Anchovies,asparagus or artichokes! — Águilas, Spain
Today we left Oliva and are heading for Granada. But rather than a 5 hour drive we thought we 'd stop off at Aguilas on the way. It is recommended in the "Rough Guide " as one of the best beaches in Spain. Well when we arrived it was raining . It apparently has 320 days of sunshine a year here but today and apparently tomorrow it is set for rain and cool at 18-20 . The campsite was very average when we arrived but the receptionist was lovely . She, like many other campsite receptionists can speak English, German and french very well. After we arrived late , to a fairly ugly site we thought we'd treat ourselves to some food out. We set off in daylight at 7 pm along the water front which after the first 10 mins was quite pleasant. We headed to a restaurant recommended again in the Rough Guide. On the way the along the waterfront path we got a great display of male Spanish stroppyness/ assetness. A man on his bike cycled went past an old man and a woman with a small dog. The man on the bike cycled straight " over " the dog and knocked him out of the way. The old dog owner started gesticulating and shouting and the bike rider came back and gave as good , if not better , than he got ! Great Spanish gusto. Then , we got to the restaurant, but Tim wasn't keen to approach it as there were a lot of men in the bar attached shouting aggressively at each other. We delayed our decision and went to a bar nearby for a drink ) while waiting for the restaurant to open as of course spanish time means they open at 8-8.30 ) and then realized the football was on and the shouting etc had been at the tv and in relation to that. When we got into the restaurant, it was a nice atmosphere with a lovely waiter. Tim, Oliver and I ordered the daily menu which gave you 3 courses for 16 Euros($25) ; the first was salad which included capers, tomatoes, anchovies tuna etc. Tim very kindly reminded me of when we first met........ I used to get confused and found it hard to remember which was anchovies, which was asparagus and which was artichokes.! So if there were anchovies in a menu I'd have to check with Tim which one they were of the 3 ! Amazing to me today of course since I am sooooooo posh I eat them all regularly. The food was good simple heart food- salad , chicken soup followed by pork loin. a taxi home ended the day well.