a week in the north in late july

[reesek]

hello spain and portugal

i need some help. i am spending a week in spain in late july. i studied in sevilla for a year in college, and traveled the south with friends. i've also been to salamanca, madrid and barcelona, but have yet to explore the north. i know that having only a week is a handicap as the regions are fairly large and seem to be not that directly accessible to one another - at least by train.

i'm wondering if anyone can give some advice on where we should spend the bulk of our time - we'd thought we might take advantage of a rail/car pass offered through the spanish rail system and try to see 2 or 3 main spots. asturias seemed dramatic in the few photos i've seen and we've always wanted to go to santiago...san sebastian too...but i'm sensing that unless we spend all our time traveling - we should pare down the sites.

food and wine are critically important to me - less so to my friend. i've been a vegetarian for years, but i will certainly eat salchichon and jamon serrano - i've always said that spaniards consider ham to be a fruit - and we want to immerse ourselves. are there regional specialties that are not to be missed? festivals at that time of year we should not miss/should avoid?

we both speak castellano (she's a spanish teacher, so she's better than i am) but i'm confident i'll pick it back up. do northerners speak castellano in addition to regional languages like they do in barcelona? what can we expect from locals? in sevilla everyone was very nice - in barcelona i thought they were a little cooler. are there pensiones all over the north?

we both love seafood and the ocean - can we drive or take a train or bus along the coast anywhere?

lots of questions - i know...any advice you can offer would be most appreciated.

[vserna]

Hello, reesek. A few thoughts. I don't know how old your experience of Spain is, but if it's more than 10-15 years what you'll find is like a different country. The monuments and landscapes are still there, thank goodness.

Among the positive new developments is the boom in casas rurales, basically the Spanish version of B&Bs, often with quite a lot of charm, and of hoteles con encanto (that's self-explanatory). There are now literally thousands of those throughout the country. Here's a good Internet guide with lots of choices. It's designed so that you can even look for lodging in a Catholic monastery.

Second idea: choose either Galicia or the Asturias-Cantabria-Basque Country axis. Doing it all in one week would be impossible. Within either of those two destinations there are now good motorways that will expedite travel. Renting a car is much advised. Trains in Spain are usually slow.

Third idea: consult the Michelin or Campsa guides (both available online, both in English) to get a pretty good idea about good restaurants in those two regions.

[Rogelio]

Just one more thing, 2004 is a Xacobeo year, this means that Galicia and the Camino de Santiago is going to be plenty of pilgrims and tourists. This is good if you want to meet foreign people or want to go to festivals, but it's going to be hard to find albergues or B&Bs in that area.

I would sugest going to Asturias and Cantabria rather than Galicia this year.

Edited May 27, 2004 by Rogelio (log)

[Bux]

Among the positive new developments is the boom in casas rurales, basically the Spanish version of B&Bs, often with quite a lot of charm, and of hoteles con encanto (that's self-explanatory). There are now literally thousands of those throughout the country. Here's a good Internet guide with lots of choices.

I took a brief look at that site, and although it's merely a first impression, it appears to be a marvelous site.

[reesek]

what a wonderful start. thanks so much to all for your advice. i will check out that site directly.

assuming we go the catambria-asturias route are there any must-stop-and-eat sites?

the photos i've seen of that region are amazing - and we're not so much into festivals. when we lived in sevilla, we actually left town for semana santa and went camping with our decidedly un-catholic friends from cadiz. i'm sure my parents would have been thrilled if they'd ever had any clue.

edited to say that i've looked at top rural and vserna - you are my hero. this is exactly what we want. i can just see us now, walking on the beach with litronas.

(i never said we were classy)

Edited May 27, 2004 by reesek (log)

[butterfly]

The photos truly don't do Asturias justice. It's one of the most beautiful places on earth. I prefer it over Cantabria, because it is less developed. For this region, I recommend micro-travel. That is, find a nice house to rent and use as your home base and then travel all around the area on day trips. Or just go for walks in the countryside. We found a nice place on Top Rural. Arena de Cabrales would be a good spot in the mountains. Ribadesella, if you want to be closer to the ocean. And Cangas de Onis if you want to be in between the two.

One thing: I strongly recommend renting a car. You could take the train to Oviedo and rent one there or you could drive from Madrid (it's about 5 hours, as I remember). It is just too cumbersome to try to go by bus and train as this is a very, very rural area.

