To the alumni of the Best of Spain Tour.....or anyone else for that matter.......
Throughout the tour what were some great places to eat you found during your free time? I know....I know....there are many recommendations in RS book. Just wanting to see where y'all "gravitated" towards.
And of course........can't overlook those gelato establishments.
Thanks
Our favorite, in Madrid, is closed! Boo! But in Sevilla we stayed over a few days (as you should) and dined well here http://www.espacioeslava.com/en/restaurante/bar-de-tapas We dined at the sit down place (the restaurant) as the tapas bar was rumored to be packed. When the taxi pulled up there was a huge crowd at the tapas bar, so right choice for us. In Arcos we had a great meal here la carcel arcos de la frontera as did our guide. In Barcelona we enjoyed https://www.vianabcn.com. In Grenada we did a tapas tour with http://www.granadatapastours.com. It was very good, not great.
And of course........can't overlook those gelato establishments.
Gelato in Spain? Surely you mean helado?
I see this reference to gelato all the time, gelato is simply Italian for ice cream and whilst it's made slightly different (more milk, less cream) it's still just ice cream. The 'gelato' you find in Spain is just ice cream, or helado in Spanish.
Quite a few Spanish ice cream establishments have caught on to this perception that referring to their ice cream as gelato somehow makes it more attractive but you can tell when you eat it that it's just simple helado.
When we took that tour our biggest adjustment was not eating dinner until 8 or 9 PM at the earliest. At home we eat dinner at 5 to 6 PM so this later time required some adjustments. If we were having a group dinner, we made sure to eat a late, late lunch. If we were eating on our own, we discovered the "tapas" (sp?) bars where you could go in almost any time and order little plates of food. By ordering several, we made this our dinner. We quickly learned to just see what others were eating and pointing at what looked good when ordering.
Yes, adjusting to the late dinner hours of Spain, Italy et al is a bit difficult at first especially with young children who are used to eating at 6 and in bed by 8.30. I share thd view that it isn't healthy to eat so close to bedtime so when we travel to these countries we adjust to eating lunch around 2 and aim for dinner around 7.30/8.00. This is still early by local standards buf there's no way I could eat at 9.30 of 10 and then expect to sleep an hour or two later.
A collective thanks for the responses.
Thanks Alan. I will put your recommendations on my list.
JC.....yep......gelato has become a collective word for anything ice cream-like. True.....that Italy has the real stuff, but at times I have found some pretty realistic non-Italian Italian gelato in various locations.
and....to Charlie & JC......thanks.......I have read and heard about that "9:00 p.m. feedings". Not sure I can make it to 9:00, but I am going to give it a go. I can always go for the tapas (definitely) or the nearest McDonalds (jk...definitely NOT!). I am sure my eating schedule will be a mess for a few days.......and for a few days once I return....lol.
Forget ice cream, get churros con chocolate. Best in Madrid (IMHO) is here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187514-d1027419-Reviews-Chocolateria_San_Gines-Madrid.html
Ditto the suggestions above to make your free time meals a tapas crawl, eating so late is hard to adjust to (especially if you're a morning person). Our tour dinners were "early" at 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. - we were just finishing as the first locals arrived. For free time selections I primarily relied on RS book and some TripAdvisor suggestions I scoped out ahead of time. Depending on where you are, you'll probably run into tour mates wherever you go.
After the gelato aka helado.....I was planning on churros as dessert. lol
