100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go

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About 100 Places In Spain Every Woman Should Go

Product Description Patricia Harris began visiting Spain shortly after the death of dictator Francisco Franco and has witnessed the country's renaissance in art, culture, and cuisine as it rejoined Europe. Drawing on three decades of intimate acquaintance with the country, she leads readers along twisting mountain roads, down to the docks of fishing villages, into the shoe outlets of Elche, and out to the muddy saffron fields of La Mancha.     She takes you down city streets of Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, and San Sebastian to dark flamenco clubs, sybaritic public baths, endlessly inventive tapas bars, design shops full of mantillas and fans, and into a brightly tiled chocolatería for hot chocolate and churros at 3 a.m. She explores the art from Velázquez to Picasso, architecture from the phantasmagorical vision of Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Familia to the cool suspension spans of Santiago Calatrava.     She tells the tales of some formidable Spanish women, from a fourth-century B.C. goddess to a queen who wrested Spain from the Moors, to the twenty-first-century winemakers who elevated Spain's Toro and Rueda onto the world stage. Literary, sexy, whimsical, and even spiritual, 100 Places in Spain Every Woman Should Go is for the smart and curious traveler who wants to see Spain, her way. About the Author Patricia Harris travels the world researching books and articles about travel, food, and the arts for a variety of U.S. and British publications. But she returns again and again to Spain, partly because she likes the person she becomes there—the one who stays out late at flamenco clubs, walks windswept beaches, dances the sardana in front of Barcelona's cathedral, and eats a thousand delicacies she probably wouldn't have tried at home. A former arts administrator who directed funding for theater, dance, and the visual arts, she loves the anguished angular faces of Catalan Gothic saints, the enigma of pure color on a Miró canvas, the pulsing rhythms of flamenco song and dance, the buffoonery of zarzuela, and the poignant passion of Carmen. Her kitchen cabinets are full of smoked Spanish paprika, Spanish saffron, and bags of a special sea salt from the Costa Brava that she buys in Spanish supermarkets for less than one euro per kilo. She lives in Cambridge, MA. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 31 A Spanish Movable Feast EATING PINTXOS IN SAN SEBASTIÁN “A woman walks into a tapas bar” is not the set-up for a bad joke. It is, however, something you should plan to do wherever you happen to find yourself in Spain. The tradition of “going out for tapas” is a way of life in Spain—and the country's contribution to casual dining. Your visit will not be complete until you've claimed your place at a bar to enjoy a drink, a small bite of food, and the noisy, lively scene. Once you're in the groove, you may even find yourself doing as other patrons do and letting your paper napkins float down toward but rarely into the trash receptacle by your ankles. If you've eaten at tapas-inspired “small plates” restaurants outside Spain, you may think that tapas are a meal. Spaniards know better. Tapas are simply little treats that accompany a drink and they are usually consumed while standing up. (Beware of drippy tapas like patatas bravas coated with a thin paprika sauce or anchovies in a puddle of olive oil that can wreck havoc with your wardrobe.) Sometimes a drink will be accompanied by a modest free tapa—a thin slice of potato omelet, a saucer of salty marcona almonds, or a plate of freshly fried potato chips. A couple of tapas will stave off hunger until the typically late dinner hour, which is why you'll find tapas bars most crowded in the late afternoon and early evening. Spaniards enjoy a tapa and a drink and a chat with the person they are rubbing elbows with at the bar. Then they move on to another spot for a different bite of food and a fresh conversation. Going out for tapas is as muc