With its gothic streets, imposing cathedral and the sound of bagpipes, Santiago de Compostela makes for a beguiling destination. You could be forgiven for thinking you had arrived in northern France, or perhaps Ireland, (particularly given the tendency for rain here). But no, this verdant corner forms the most north westerly part of Spain, often referred to as Green Spain. Fans...
Prior to reading Kevin Gould's article in the Guardian, sometime during lockdown #1, which described Olhão as "a whitewashed village adrift in the kissing sea".., I had been blissfully unaware of Olhão and the Unesco protected Ria Formosa wetlands, that surround it. I say blissfully unaware because, on reading the piece, I found myself falling a little in love with...
No doubt, many will be familiar with picturesque Calella de Palafrugell; the heart winning bay region of Palafrugell; with its string of coves, bobbing boats and stylish whitewashed village where tourists from all over Europe, throng throughout the balmy summer months. A few years ago, we were fortunate to spend a season (8 months) based in Calella, whilst working for...
Perhaps not as picture postcard perfect as some neighbouring resorts, we love the hardworking, seafaring town of Palamos; with a salty charm all of its own. This is a real place, with real people and it is ALL about the sea. With a working fishing fleet, life in Palamos revolves around the quay, the auction and the fish market. I should...
Bath; a world heritage city of Roman and Georgian architecture; synonymous with Jane Austen and mineral rich spring water. Compact and overflowing with independent shops and places to eat and drink. So why has it taken me half a (long) lifetime to get here, when people come from all over the world to visit? And why did I fail to realise that the...
One happy result of this enforced confinement to our own shores is that we have been given the perfect reason to get out and about a bit more “locally” both to discover new places, but also to reacquaint ourselves with some old favourites. As my mum hailed from Shaftesbury in Dorset, we spent many a happy (often rainy) holiday in the...
The most important thing we learnt during our first trip to the vibrant city of Bristol, was that 24 hours in this buzzing cultural hub is nowhere near enough time to do it any justice at all! Ideally I should recount tales of our visit aboard the SS Great Britain. Our Illuminating tour of the “We the Curious” science museum, or...
Introducing the first in an occasional series of local heroes, featuring stories from people in Bedfordshire. A few years ago our Bedford based spanish friends introduced us to Catalan couple David and Agatha when they ran The 5 Bells, Cople. We would spend long afternoons over a glass or two of wine enjoying the traditional spanish Sunday lunch - paella. We were delighted...
We love visiting the seaside in Winter. Just before Christmas, we took advantage of the brief window between lockdowns that meant we managed to get away, albeit only for 24 hours (and under tier 2 restrictions), to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary! There’s not much to say about Southwold that hasn’t already been said. We’ve been visiting this quaint little town...
We had never visited Felixstowe until a few weeks ago. Never even thought about visiting it (Im now a little ashamed to say). My knowledge of the town was based soley on the 80’s soap opera Triangle, set aboard a north sea ferry between Felixstowe and Gothenberg and starring the gorgeous Larry Lamb (check it out – it, or maybe...
I once visited Amsterdam as a student. My friend Max and I hitchiked there from Wolves Poly for a weekend. As the saying goes “the bits I can remember are unforgettable…” Those bits were, namely; tall, friendly, beautiful people, a hazy place called Café Goa and the 24 hour VendorBurger machine… Fast forward to my next visit (more than) 25 years...
The recent “strange times” have provided us with a great opportunity for a 2 week house/petsitting assignment in Amble, Northumberland. We have come to love it here over the past few years; visiting family, spending Christmasses etc. We also wanted to spend more time in the “great outdoors”, so this was a dream gig! You may remember the blog we wrote...
Well, what a strange time we’ve all been having; grounded, so to speak. With adventures of the travel variety on hold, we have all found new ways (or have reprised old ways) of enjoying ourselves and keeping ourselves occupied. In our house it was quickly clear discipline would be required! Not a fan of to do lists, I keep a list...
The Taste of a Place – Tangier (Before I go any further, I feel I need to qualify what follows with this disclaimer, we were in Tangier for less than 24 hours, as it turned out. As such, this is a far from an exhaustive review; more a whiff of Tangier….) I had long been intrigued by Tangier. It all started many...