There was a posting on Asturias on this board several months ago that will be helpful for food recommendations. Try to branch out into the various sea creatures (fruit of the sea!) like navajas (razor clams), percebes (goose barnacles), berberechos (cockles), etc. The cheese and milk is also wonderful.

[reesek]

many thanks for indulging my early and scattered planning. largely due to all your advice, we are skipping galicia and centering our trip on cantabria and asturias.

our plan is as follows - madrid - burgos - cantabria (one night near santanilla/santander) then a couple of days wending our way along the coast to Luarca and asturian environs for a couple of days. then back towards madrid through Leon - or maybe through valladolid(?)

i'm hoping someone can help advise me w/r/t driving times... and advice on burgos & valladolid. we're spending one afternoon and evening in each place - unless it's less than halfway to the coast and/or there's a pretty little spot along those routes. we'd just love to find a tiny village with not much to do, but gorgeous views. donkeys a plus.

as always - many thanks!

[pedro]

Madrid - Burgos is a 2.5-3 hours drive at the most. I'd recommend to stop at Landa for lunch, which is on the road to Madrid some 3-5 kms. far from Burgos. Nice setting in a castle with traditional castillian food. Another option is to have lunch at Mesón de la Villa in Aranda de Duero. Good roasted lamb, and very good escabeches. I'd say the latter is slightly cheaper (perhaps around 30€ each).

Burgos to Santander is another 3 hours or so drive.

In Valladolid, I've heard very good comments about Mil Vinos. One of the partners owns a wine trade company, Pecados Originales. The wine list is outstanding, AFAIK. I believe Rogelio has eaten there, so perhaps he could expand on this.

PS: Avoid the litronas, please .

[reesek]

Madrid - Burgos is a 2.5-3 hours drive at the most. I'd recommend to stop at Landa for lunch, which is on the road to Madrid some 3-5 kms. far from Burgos. Nice setting in a castle with traditional castillian food. Another option is to have lunch at Mesón de la Villa in Aranda de Duero. Good roasted lamb, and very good escabeches. I'd say the latter is slightly cheaper (perhaps around 30€ each).

Burgos to Santander is another 3 hours or so drive.

In Valladolid, I've heard very good comments about Mil Vinos. One of the partners owns a wine trade company, Pecados Originales. The wine list is outstanding, AFAIK. I believe Rogelio has eaten there, so perhaps he could expand on this.

PS: Avoid the litronas, please  .

tampoco de sidra?

maybe i'll just keep those stories to myself...especially if i want to keep the spain forum on my good side. the info above - totally invaluable thank you so much!

edited: above/below

Edited June 29, 2004 by reesek (log)

[Rogelio]

Hi Reesek, As Pedro says it takes 2,5-3 hours to get Burgos, and Landa is a nice option for lunch, and you can even have a fast lunch at the bar instead of seating down eating a lamb a continue traveling with a full stomach. Then you have just 2 hours left to Santander, if you go by Reinosa the trip is faster, but if you have got plenty of time I'd suggest the old road by Puerto del Escudo, the road is worst but the views are amazing.

while in Cantabria, between Santander and Santillana there is a lovely wild beach called Liencres worth the visit and you can have a meal near there at Casa Setién in Puente Arce (now that El Molino, the first great cantabrian restaurant is sadly closed).

On the other hand, if you are comming back through Valladolid, Milvinos is a must, is the brand new restaurant owned by two winemakers and a wine trader (So is very wine oriented restaurant) and the chef comes from Madrid's Sanceloni and Can fabes, so very Santamaría oriented food.

Then if you come back to Madrid by the old road (Instead of the motorway) there are beatiful old villages like Olmedo worth a stop. And i'd bet that you can find donkeys there.

