Tapas in Spain

Tapas is just about anything...from pork to beef to lamb to fish to seafood to.....served with drinks. Some may be served on small slices of crusty bread, others are not. They're like hors d'oevres or appetizers, but they are NOT to start a meal...strictly "finger food" to have with drinks at a bar or restaurant. In most places, they will have their tapas out on display, and you simply point to the one (or ones) you want. In some places you may find tapas "samplers," where they'll bring you little trays of 6 or 8 different kinds of tapas for you to sample. Be careful though. In some places they are free with your drinks....in others, they charge by the piece. "Tapa" is Spanish for "lid" or "cover." In days gone by, Spanish bars would slap a piece of ham or cheese on top of your drink as a "lid." No one seems to know why....maybe to get you to drink more (ham, of course, is very salty...our bars do the same with peanuts), or maybe something as simple as the bartender wanting to cut down on the dishes he had to wash! Let us know where in Spain you'll be, and we can give you some ideas.

Thanks so much. We are starting in Barcelona and moving onto Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Arcos and Sevilla. Will we also find them in Portugal or do they have a specialty of their own that we should try. Thanks for your help.

In Madrid, I'd highly recommend a tapas tour. We did one with Adventurous Appetites http://www.adventurousappetites.com/ after reading recommendations on this site. We LOVED it and tried tapas we never would have thought to order.

Portugal has a specialty that is so delicious as to be addicting. It's a custard tart as you've never known called "pastel de nata." We found them near the cash register several places. The best are very fresh, maybe still warm.

I don't remember any tapas in Portugal. But, beware, bread and snacks may be brought to your table when you sit down for a meal. These are NOT FREE and will show up on you bill if you eat them.

In Granada we found a bar/restaurant called La Rivieria near Plaza Nueva off of Calle Elvira. Each tapas was free with a drink purchase. We had really good meatballs, pork, even deep fried baby octopus--actually quite tasty. In Sevilla near the cathedral and Starbucks, we wandered into a place called "100 bocodillos" They had 100 different types of little sandwiches for 1 euro each. A filling snack for cheap. We were travelling with our 4 year old so our dining experiences were not exactly gourmet. Which is OK, we had more fun and flexibility with our picnics.

In Madrid, popular locations for tapas include the bars and restaurants around Plaza Santa Ana (40.414754,-3.700708), or any of the small streets leading off there....a popular place for restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. You can party there all night! ;) There are also lots of great tapas bars in the area south of Plaza Mayor, just south of the La Latina metro stop (40.411068, -3.708601). In Sevilla, east of the Cathedral towards Plaza Santa Cruz (37.385223, -5.988512), there are some great little streets with excellent restaurants and tapas bars. La Carboneria is my favourite, with real flamenco on offer most nights (37.388291, -5.987348). You'll also find lots in the streets around Plaza Nueva (37.388713,-5.995472), and a huge concentration across the river in the Triana area, along Calle San Jacinto and its intersecting streets (37.384928, -6.003622). Copy and paste any of the coordinates in brackets into google or msn maps, and it'll show you the areas.