100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go

100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go

by Patricia Harris
100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go

100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go

by Patricia Harris

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Overview

Patricia Harris began visiting Spain shortly after the death of dictator Francisco Franco and has witnessed the country's renaissance in art, culture, and cuisine as it rejoined Europe. Drawing on three decades of intimate acquaintance with the country, she leads readers along twisting mountain roads, down to the docks of fishing villages, into the shoe outlets of Elche, and out to the muddy saffron fields of La Mancha.  
 
She takes you down city streets of Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, and San Sebastian to dark flamenco clubs, sybaritic public baths, endlessly inventive tapas bars, design shops full of mantillas and fans, and into a brightly tiled chocolatería for hot chocolate and churros at 3 a.m. She explores the art from Velázquez to Picasso, architecture from the phantasmagorical vision of Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Familia to the cool suspension spans of Santiago Calatrava.  
 
She tells the tales of some formidable Spanish women, from a fourth-century B.C. goddess to a queen who wrested Spain from the Moors, to the twenty-first-century winemakers who elevated Spain's Toro and Rueda onto the world stage. Literary, sexy, whimsical, and even spiritual, 100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go is for the smart and curious traveler who wants to see Spain, her way.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781609521196
Publisher: Travelers' Tales Guides, Incorporated
Publication date: 10/11/2016
Series: 100 Places
Pages: 456
Sales rank: 881,074
Product dimensions: 7.50(w) x 5.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Patricia Harris travels the world researching books and articles about travel, food, and the arts for a variety of U.S. and British publications. But she returns again and again to Spain, partly because she likes the person she becomes there—the one who stays out late at flamenco clubs, walks windswept beaches, dances the sardana in front of Barcelona's cathedral, and eats a thousand delicacies she probably wouldn't have tried at home.

A former arts administrator who directed funding for theater, dance, and the visual arts, she loves the anguished angular faces of Catalan Gothic saints, the enigma of pure color on a Miró canvas, the pulsing rhythms of flamenco song and dance, the buffoonery of zarzuela, and the poignant passion of Carmen. Her kitchen cabinets are full of smoked Spanish paprika, Spanish saffron, and bags of a special sea salt from the Costa Brava that she buys in Spanish supermarkets for less than one euro per kilo. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 31
A Spanish Movable Feast
EATING PINTXOS IN SAN SEBASTIÁN

“A woman walks into a tapas bar” is not the set-up for a bad joke. It is, however, something you should plan to do wherever you happen to find yourself in Spain. The tradition of “going out for tapas” is a way of life in Spain—and the country's contribution to casual dining. Your visit will not be complete until you've claimed your place at a bar to enjoy a drink, a small bite of food, and the noisy, lively scene. Once you're in the groove, you may even find yourself doing as other patrons do and letting your paper napkins float down toward but rarely into the trash receptacle by your ankles.

If you've eaten at tapas-inspired “small plates” restaurants outside Spain, you may think that tapas are a meal. Spaniards know better. Tapas are simply little treats that accompany a drink and they are usually consumed while standing up. (Beware of drippy tapas like patatas bravas coated with a thin paprika sauce or anchovies in a puddle of olive oil that can wreck havoc with your wardrobe.) Sometimes a drink will be accompanied by a modest free tapa—a thin slice of potato omelet, a saucer of salty marcona almonds, or a plate of freshly fried potato chips. A couple of tapas will stave off hunger until the typically late dinner hour, which is why you'll find tapas bars most crowded in the late afternoon and early evening. Spaniards enjoy a tapa and a drink and a chat with the person they are rubbing elbows with at the bar. Then they move on to another spot for a different bite of food and a fresh conversation. Going out for tapas is as much about socializing as food.

One of my favorite cities for a tapas-hop is San Sebastián, where, in typical Basque fashion, tapas have a different name. They're called “pintxos.” The city is flush with Michelin-starred restaurants but the delight in creativity and invention is too great to be contained in a few top kitchens. Even in modest bars, pintxos have a certain flair and the most ambitious chefs call them “pintxos creativos.”

On weekends, it seems that all of San Sebastián goes out for pintxos. “We are a very social city,” Ana Intxausti agreed when she joined me for a late afternoon of tapas hopping. “Our businesses don't need team-building programs. Just give everyone 20 euros and send them to a bar for a caña [small glass of beer].”

Intxausti has worked in the wholesale fish industry and shepherded celebrities around the San Sebastián Film Festival. “Even a woman alone is very safe and will have no problems at all visiting pintxos bars,” she said. “Everybody mingles in the same places—grandparents, children, people with their dogs.” But for those who prefer companionship, she has recently begun offering pintxos tours for individuals.

