Can you guess where we’ve been again, last week?

Yes, you guessed right… to Spain. We just came back, and I feel I will need some time to adapt to life here again…
Anyway, we’ve had some great time and despite the changeable weather we managed to make some short trips in the neighbor regions, and most of all – we indulged in a lot of good, hearty food.

The trip started for us in Venice, Italy, from where we took a direct plane to Madrid. Traveling by plane is becoming more and more unpleasant (says a former plane fanatic, mind you). I have a piece of advice for all of you gals, who intend to board a plane wearing boots: just don’t. Put on other shoes. My poor boots underwent 3(!) in-depth analysis – meanwhile I had to be there standing barefoot waiting for the confirmation that my boots did not contain any explosive or weapon for massive destruction. All for the sake of our safety, without doubt.

Upon our arrival to Madrid, the weather was simply gorgeous (which I can unfortunately not say for the rest of our vacation), clear skies and warm sun. Nevertheless, in the next days of our staying I was feeling very happy to walk around with boots. The cold weather of Castilla y León or better said, of the northern part of Spain, is an unpredictable thing. I come from an Alpine country and yet it seems I had no idea what cold is – until spending some time in Spain. Now, every time I go to Burgos, I bring my warmest clothes. Lesson learned!

I’ve written about Burgos before, it’s the hometown of my dear Juanpi. It’s located in the north-east of Castilla y León, in the Meseta Central (“Inner Plateau”) and the proximity of the sea (cca 150km) paired with high altitude (cca 900m) produce extreme temperature ranges, low in winter (-21ºC was the lowest recorded temperature) and high in summer (with 42ºC as the highest recorded temperature). The city of Burgos (it is the capital of the province of the same name) is one of the perfect size, not too small, not too big: you can reach many places on foot or use a 100% clean public transport. I have some photos of the city for you, I will tell you more about it in the next article.

As always, we used the opportunity to make another small trip to my beloved region of La Rioja, the home of some of the finest wines of the world. I’ve visited an incredible wine museum and savored genuine local food in a typical restaurant of that region. I’ll tell you more about that soon, too.

There’s been a whole lot of home cooking as well, from stews to fish and of course, chorizo, famous spicy sausage adored and praised in Spain and beyond its borders. If the Spaniards are proud of something, they are proud of their food. The incredible variety of products grown in Spain contributes to a very rich selection of dishes and I believe it’s really a pity that most of foreigners that come to visit Spain only eat paella and already think they know everything about Spanish cuisine. Not that I’m saying paella isn’t a great dish. It surely is, I personally love it and prepare it almost every Sunday. But there’s so much more than that. The Spanish inland is home to some of the best stews I’ve ever tasted, not to mention the delicious roasted leg of lamb (or kid), stuffed roasted peppers, and jamon ibérico – the pearl of Spanish cuisine. I’ve taken some photos of what we cooked and ate, for you to get an idea what I’m talking about here.

All the photos were taken through the car window while driving… so don’t blame me about the quality!

So, that’s it for today. Come visit later on this week when I will tell you a bit more about Burgos!