We made it to Spain! With an uneventful trip (apart from a screaming baby five rows in front of us projectile vomiting over the cabin and several of the passengers in front) we arrived in a very warm and sunny Gibraltar, from where we walked smartly across the border to Spain ... This is a picture of "The Rock" taken from the Spanish side.. the town of La Linea de la Concepcion, which some of you may have heard of as the former home of Gema and Maca - the Munoz-Cobo Cebral sisters.
Of course all that flying was thirsty work, so our first port of call was the nearest bar for a pint of Cruz Campo (what else....) The first thing you see when you walk into Spain from Gibraltar is the welcoming golden arches of the American corporate giant, but, as the picture shows, we tastefully avoided this tacky joint and went instead for some local flavour... Re-energised, we made our way to the bus station for a 45 minute ride to Algeciras (2.05 Euros) where we spent the night before picking up our car on Tuesday morning.
Once checked into the hotel, hunger set in - so we headed for the nearest area with Tapas Bars of course. We happened upon Lizarran, set in a modern square not unlike Godwin Court, except that the car park is underground and the square is given over to a social eating and drinking area (mmm...) Lizarran is an international chain that has commercialised the Spanish tapas concept. You sit down at a table and order your drinks, with which they bring you a plate, and then you are offered, every couple of minutes, a selection of "pinchos" - stuff on sticks, on bread, proffered by a multitude of waiting staff. Once you have had your fill, they count up the sticks and bring you the bill. We were quite hungry and managed a total of 15 pinchos - but only 4 canas (or was it 6?)Quality is mixed - but with change out of 25 Euros it was not unreasonable. Tortilla tasted as though made from a sadly increasingly ubiquitous "instant tortilla mix", deep fried prawns and bacalao that might have come from Iceland, but very good mini chorizos. This is not a gastronomic experience, but worth a visit for fun. Considering it was a Monday night and 10pm when we arrived, it was very busy in the square, where there was another similar chain establishment (Canas y Tapas, best avoided in our previous experience,) both were full with friends and families having an evening out in the warm weather (25+). What fun we could have in Wood Street !
Algeciras doesn't have much to recommend it as a holiday destination, but it is a handy stop-over if you are off to North Africa on the ferry or, like us, heading up through Spain. Budget hotels have pretty mediochre reviews though, so if you stop here check Trip Advisor for decent hotels.
Tuesday morning got off to a leisurely start.... we wandered out for breakfast on the way to pick up our car just after 11.00. Simple cafe con leche, toast with tomato, olive oil and jamon. Yummy! If only we could get a regular supply of ripe tomatoes with any hint of flavour.
Starting to get a bit warm! Thermometer on newsagent's shop says 40 (que calor!) but once we get the car, outside temperature a fairly constant 33 until we head out of Algeciras towards Jerez and get into the open country where it goes up to 35.
We have a target for lunch in Jerez. We found it last time we were here - Bar Arturo (Guita 9.) More of that later...