[reesek]

rogelio,

your post is going straight into my travelogue. many, many thanks. any suggestions on the asturian coast? we're sort of flying blind but plan to end up around naves or luarca before heading back to madrid. we're also planning to take coastal roads from cantabria through asturias whenever possible.

again - thanks a million

edited for clarity

Edited June 29, 2004 by reesek (log)

[Gerry Dawes]

Although, I have stayed there with groups I have taken to Spain, visited bullfighters there, stopped for a drink or a coffee there and even eaten there on a few occasions, I would certainly not stop at the Landa Palace for my one meal of the way up through Burgos. Burgos itself is a wonderful town, if not necessarily the grand bastion of Castilian gastronomy it claims to be. Aranda de Duero, for a first-time traveler, is marvelous, with about a dozen asadores serving quarters of roast suckling lamb, chorizos, simple salads and Ribera del Duero wines. It is a legendary place for tipico restaurants. El Pastor is a classic. If you want more variety, try Casa Florencio and, yes, there is the highly regarded Meson de la Villa. In the monumental (a real bastard built it) town of Lerma there is also a very good asador up by the new parador.

Edited July 2, 2004 by Gerry Dawes (log)

[Rogelio]

any suggestions on the asturian coast? we're sort of flying blind but plan to end up around naves or luarca before heading back to madrid. we're also planning to take coastal roads from cantabria through asturias whenever possible.

Tips on the Asturian coast could be the little village of Celorio, The seafood of bar El Rompeolas in the village of Tazones, The road restaurant Casa Consuelo in Otur (close to Luarca) also with a nice beach...

[vserna]

The best restaurant in Burgos, by quite a distance, is El Angel, near the cathedral. Fine Castilian roasts or tasty onion-studded Burgos blood sausage, if you prefer them, but also a number of more varied and creative things. Endless repetition is a very stifling exercise in the restaurant world... Some of these 'other' things: ensalada de perrechicos con mollejas (salad of St.George's mushrooms and lamb sweetbrads), 'pain d'épices' con jamón ibérico y coulis de tomate ('pain d'épices' with Ibérico ham and a tomato 'coulis'), rape con setas al azafrán (monkfish with wild mushrooms in a saffron sauce), pierna de lechazo al pedro ximénez (lamb's leg stewed with sweet pedro ximénez sherry), cochinillo relleno de foie y manzanas reinetas (suckling pig, stuffed with goose liver and reinette apples).

Edited July 2, 2004 by vserna (log)

[Eric_Malson]

I just returned from 3 weeks in Spain, one of which was spent in Asturias, so a lot is quite fresh in my mind!

My definition of "must-stop-and-eat sites" seems to be a bit different from a lot of people on this board, but these are some of the highlights of the Asturias I love.

If you are driving from Cantabria to Asturias, I would definitely recommend heading inland a bit at Unquera, toward Panes, then take the road to Arenas de Cabrales (you won't miss too much in the way of beautiful coastline--there's plenty of spectacular coast a bit to the west). That way you'll be able to see the beautiful foothills of the Picos de Europa from a road that follows the Rio Cares much of the way, and it will lead you past Casa Julián in Niserias. A rural hotel with an excellent restaurant, it's difficult to go wrong here (if in doubt, ask Julián), but don't miss the patatas rellenas de carne. The hotel is comfortable, if you might be spending the night--personally, I'd rather stay here than Santillana or Santander any day--and if you get a room facing the hills, you'll have the river Cares gurgling past just a few paces from your window. That's one of my versions of paradise.

Llanes is kind of fun....give it at least a cursory once-over. But definitely don't miss Lastres, a spectacularly beautiful town built practically vertically up from the seashore. I spent a couple of nights in Hotel Eutimio, a very reasonable and comfortable hotel in an 18th-century casona. The hotel's restaurant is good, if a bit pricey (I really do eat in places other than hotel restaurants....).... better food can be had a short drive away, either in Ribadesella or Villaviciosa. Ribadesella has a lot of good seafood restaurants--I had some excellent centollo, almejas a la marinera and gambas al ajillo at Casa Basilio. The owner's an asshole, but his food is good. Villaviciosa is a town known for its food, and I'd say justly so, according to my samplings. I had three meals in two days at Casa Milagros, and almost everything I tried was superb, especially the conejo de aldea (rabbit) and fabes con almejas--sort of a fabada-lite, with clams instead of the various pork products. Good sidra, and the jamón ibérico is sliced with an expert hand here. Extremely reasonably priced, especially considering the high quality.

In a way my favorite meal in Villaviciosa, though, was at the Sidrería-Parilla "El Benditu". It began with guisantes con jamón, a mountain of peas with cured ham and some chopped hard-boiled egg in a light tomato sauce, followed by a big plate of costillas de cerdo and a sliced chorizo criollo that had been grilled on the wood fire out back. Washed down with a sturdy red wine, and capped by a cafe cortado and a chupito de orujo.....another version of paradise. And about the best 6-euro lunch I can imagine.

