The West Commences: Last days around Almuñécar

Friday, March 23, 2018

Last days around Almuñécar

We had a slow start on Saturday. It was a windy, rainy day, so we sought solace in our old friend, the Mercadona. She did not disappoint. Plain on the outside, she's got inner riches, good inexpensive wine and liquor, Sereno ham, aged cheese, and this time wonderful ribs which Caroline found at a great price. We drove home with our booty and Caroline made Tillie's dry garlic ribs, a meal that warmed us in spite of the cool stone floors and cement walls of our house which would be perfect on a hot summer day but hold the chill of early spring. Caroline also used the two Seville oranges she had collected on the day we visited the Alcazar, together with the sugar she had been getting us to save throughout the trip for no clear reason, to make marmalade. We ate it for breakfast the next day. It had the real bite of the marmalade my family used to have for breakfast on toast with bacon. I tried to approximate the Boyce treat by substituting Serrano ham for bacon. It was great.
On Tuesday we drove to Montril to tour a rum factory I had read about. We began with coffee, cortados, and churros from a genuine hole in the wall churro factory like the ones they have for tacos in Mexico. The tour of the El Montero rum factory was good, the tasting also. We each bought a bottle. On the drive home we stopped in Salobreña to satisfy our curiosity about the place. The woman who speaks on the GPS we have has a way of mispronouncing the name that is so irritating and so often repeated it drives us either to distraction or uncontrollable fits of laughter. Finally we were actually there and happy to be so. It's a small town but parts of it are beautiful, the ruins of the castle are large and fun to walk around, especially when the wind is blowing wildly, as it was. It provides some good views of the town and sea. As we walked back to the car we stopped at small restaurant for a beer and snack. The bread and cheese were very good and the 'habitats con jamón alpujarreño' or broad bean with ham salad was excellent. It's a local spring specialty when the beans are in season. We were happy to have experienced a bit of the hood.