Our latest guest blog is from Lucy Bywater with a focus on green travel and the city of Marseille. We’ve been travelling in France for family holidays for years – Brittany coast, the Dordogne, Alsace, Pyrenees, camping, cheap gites, a bit of cycling, kayaking. About six years ago we discovered Marseille which seemed to offer something a bit different for a...
[audio mp3="https://taste-adventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Ein-Prosit.mp3" autoplay="true" preload="auto"][/audio] Have a listen To 'Ein Prosit' as you read Natalies blog for the full experience! This latest guest blog comes from our wonderful Bavarian pal Natalie. Natalie came to work with us at Andaluz whilst on her study placement year from the University of Bamberg. She was an absolute joy from start to finish; an amazing linguist, writer and...
Here's our dear friend Laura Blanco’s tutorial on how to make the perfect alioli, the quintessential Catalan accompaniment to just about everything! [videopress ovMhaBU8 permalink="false" autoplay="true"] ...
Here's the next in our occasional series of Guest blogs. This time from Michael Wilson, aka "our man in Melbourne", aka, my Uncle Mick!!! Mick, a trained chef moved from Bedford to Oz well over 30 years ago. He was my food hero, probably responsible for igniting my love of food and cooking. I have such fond memories of numerous, wonderful meals at the home in Waterloo Road and on family holidays we shared together. I remember the parents used to spend many wine fuelled hours talking about opening a restaurant. Unfortunately this never happened, but my cousin Lucie has gone on to run several fabulous...
Yes, Lisbon is lovely, but Porto – well, it’s pretty much perfect, in our book! Here at Taste Adventures, we are big fans of second cities and Porto is one of our favourites. We visited it for the first time, last year and having enjoyed it so much, returned a few short weeks later, hungry for more… Not only is the city...
Tapas. The word, or rather, concept means a lot of different things to a lot of people. Literally meaning a lid, a tapa is a small plate of food served in a Spanish bar. The practise of eating tapas has its own verb “tapear” and in Spain it is normal practise to meet friends in order to “tapear”. (In fact, it...
Here's the 2nd in (what will hopefully be!) a series of guest blogs from our good friend Lily de Ceuster. Lily is a resident of the beautiful city of Antwerp, which we were lucky to visit several years ago. We can happily confirm there's so much more to this city than all those diamonds...
Tucked in the very dry south eastern corner of Spain, amidst what is known as the “Mar del Plastico” or “sea of plastic”, (basically miles of greenhouses), Almeria gets overlooked by many overseas visitors, who fly into the airport and head straight on to the nearby costas. We first became acquainted with this small and friendly city, several years ago when...
We began our tour of Valencia as we begin most town and city tours; by heading straight to the Central Market. This gives us a feel for the city and its people – there is something so interesting about seeing what local people are buying and eating. Also, it usually a good focal point and a means to orientate yourself...
Love him or loathe him, its impossible to ignore Salvador Dali. We’ve been staying in the heart of what is known as the Dali Triangle; Figueres, Portlligat and Pubol, the locations of his homes and studios. Therefore, we couldn’t leave here without a few words on the subject… Born (and now resting) in Figueres over 100 years ago, his legacy is everywhere;...
Our recent “research” into one of our favourite Catalan topics (ie a bar tour of Barcelona) was curtailed by a nasty stomach bug, hrrmmpphh! However, it’s fair to say we have put some considerable effort into researching this particular topic over the past couple of months. What has become abundantly clear is that cava is a drink enjoyed by everyone, at...
My Girona (Or my 8 top reasons to visit this city) I’m a big fan of second cities. This Is Barcelona’s little sister and I have to say, I really like this city. It’s small, it’s welcoming and seems to be largely unspoilt by mass tourism. With its shadowy web of cobbled streets and medieval buildings, to its ochre coloured modernist mansions. From...
When we first arrived in Arcos de la Frontera (Cadiz province), some 14 years ago, its fair to say we knew no one, had no knowledge of local culture and our Spanish was minimal. So, in a bid to remedy this, we developed a simple strategy; choose and frequent a local bar, sit at said bar (Brian calls this “bellying...