In La Providencia, just east of the center of Gijón, is an extremely picturesque restaurant with spectacular views and quite decent food called Los Hórreos. Perhaps a bit too expensive for its own good, still it provides a memorable experience--at least, I remember my meal there to this day and it's been almost 20 years.

Much has been written about Casa Gerardo in Prendes, just west of Gijón, elsewhere on this board. I can assure you it's worth the effort to snag a meal here.

I don't know western Asturias nearly as well as I do the eastern part, but Cudillero is a cute coastal town with several good seafood joints.

Friends of mine who play in the orchestra in Valladolid took me to Simancas, a town about 10 km from Valladolid. It's a favorite place of theirs to go, and I must say it's a pleasant, lovely town. Not sure you'll get your donkeys here, but well worth checking out.

Edited July 3, 2004 by Eric_Malson (log)

[pedro]

Eric, thanks for your thoughtful post. I'm not an expert in Asturian restaurants, since I've only been there for a couple of days. Nevertheless, I'd say that your focuses on one of the strongest assets that Asturias has: an endless base of family joints serving excellent traditional food based on local ingredients of pristine quality. That's the news that I always get from people who go there.

To me, it's not a surprise that within this context a handful of creative chefs have appeared taking the Michelin Guide by the storm this year. Well, at least by Red Guide Spanish parameters of miserliness granting stars that have been discussed here to some extent.

But it would be a mistake to go to Asturias to eat only in the starred places, neglecting one of the greatest cooking traditions of Spain.

[vserna]

In a place like Gerardo (as at El Angel in Burgos) you can get the best of both worlds, Pedro - terrific fabada and some modern fancy-dan work with fish... But my friend Ignacio Villalgordo is incensed at the coldness and lack of charm of the new Gerardo annex - "and they charge the same prices!" he fumes. So if you get the chance - make sure you book a table in the old, rustic, charming building.

[Eric_Malson]

Eric, thanks for your thoughtful post. I'm not an expert in Asturian restaurants, since I've only been there for a couple of days. Nevertheless, I'd say that your focuses on one of the strongest assets that Asturias has: an endless base of family joints serving excellent traditional food based on local ingredients of pristine quality. That's the news that I always get from people who go there.

That's exactly the news I came away with from my very first trip to Spain almost 20 years ago, except then it was much more true for all the areas of the country I visited, not just Asturias. Sadly, while Asturias is holding up pretty well in that department, other parts of the country seem to letting such traditions slide away (the demise of the formerly-mind-blowingly-wonderful La Charola in Villafranca del Bierzo is a perfect case in point).

For me, "excellent traditional food based on local ingredients of pristine quality" is the strongest asset ANY place can have when it comes to food. (I confess to having virtually zero interest in what a place like El Bulli does.) By far the best two meals I had in my recent week in Barcelona were a) in the same restaurant, b) not even in Barcelona, but in Badalona, and c) could by described just that way. When I described my meals there to a friend who lived there, she said it sounded like "grandmother-style food"--a very good description. I love that....just call me "grandma"!

[Bux]

eGullet.com should be large enough to accommodate the interests of those who love the latest innovative cuisine and those who love the traditional food. It was the reputation of Arzak and Adrià that brought me back to Spain, and once back, I developed an interest in the regional and traditional foods as well as in the great chefs whose names are less well known in the states. Good food is a passionate interest of mine, but so is creative thinking. When they're put together, I find it rewarding to taste the results. "Grandmother's cooking" is a style of cooking appreciated by any true gastronome. Ask any great French chef.

[Boris_A]

Nowadays, it's much more difficult to find places for excellent good traditional food. I know of a German food writer (who wrote a very good culinary guide about the "Schwarzwald") who said it's zero of a problem to find and visit the foie-gras-truffle-league there. But to find places capable of executing a typical, but outstanding "grandma" potato salad, that's a lot more diffcult and requires somtimes hard investigative work.

If you's ask me about the 5-8 "best" restaurants in Vienna for instance, I could tell you all of them. I visited only a few, but they are virtually to be found in every Vienna guide anyway. But to spot an original, atmospheric Heurigen, a traditional outstanding restaurant or a typical "Wiener Beisl", here I have to rely on "mouth to mouth" information by locals in order to find them at all. Not to mention the "there you should eat this" and the "for that, you don't need to go there" advices.

