We visited Bodega Cooperativa Agrícola Santa Bárbara de Casinos, the agricultural cooperative last month and purchased vermouth and olive oil. The vermouth was very good, one of the best we have tried, and at a good price so we decided to return to buy more vermouth. We had decided we would drive back to Casinos to stock up on vermouth, a little over an hour from here and then on our way home we would stop somewhere to celebrate Salvador’s birthday.

Before leaving Casinos, we stopped at Horno Bodega Trini thinking we would grab a coffee and we were surprised by this wonderful bakery and bodega. It sold wine and vermouth by the barrel (you bring your bottle and they fill it up) as well as baked goods, honey, and turrón. It was a gem.

Leaving Casinos we made our way to the small town Náquera, at the base of the Parc Natural de la Serra Calderona. To celebrate Salvador’s birthday we decided to try the Valencian tradition of almuerzo. A traditional almuerzo in the Valencian Community is called esmorzaret (in Valencian). It’s a breakfast or mid-morning snack but more importantly, a social tradition for groups of friends to get together. Many bars are set up to serve this traditional meal and nearly always have la brasa (wood fired) – grill or barbecue to cook all of the meat, bocadillos and will serve a few things on the table already before you order: peanuts, olives/pickles. Traditionally, wine & soda (or vino con gaseosa in Spanish) are also served. After the meal el cremaet is always served. El Cremaet is a coffee made with cinnamon, rum, and lemon or a variety of this.

Let’s just say that in Spain, the bocadillo (sandwich usually a baguette) can be found everywhere but they are usually very plain and we have never bothered ordering them. However, in Valencia, it is completely different and the region is renowned for the variety and type that is served here usually as part of the esmorzaret. They are often just referred to as almuerzo so if you see a bar or cafe with this on the menu you know they will serve a range of amazing bocadillo.

We stopped at Asador Pastoret de Náquera., to experience our first esmorzaret and the bocadillo that they serve and are renowned for. It is a very famous place for esmorzaret with almost 9000 reviews on Google Maps. We didn’t arrive until just after midday so thankfully we could get a table on the terrace. It was a beautiful sunny day so an ideal place to sit for a while and soak up some sun.

The menu offered an amazing variety of bocadillos (including horse meat if that’s your thing) as well as a small range of raciones.

We ordered a medio (half baguette) each but probably should have ordered one medio between us as they were huge but delicious. They were sooo good but we could not finish so wrapped the leftovers up and took them home.

We finished with el cremaet as we had not tried this regional cafe before and it was delicious. Overall it was a fabulous experience and one we hope to repeat very soon.

Anna from Lifestyle Crossroads has a great post about this tradition and the history of how it evolved from the local farm workers who would start work very early and stop for a mid-morning meal. She is from Ukraine and her insights as someone who has married into a Spanish family in Comunidad Valenciana, are a worthy read. Many of her posts are travel ideas but the ones that touch on life in Spain and family, are very honest and insightful.

This will show you how serious they are about this tradition. We have been reading about this for a while and we follow these guys on Instagram – La Ruta Dels Esmorzars