The Food in Spain

Many people have asked me what the Spanish eat or what we are eating here, this post is for you!

 After living here for a few weeks, while Kamree was helping me make dinner she stated with a little disgust, "Spanish people eat animals, huh."  I answered saying, " we do too", and reminded her that "we ate chicken last night and that's an animal. What animal do you think that is?"  She then responded, "oh a pig."

Then a couple days later, as I was helping Mason and Kamree practice the Spanish words for different farm animals, Kamree announced that we eat chickens.  Mason laughingly said, "no we don't that would be disgusting."

Kamree wanted to pose for a picture in front of this concrete wall that we walk past on our way to Dia, the closest market. We thought we would grab a few things for dinner and get some pictures to post to show you what you could find in their grocery stores.    There is graffiti on the wall which we think is characteristic of Spain since we see it everywhere we go on about every fence, building and playset. 

You would think we would know by now that we can't shop between 2-5 pm.  But again we showed up during the siesta.  Kamree has our large grocery bag, which we always bring because they charge 5 cents for small ones at the stores.  Most people have large carts that look like rolling suitcases that they bring to the store to cart their groceries home.   Many times when I walk to the larger and farther stores, I've wished I had one as I carry two of these large bags packed full with heavy groceries having to stop every 20 steps or so to rest my arms and back.

 

Alcampo 

 Since we finally got a car I was able to drive to a neighboring town to a much larger store for some pictures. This store is similar to the size and set-up as Walmart.  We've noticed that even in the larger stores they don't sell a larger variety of food just more brands of the same standard foods.  Below is a picture of one of the two aisles of these large pig legs. 

This is Iberian Jamon (ham) or Pata Negra (black hoof) which is likely the most traditional food here. These legs have cured for at least 12 months to 48 months and they cost about $60 on up.  The older and better quality they are the more expensive they are.  You can find these on stands in the kitchen of most Spanish homes next to a large and very sharp knife.  You just cut off a piece when you want it for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner. Besides the entire legs, there are 100s of different whole sausages and sliced sausage and hams to choose from in the grocery stores. 

 

This is a picture of one of the many dairy aisles.  It is full of butters and lots and lots of yogurt.  I don't have a picture of the next aisle over but it is just cheese, cheese and more cheese on both sides and mostly just white cheese.  It is quite hard to find cheddar here which we greatly miss.  Breakfast here is very European (Continental) with  coffee, fruit, rolls/breads, cheeses, meats/ham and yogurt and cereal,  additionally the Spanish eat magdalenas (lemon flavored muffins), torrifas (bread-pudding), churros and "tortillas" or Spanish omelet made mainly with potatoes, eggs, onion and sometimes sausage or ham.  

 

El Desayuno  

We prefer the simple yogurt and cereal.  In fact yogurt and granola are quite cheap so most days that is what we eat. We love french toast but have not been able to find syrup or even maple flavoring, but Sunday we had french toast with strawberry syrup (recipe from allrecipes.com) and it was so good.  Their strawberries are super cheap and we usually get them in 5lb crates so we get to eat them really fast. 

Milk is not in one of the dairy aisles as it does not need to be refrigerated.  It comes mostly in small boxes.  We aren't big milk drinkers so we can't really tell if it tastes different than what is sold in the US, we mostly just use it for cooking and cereal.  We do drink the boxed soy and chocolate soy milk and they taste about the same.  We do refrigerate ours before using it.

Our After School Trek

 I finally found somewhere to run where I don't have to worry about crossing crosswalks or wandering bulls.  The dirt road is not the greatest and it doesn't have the best scenery but once you get to the other end of the dirt road it is a nice windy, shady paved road that leads to 2 aqueducts.  Yesterday morning, I finally made it all the way to the two aqueducts and then after school I went back with the kids to show them.  Here are just a few pictures of what we saw during this 2 hour trek:

This is the end of the dirt road just before turning onto the narrow paved road that winds down a hill towards the aqueducts.  It was extremely hot so we raced to the only shade on this entire road.  Our town, were we started, is at the other end of this road where you can see the little reddish brown buildings.

 

Alex the Pony

After listening to a couple of the kids complaining about the heat and being tired, this pony was a welcome sight as the kids saw it their faces lit up with glee and in unison they all ran towards it about the same time that it began trotting from the other side of the field towards them.  It was so sweet! After feeding the pony Alex grass, dandelions and anything else they could pick, we returned towards our destination with vows to stop and feed him again on the way back.  

Has anyone misplaced a swimming pool?   We found this just sitting on the side of the road.  Of course Morgan jumped in before I could stop him, but at least I caught Kaiya before she fell in.

Here is an Entrance to ????

 

  Kamree really just wanted me to take her picture. 

This appears to be a little homeless hut.  Well I guess that is an oxymoron.  So instead, it could be a small house for a really poor person.  I couldn't get a good picture of it without walking right up to it, since there were so many trees around it.  It did have a door and linens were hung outside being dried.

We named this "The Spanish Secret Garden".

And here is a picture of the outside.

 

Acueducto de la Sima

Our destination!  

In the morning when I was out running I took a wrong turn and ended up above this up there on the right and I hiked down only to realize I couldn't get to the road because of a large wire fence (you can see the fence in the picture before this one).  The only way to get to the road was to cross this aqueduct to the other side and then hike down to the road.  Trembling, I crossed this thing trying not to look down but even while looking straight ahead I couldn't help seeing down on both sides in my peripheral vision.  Obviously I made it to the other side and won't likely do that again.  Sorry no pictures from above. 

Above San Agustin Del Guadalix

Above our town are several Aqueducts.  Saturday evening we drove up to the Acueducto de la Retuerta which is one of the two you can see from the city. 