In many cities, tapas-hopping is a fairly casual activity. But the folks in San Sebastián take it more seriously. “When we go out,” Intxausti said, “we don't choose a bar, we choose a food specialty.” We could have eaten ourselves silly on Calle 31 de Agosto in the old city. The street is practically lined with bars where smokers spill out onto the sidewalks with food and drink in hand. Spain outlawed smoking in bars in 2012. “Owners of bars complained,” Intxausti said, “but we non-smokers are happy.”

We began by detouring down side streets until we reached Ganbara Bar-Asador. One look at the overflowing baskets of fresh mushrooms on the bar and I knew what we were in for. We consulted with the cook and settled on a gorgeous plate of sautéed mixed wild mushrooms with a couple of glasses of txakoli, the tart white wine characteristic of the Basque coast. Each of the mushrooms had a slightly different flavor. Some were chewy, others soft and buttery. Intxausti approved. “Texture is very important in Basque cuisine.”

The genius of a tapas-hop is that it gives you a chance to digest between stops. The Basques are legendary fishermen—they were fishing the Grand Banks for centuries before North America was officially discovered—and fresh seafood plays a huge role in Basque cuisine. For delicious fresh fish we stopped next at Restaurante Bernardo Etxea, where we broke the unwritten rule of one pintxo per bar. We couldn't resist a txangurro (spider crab) salad made with garlicky aioli and a plate of grilled txiperones (squid) dusted with smoky paprika.

The Basques also love grilled beef and Intxausti wanted to make sure I had a taste. For our final stop, we returned to Calle 31 de Agosto and found a place at the bar of Restaurante Gandarias. Soon we were eating small pieces of grilled sirloin on rounds of French bread and topped with green Gernika peppers—one of the essential Basque flavors. “We use the products from all around us very well,” Intxausti said as we finished our last glasses of wine.

A Basque would expect no less.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Sense of Place
Plaza Mayor, Madrid

2. I Am Woman
Highlights of the Museo de Prado, Madrid

3. Choc Around the Clock
Chocolatería San Gines, Madrid

4. Shadow to the Throne
Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, Madrid

5. The Word on the Streets
Barrio de las Letras, Madrid

6. If the Shoe Fits
Shopping for Shoes in Chueca, Madrid

7. The Collector's Eye
Carmen Thyssen Selections at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

8. Timeless Cry Against War
'Guernica' at the Reina Sofía, Madrid

9. Where the City Blooms
Great Parks of Madrid

10. Stitches of Time
Real Fábrica de Tapices, Madrid

11. Just One More Bite
Madrid Food Tour

12. Echoes of Antiquity
Archaeological Museum, Madrid

13. ¡Ole! ¡Ole!
Flamenco at Casa Patas, Madrid
14. Faith and Will
The Trail of Isabel I of Castilla and León

