Helen Chats-No 2

It is 8pm and we are doing what any self respecting Spaniard does this early in the evening. Sitting over a glass of pre-prandial alcohol !!!!
This lifestyle suits me!! Afternoon siesta--none of this power napping or even afternoon shluf- an unadulterated unadorned afternoon siesta!! Followed by a late night and not too early morning!!! I’d be interested though to know if there is such a thing as a ‘Country Comparative Productivity Index’ and if so Spain’s ranking? I’ll Google that later.
We are now in a little seaside town called Cambrils which we stumbled on quite by chance.
Our beloved but well disputed over TomTom affectionately known as ‘Moaning Minny ‘ or Minnie for short was abandoned after we left the outskirts of Barcelona on Monday afternoon and we allowed ourselves the luxury of wandering uninterrupted by her totally ghastly Spanish pronunciation. Each time she tries to tell us the name of a street we giggle as her computerized English accent makes a total mess up of the Spanish names- so much so that we cant quite work out what she is saying. However she has made driving through Barcelona quite stress free--although she doesn't seem to recognize one way streets! A touch hazardous!
So here we are ensconced in a beautiful town nestled alongside the Mediterranean for a couple of days- doing very little other than soaking in the atmosphere and relaxing. In a couple of weeks this town will be throbbing with sun seekers, humming with discos and nightlife and totally impossible to find any peace or space.
We have enjoyed tapas most evenings although a tad difficult for me, [Harry has no inhibitions and a very open mind re food] with having to dodge pork products and shellfish-but the sardines are lovely as is the cheese and tuna so I am doing well.
Barcelona
We spent a magic two days using the hop on hop off bus system to see as much as possible in such a short time. We both fell in love with the amazing architecture- I adored the Gaudi buildings and spent some time later inside the Pedreras. We ate well on the recommendation of our rather lovely night time concierges-Manuel accents but that was the only resemblance! The restaurant that we went to on Saturday evening was particularly great eating. Up a tiny street, down a tiny alley and then down some steep steps and don't go before 9pm as it's not open. Menu in Spanish and the owner/maitre d'hotel/waiter does not speak English!!! All the makings of a disastrous evening that turned into a meal that will remain truly memorable. We had the most divine dinner. Possibly the best steak ever. Started with olive oil tasting of three different olive oils and then moved on to steak cooked to perfection and served with a "tasting plate" of several different rock salts- smoked, lemon, mushroom, volcanic and ordinary. I ordered my by now customary sangria but it came in a one litre jug!!!
During the evening there was a comment at the next table about my nail polish colours which led to us being invited to share a glass of champagne sangria-very drinkable.
The waiter/owner was very cute-beautiful Spanish dark hair and eyes, certainly adding to the charm of the evening!

Watched the FA cup final - a boring game BUT not enhanced by an incomprehensible Spanish commentary. Sunday was an enchanting day-one of those coincidences that makes you sure that there is no such thing as coincidence. Our very dear friends the xxxxxx from Philadelphia were in Barcelona the same day as us and so we spent 24 hours of quality time together. The plan was for a day trip to Girona, birth place of a very famous mediaeval Rabbi called Nachmanides-- and of course in company of "our" Rabbi it was a great pleasure. Over lunch B….. taught us a famous Nachmanides talmudic interpretation of the the first words of the Bible.
Girona is a lovely old town and was on its final day of a protracted flower festival with a theme that was none too obvious. Most of the arrangements were very faded, quite a few seemed quite obscure and they were everywhere taking over from the sights of the town. In the court of Nachmanides Great Yeshiva (school ) we heard the tail end of a live concert and basked in the Spring sunshine in a place of historical importance to Jews all over the world. It was indeed sad that despite what wasa called the Golden Age of Spain and the amazing relationship Jews had with Spain prior to the Spanish Inquisition under Isabel and Fernando in 1492. there was little on display and even less obvious that once Jews had had such a huge influence in Girona as well as Spain generally. ; about 100,000 Jews were forcibly converted to Catholicism (later known as conversos) and about 200,000 Jews left for other countries. I guess the Inquisition did its job very effectively and very efficiently. In the courtyard of the Nachmanides Yeshiva/Jewish museum is a statue of Christopher Columbus- whose expedition was financed by Isabel and Fedinand--was he of Jewish origins?????? well there are those who say he was and those who say he was not. But he certainly was comfortable in their presence—as he had a Jew as one of his right hand men on his great expedition.
We lingered in Girona and then meandered alongside the Mediterranean back to Barcelona, had a meal in one of the small sea side towns along the way. ‘Minny’ managed to find all the one way roads ( going the wrong way) back to our hotel but eventually between the 3 of us we got back. We met our American friends for breakfast and a quick peek at the markets. I have many photos of the amazing way the locals use every part of an animal, the various organs as well as types of tripe [Harry was very enlightening about Rumen, Reticulum, Omasum and Abomasum—yuck!] -the imagination did not quite go so far as to devise scrummy recipes with any of those ingredients. However the array of cheeses, CHOCOLATES,candied and dried fruit,CHERRIES, and fresh fruit was eye candy of the best type.

Sadly we bade our American friends farewell and then set our sights at Cordoba and the Major TEFL Conference to be held there a few days hence . More snippets to follow .


"Thats all from him and thats all from me"

Helen (Helen Bryant)