 This is about how far it is from our town.

 This aqueduct has 7 large arches built on top of a small bridge with 1 large arch.  After doing some research we found that it isn't as old as we thought, being built just over 150 years ago in 1858.

 This picture, besides showing that we hiked to the top, was to show that it was finally warm enough to go jacketless.

Under the aqueduct there are these fun archways where we had fun practicing our double yells (echos). And under this was a large arched bridge for a small river.

Easter in Spain

Easter here has not felt the same but in a good way.   We have scarcely seen chocolate Easter bunnies in the stores and hardly any Easter Candy, no baskets, decorations etc.  The focus is on Christ as it should be.  The "Holy Week"  is very traditional in Spain.  They have processions, mass and all sorts of activities going on during the week before Easter. 

As we were arriving home around 9:30 pm Friday night from our road trip to Portugal, we saw several policemen on the side of the road. As we rubbernecked to see what had happened while driving by, we saw a large crowd of people in a procession.  We raced home unloaded the kids and ran up the street to show our kids what this was all about. 

 We soon realized our town is too small to bring in a crowd of onlookers as we were the only ones.  We knew in the larger towns there are people lining the street when they do their processions.  We were, however; uncomfortably able to get a few photos to share.

Of course the Virgen Mary is part of this too.

Maybe next year we can get pictures of one of the 
bigger Processions. 

Avila

 Ávila is well-known for the amazingly intact wall surrounding the city, for being the birthplace and home of Santa Teresa of Jesus and has been described as "perhaps the most 16th century city in Spain".

It's complete and prominent medieval city walls, built in the Romanesque style, were started in 1090 and ended in the 14th century. 

Just proof that we were here.

Alfonso VI ordered the construction of this fortification after his conquest of Avila in 1090. Apparently, he used Moorish prisoners to build the wall.

The kids loved this place, but unfortunately not so much for the history.

This is taken from inside looking out.

We didn't stay too long here since is was about to rain and the kids were just pooped.  This was about all we saw before we left this awesome piece of history. 

 These medieval walls are the largest fully illuminated monument in the world at night.   They are almost one and a half miles long, and are still in great condition. 

We were getting gas before heading back home and lucked out seeing this breathtaking sight of these enchanting walls. 

Ciudad Rodrigo

We hadn't originally planed to stop at this city since we hadn't heard much about it.  As we passed it on our way to Portugal, we saw it like the picture below, and we knew we wanted to check it out on our way back home. 

The historic center of Ciudad Rodrigo is enclosed by antique city walls that were built during the 12th century.  In the 17th century the walls were rebuilt and reinforced.

And just a closer shot of the walls from outside the city.

This is an entrance to the city which goes through the walls that surround the city.  Notice how wide the walls are and if you can look closely you can see the bricks used on the ceiling inside this.  We decided to park outside the city since we didn't want to dodge walls and people.

A shot from the other end: notice the doors on each side which are also at the front of the entrance.  We wondered if they ever still use them. 

This is on top of the old city walls.  We walked around just for a bit and then went back down to check out the cathedral in the background. 

This is a shot of the streets from upon the city wall. 

 

A guard post; I don't think Morgan would make a very good guard, what do you think?

 

 

The Biggest Park We Have Ever Seen

This amaaazing park is just at the bottom of the hill from Guarda, Portugal.    Thanks to the rain we were absolutely the only ones here.  Of course everything was wet, but this was still the highlight of the trip for the kids.    There was just play structure after play structure and a huge water fountain play area, amphitheater,  a bike park, and a restaurant.   

And another shot.

This zip line might be going in our back yard when we get back to Utah.  

This thing is so huge it's hard to see Kaiya smack dab in the middle.

So this looks fun, but think about when it is a nice sunny day and the place is packed; probably not the safest ride.  

It can get spinning pretty fast and besides hitting into a wayward running toddler, I'm sure that ground wouldn't feel so good if you went flying off of this either.

How would you like to play tag in that?  All I can think is "poor knees".

And see how cute it is on the inside!

This pedal merry-go-round is genius; make the kids work for their fun! They got this going quite fast and I'm sure Kamree was doing most of the work, look how much her legs are sweating.

This park might be worth a return trip in the future.

  
Next stop Ciudad Rodrigo!!!!

Portugal

Just up until a few days ago Morgan thought people in Portugal spoke Piglatin.  Not sure where he got confused.

Everytime we needed to communicate with the locals here we would ask if they spoke Spanish or English and only once the person spoke Spanish, the other times they spoke English and no Spanish.  We found that very interesting as they are only half an hour over the Spanish border and Spanish should be quite a bit easier than English for them.

Guarda

This fascinating city is 30 min. over the Spanish border. Guarda was founded in 1199 by Portugal's second king and is the highest city in Portugal. 

 "Se da Guarda"  Guarda Cathedral

The construction of this Cathedral began in 1390 and was finished in 1540.

Looking at the Cathedral from above you can see the smaller white church in the background which is also beautiful. 

 

Streets of Guarda

 

Most "Olde European" streets are extremely narrow and Guarda is no exception.  It is a labyrinth of curvy roads to the top of the mountain and back.  They were very hard to navigate as we drove to see the Cathedral and Castle.   Most streets are one way, and some are so narrow we didn't even dare try to get through and only because we were desperate we tried others we thought we would have to scrape through. We felt lucky as we never did scrape anything and only once we had to pull in the mirror.

Just another shot of a narrow road, this one leading from the Plaza with the Cathedral.

We saw no paint lines on the roads on this hilltop but instead saw lines made with different colored bricks or rocks.  Can you imagine how long and how boring this job would have been.  And this shows only a few square feet.