We are on the road again, this time to Andalucía, to explore the provincias of Huelva and Cadiz.
Even though we already know, we are always amazed by the differences between the autonomous communities (like states or territories in Australia) in Spain.
We were surrounded by orange trees when we left Valencia Communidadand, once we were in Andalucía we were surrounded by miles and miles of olive trees. In some areas, they were all you could see in each direction. I think Andalucía is quintessential Spain and is what everyone thinks of when they think of Spain. It is filled with white villages with terracotta tiled roofs and where the tradition of flamenco originated. It is also where two of Spain’s most visited towns are located – Sevilla and Granada. It has a very different feel to the rest of Spain.
Something that we have discovered since driving around Spain is that there are amazing roadside restaurants here. They are a unique experience. They are referred to as ventas (which actually means “sales” in Spanish). We have driven by many that look really interesting and are always packed with cars and trucks. On this road trip, we have found a couple so far and hope to try out a few more. We accidentally stumbled across the first one and realised that we had read about. Casa Pepe in Venta de Cárdenas has been around for 100 years and is a big supporter of Franco so something that we were a bit conflicted over. However, we did not realise until we walked inside and saw all the posters (very political) and photos etc that this was the bar we had read about. We only stopped for coffee and it was interesting to checkout.
We stopped halfway for the night, and the next day we left early in the morning and decided to stop at a ventas for breakfast.
Most ventas are huge and often sell a range of alimentos (food like cheese, olive oil, and wine from the region) souvenirs (aimed at the Spanish visitors), are very well priced and are usually located beside a service station. They often have a large bar that is chaotic and sells the basics keeping it fairly simple. In our case, we were looking for Desayuno (breakfast) and the traditional menu item of tostadas. The most basic of the tostadas is toast served with grated seasoned tomato, which is spread on the bread. You then drizzle with olive oil. They usually also offer a version topped with jamon or cheese or atun (tuna). We stopped at Restaurante Apolo XV (open 24 hours) and ordered tostadas with jamon, cafe con leche and orange juice (always freshly juiced on the spot) – simple but delicious. King of breakfasts for the Spanish. We are always blown away by how bars here are so comfortable with the honesty system for payment. This bar was busy, girls behind the counter did not stop and were constantly taking verbal orders and shouting them to the kitchen. They do not want payment, you just wander up later on and pay. It’s one of the things I love about the Spanish lifestyle, the honesty and trust that is shown every time we visit a bar/restaurant or cafe.
The ventas are a fascinating part of Spanish tradition and history and this blog post has a great article about them. The particular restaurant that they write about is one we stopped at but it was closed, so we ended up at Casa Pepe which is located in the same town.
Our life in Spain 