The tradition of eating a large, cooked meal at lunchtime is happily still alive and well in Spain. No soggy prepacked sarnie at the PC for these guys! Not only has this been proven to be a more healthy time to eat the main meal of the day (the Spanish have always known this and the working day allows for...
The tradition of buying wine “loose” (en granel), from specialist wine cellars is familiar to us from our travels in Andalusia, where from time to time you come across a simple cellar/bar (usually in a sherry producing town), with 6/9 barrels where you can buy locally produced wine to take away, or sometimes drink in. Our favourite example being Bodega El...
We first visited the beautiful town of Pals whilst working for a cycling/walking holiday company, several years ago. Pals was one of a series of impressive medieval towns and villages that our customers passed through (albeit very briefly) and though we were aware of the rice fields and the rice dishes of the area, we had little opportunity to explore...
This guest blog is written by our friend David Marshall - pictured below with Kety. David and Kety have been our good friends for many years, they’re experts in all things Croatian and lovers of good food, wine and company! If you too have a love for a country, region, specific dish or type of cooking and would like to share it...
Hometown Hotspots Bedford, Bedrock, B’Town, call it what you will...
Local Heroes – Home Kitchen Vegan, The Indian Thali Company Indian food is, I think, my favourite cuisine (so far). It’s a bold statement, but I have a lifelong love of it. My parents, in their slightly unorthodox manner used to take us to The Grand Indian for our Sunday lunch when we were kids. At home, mum used to be a...
Local Heroes – Companions Real Bread Friends often ask me if there is any food I miss when I’m in Spain and am usually pretty stumped by this question (I admit to stashing the odd jar of marmite in my luggage), but over the last couple of years I have become seriously addicted to the sourdough from Companions and have found...
A few years ago, whilst living in Andalucia, I decided we should get out, meet new people and do something useful with our lives! I duly scoured the internet for voluntary groups, but volunteering didn’t really seem to be a “thing”, in Spain at that time. Eventually my search led to the Workaway site, which quickly piqued my interest. Workaway is...
A couple of months ago, I spied a post on facebook putting out a call for volunteers to help on Bedfordshire’s newly established (and only) community farm, Treewell Farm. The idea appealed to me on several levels; firstly I know how spending time in nature has positive mental health benefits. Secondly, I liked the positivity in the idea of creating something...
I have long been a fan of Lebanese and “Middle Eastern” food in general. I would get my regular “fix” at the fabulous café/shisha bar, Reem in Bedford High Street. However, when, much to my dismay, this closed down, I realised I would have to take matters into my own hands and started to make my own falafel and houmous,...
A couple of weeks ago, at a loose end on a blustery Saturday afternoon during this somewhat elusive summer of ours, we enlisted our Spanish friend Carlos (from the renowned wine producing region of Valladolid) to accompany us on one of the Vineyard’s guided tours and here’s what happened… We were met by our knowledgeable guides at the entrance to the...
I am very lucky to have family who relocated to this small and friendly seaside town on the Northumberland heritage coast a few years ago…Although I miss them very much, it’s a perfect excuse to make the regular pilgrimage, not only to see them, but to dine heartily on the fantastic seafood bounty of this proud, seafaring town. Amble, recently voted...
When in Catalonia, Aperitvo (or perhaps more accurately, aperitiu in Catalan) time, is officially my favourite time of day. In common with their neighbours across the border, in France, the Catalans like to meet for a drink “to open up the appetite” before a large meal. Traditionally, this would have been after Mass and before lunch on a Sunday. However,...
Taste of a place – County Clare Brian has the great fortune of hailing from the fabulous County Clare (“God’s own county” – don’t you know!), on the west coast of Ireland. Having friends and family there, we are fortunate to make regular trips home and of course, sample all the best that the area has to offer…. Whenever we visit Brian’s...
I have a confession – For many years, I had heard about, read about and had seen with my own eyes, the popularity of the fish and seafood “Marisqueria/Freidura” eateries in Cadiz province. I learnt that fried fish is the speciality of Cadiz, but even so, it took me a long time to venture into one…. At this point, I must...