided tours?”  I have never been on one! Maybe I will like it. So, I signed up and handed over more money than I really wanted to.

I find myself on a bus with 40 other “tourist” all from the USA.  The travel guide is from Spain and is wonderful at telling us about the history of each place we visit. Spain has a fascinating history.  

Some of the benefits of touring with a group is that the hotels are top notch. No young boys in my room throwing wet towels on the floor or coming in drunk late at night. The bathroom is a few feet from the bed as opposed to down the hall as I am accustomed to when I stay in hostels.

Breakfast is included with the tour as are some of the dinners so I don’t have to think about where I am going to eat. In fact, you don’t have to think too much about anything on a tour.  Everything is planned out and organized for you. You just show up.

March is the end of olive tree harvest and there are thousands of acres of olive trees throughout the country. Spain produces more than 50 % of the worlds olive oil and boast to having the best EVOO in the world. More than 200 kinds of olives. They use a lot of EVOO in all the dishes.  A typical breakfast is a slice of crusty bread, drenched with EVOO( Extra virgin olive oil) and topped with fresh crushed tomatoes.

 Many of the olives are exported to places like Italy who process and bottle it and call it their own, but it all comes from Spain. It takes 11 pounds of olives to produce 1 quart of oil. Eleven  pounds of olives is about 2,000 olives.  The next time I open a bottle of EVOO I will imagine 2,000 olives being processed to make it.

Spain is also noted for their pork.  Specifically, Iberico ham.  Made from black pigs, not pink, who eat acorns. Evidently the acorn diet gives them a special delicious flavor. Becasue of the acorn diet the ham is very expensive.  I fancy the image of a pig delicately eating acorns as opposed to “slop” they are given in other countries. Pigs played an important role in the conversion of Christianity in Spain.

Initially Spain had a large community of Muslins and Jewish people who migrated from the east. But the Spanish Inquisition in the mid- 1400’s changed all of that and Spain found itself defender and protectors of the Catholic faith. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand converted and wanted only Catholics in the country.  One of the stories is that they introduced pork everywhere along with thousands of Catholic church’s and practices to indoctronate the people.  If a person refused pork or left the pork on the table then everyone knew they had not converted to the Queens faith -catholism. I am told it was very amenable exit, no one was beheaded for not converting to Catholicism, they just slowly saw the writing on the wall or I should say the pork on the table and left.  

Man of La Mancha

Amazing sidewalks made of small pebbles

Orange trees line the streets

Iberico ham- almost 200.00 US dollars for a leg

A typical dish- eggplant on a bed of EVOO and drizzled with honey

SERENDIPITY IS THE BEST TOUR GUIDE!!