When discussing our upcoming trip to Spain we can’t help but talk about all the great food we will get to try. Even though we will be spending the first 2 months of our round-the-world trip in France, where the cuisine is world famous, it is also really expensive. To keep within our travel budget we will seldom get to eat in the fine restaurants and cafes and experience the French cuisine. Spain, on the other hand, has delicious tapas that will allow us to taste the local cuisine without spending very much money. Anyone who frequently travels to Spain knows that when they’re hungry, they go out for tapas. Tapas are small snacks or appetizers served in bars and restaurants. They vary between simple dishes, like local olives and cheeses, to sophisticated cooked dishes. Since dinner in Spain is not served until 9-11pm most locals find that bar hopping and eating the tapas is a great way to keep from going hungry before dinner. While most bars charge a small fee for the tapas, a few offer them free with the purchase of a drink. Another way to save money is to upgrade the tapas to larger portions, equal to a half or whole dish, and share it instead of ordering two regular sized tapas.
While tapas can be found in every city in Spain, many people take Benidorm holidays for something other than the beaches and exciting nightlife. The Spanish city of Benidorm is a popular resort town on the Costa Blanca (white coast) that offers a little culinary secret; Tapas Alley. Tapas Alley is the local name for a large group of Catalan or Basque style tapas bars. If you have never experienced Basque food, you are missing out on a great culinary experience.
The bigger Spanish cities of Barcelona and Madrid offer more Tapas bars than you could imagine and vary from classic dishes to modern fusion. We are really looking forward to trying all of the different tapas and get a good sampling of Spanish cuisine. And you can be sure we will be posting lots of photos and descriptions once we get there.
Photo: Rupert Ganzer