15. Within the Walls of Faith
Santa Teresa of Ávila

16. Dreaming in Stone
Carved Buildings of Salamanca

17. Defenders of the Faith
Romanesque Churches of Zamora

18. Pioneer Women in Wine: Tinto de Toro
Elías Mora and D.O. Toro

19. Visions of Heaven and Hell
La Colegiata, Toro

20. Pioneer Women in Wine: Rueda
José Pariente and D.O. Rueda

21. Shining Through
The Catedral de León

22. Spain's First Power Couple
El Cid and Jimena Díaz, Burgos

23. The French Connection
Marqués de Riscal, La Rioja

24. Hope Flies
The Nesting White Storks of Alfaro

25. Wayside Rest
Santo Domingo de la Calzada

26. Sun or Shade?
Pamplona and the Ritual of the Bullfight

27. Speaking in Tongues
Monasteries of Suso and Yuso

29. Power of a Perfect Outfit
The Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum, Getaria

28. The Guggenheim Effect
Life in Bilbao, A City Saved by Art and Architecture

30. A Father-Daughter Culinary Dynasty
Dining at Restaurant Arzak in San Sebastián

31. A Spanish Movable Feast
Eating Pintxos in San Sebastián

32. Buried Magic
Prehistoric Cave Art in Cantabria

33. Origin Stories
Cangas de Onís and Covadonga

34. The Real Star of 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'
Celtic City of Oviedo

35. Galicia's Joan of Arc
The Tale of María Pita of A Coruña

36. Step by Step
Pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago

37. New Jerusalem
The End of the Road at Santiago de Compostela

38. Heart of the Country
Spain's First Capital, Toledo

39. Written on the Walls
The Ceramics of Talavera de la Reina

40. Flights of Fancy
Abstract Art in the Mountaintop Aerie of Cuenca

41. The Queen's Good Taste
Cuenca's Cathedral Launched Gothic Style in Spain

42. Learning the Art of the Stripper
The Saffron Rose Festival, Consuegra


43. Tilting at Windmills
La Mancha of Don Quijote

44. Going to Extremes
Conquistador Cities of Extremadura

45. Rome Remains
Ancient Colonial City of Mérida

46. Excess of Splendor
Sevilla's Massive Gothic Cathedral

47.Of Cigars and Arias
In the Footsteps of Carmen, Sevilla

48. Spanish Rhythms
Museo del Baile Flamenco, Sevilla

49. A Slippery (and Delicious) Slope
The Olive Oil Workshop, Sevilla

50. Our Lady of Hope
La Macarena, Sevilla

51. The Fringe Effect
Shopping for Shawls, Sevilla

52. Duquesa for the Ages
Sevilla's Newest Museum

53. Marriage of Styles
Sevilla's Alcázar

54. Park of the Princess
Parque Maria Luisa, Sevilla

55. The Most Evil Man Who Ever Lived
Don Juan in Sevilla

56. The Intimacy of Women
Baths of Andalucía

57. Bearing the Weight
Best Places for Holy Week Processions

58. Fino and Finesse
Sherry Culture, Jerez de la Frontera

59. Practice Makes Perfect
Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre, Jerez de la Frontera

60. Easter on the Beach
Salt on the Tongue, Sanlúcar de la Barrameda

61. By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea
Cádiz, the First City of Western Europe

62. The Perfect Wave
Surfing on the Cádiz Coast

63. The Thrill of the Drive
Crossing the Mountains of Andalucía's White Towns

64. Living on the Edge
The Daring City of Ronda

65. Jet Set Playground
Riches of Marbella

66. New Act for an Old City
Reinvention Keeps Málaga Fresh

67. Cradle of Genius
Picasso in Málaga

68. A Museum of Her Own
Museo Carmen Thyssen, Málaga

69. Traces of the Wind
El Paraje Natural Torcal de Antequera

70. Private Lives
Fiesta de los Patios de Córdoba

71. Morning Prayers
La Mezquita, Córdoba


72. Last Stronghold of a Lost Empire
La Alhambra and El Generalife, Granada

73. Lorca and the Dark Heart of Duende
Huerta de San Vicente, Granada

74. The Art of the Deal
Shopping in Granada

75. Song and Dance of the Gypsy Zambra
Cueva de María la Canastera, Granada

76. Trekking the Berber Villages
Alpujarras de Granada

77. First Love Lives On
'Los Amantes' of Teruel

78. From the Beach to the Palm Forest
Alicante and Elche

79. The Perfect Plate of Rice
Paella in Valencia

80. Light My Fire
The Fallas Festival, Valencia

81. Jewel of the Gold Coast
The Roman City of Tarragona

82. Wine and Song
Catalan Palaces of Cava and Music

83. Living in a Masterpiece
Modernisme Homes in Barcelona

84. Walking Barcelona
Three Promenades to Remember

85. A Wedding and a Wine Bar
Santa Maria del Mar and La Vinya del Señor, Barcelona

86. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Picasso in Barcelona

87. Dancing on the Plaza
Barcelona's Barrí Gotic on Sunday

88. A Vision to Behold
La Sagrada Familia of Antoni Gaudí, Barcelona

89. The Magic Mountain
Treasures of Montjuïc, Barcelona

90. Temples of Food
Three Great Markets in Barcelona

91. The Most Important Meal of the Day
Five Breakfasts in Barcelona

92. Hand of the Madonna
The Shrine of Montserrat

93. Among the Legends
The Storied City of Girona

94. Mad Love
Salvador and Gala Dalí, Figueres, Cadaqués, and Púbol

95. A City Unfurls
Palma, Mallorca's Capital City

96. The Perfect Blue
The Joan Miró and Pilar Juncosa Foundation, Mallorca

97. Ascending the Heights
The Road to Valldemossa on Mallorca

98. Mallorca's Literary Love Nest
Ca N'Alluny, the Home of Laura Riding and Robert Graves

99. Sun on the Skin
Best Naturist Beaches

100. Room for the Night
Some Great Spanish Paradors
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