Of course, most of them have an entry in comprehensive city guides. But OTOH, such guides address mostly the locals who already have a lot of pre-knowledge and thus those guides are often not very helpful and are leading to a mere random game.

Northern Spain is a dream destination for quite a time now for us, and without eGullet and the excellent input by the "Spanish" (inhabitants and visitors, that is) eGulleteers community, I don't know where I could have found all the info about Spains traditional universe. I knew the names of the Adrias, Arzaks, Berasteguis etc long before I joined eGullet. Of course, the personal reviews and the exchange of opinions are great and helpful and is somtehing I never would like to to see missin here - but I would have found those places anyway.

This is definitely not the case with all the immensly valuable info here about Spanish traditional food. In that respect, I not only highly appreciate the way eG is flying under the radar of the (international) media coverage. I think it belongs to eGs strengths. It could become a core value.

And to learn here about matanza (called a Metzgete here in Switzerland) and to learn about the way morcillas (related with our Blutwurst) are freshly made on spot leads not only to fascinating comparative food knowledge, but offers additional great fun.

[asola]

For me, "excellent traditional food based on local ingredients of pristine quality" is the strongest asset ANY place can have when it comes to food. (I confess to having virtually zero interest in what a place like El Bulli does.) By far the best two meals I had in my recent week in Barcelona were a) in the same restaurant, b) not even in Barcelona, but in Badalona, and c) could by described just that way. When I described my meals there to a friend who lived there, she said it sounded like "grandmother-style food"--a very good description. I love that....just call me "grandma"!

Have you written about this place in Badalona, Eric, or is it a secret you must be tortured to disclose? :-)

BTW, I share your approach to food but I'd add that the charm of eating in a grandma place includes not only the gastronomic experience but a sociological one that I find most interesting.

[Bux]

"Grandmother's cooking" is a style of cooking appreciated by any true gastronome. Ask any great French chef.

Cuisine grandmere, or cocina abuelita, it's well appreciated by the great Spanish chefs as well and that includes those who are known for their very creative cooking.

This is from the DIGEST:

This week's best article prize is found on El Mundo's Sunday Magazine and is about five brilliant chefs talking about their mothers cooking influence and both of them cook a traditional dish by the mothers and the haute cuisine adaptation by the sons, so we find Martin Berasategui, Santi Santamaría (Can Fabes), Abraham García (Viridiana), Francis Paniego (Echaurren) and  Mario Sandoval(Coque) talking and cooking with flattery with their mothers.

[Eric_Malson]

For me, "excellent traditional food based on local ingredients of pristine quality" is the strongest asset ANY place can have when it comes to food.  (I confess to having virtually zero interest in what a place like El Bulli does.)  By far the best two meals I had in my recent week in Barcelona were a) in the same restaurant, b) not even in Barcelona, but in Badalona, and c) could by described just that way.  When I described my meals there to a friend who lived there, she said it sounded like "grandmother-style food"--a very good description.  I love that....just call me "grandma"!

Have you written about this place in Badalona, Eric, or is it a secret you must be tortured to disclose? :-)

BTW, I share your approach to food but I'd add that the charm of eating in a grandma place includes not only the gastronomic experience but a sociological one that I find most interesting.

No need to torture--a post about it will be forthcoming. I've had my hands full dealing with the disaster in my apartment I came home to after my trip to Spain.... soon!

[Bux]

I'd add that the charm of eating in a grandma place includes not only the gastronomic experience but a sociological one that I find most interesting.

That's interesting because I find eating in restaurants of all kinds, both home and abroad, to offer sociological experiences, and that white tablecloth restaurants offer their own kind of sociological experiences that are as fascinating as any.

[asola]

I'd add that the charm of eating in a grandma place includes not only the gastronomic experience but a sociological one that I find most interesting.

That's interesting because I find eating in restaurants of all kinds, both home and abroad, to offer socialogical experiences, and that white tablecloth restaurants offer their own kind of sociological experiences that are as fascinating as any.

I should've added 'as a tourist'. I'd say that in Europe and the US upper-middle classes are more similar to each other than working-class people, that's why grandma places, when you're abroad, tend to be more interesting for me.