More on Merida and Toledo
Well, today we're in Corduba, which is great, but I'm ready to write some more about Toledo and Merida.
In Toledo, we had some great food in the Trebol Bar and La Tabernita, both on the far side of the Plaza de Zocodover. Both were recommeneded by the Lonely Planet guidebook, but they sure steered us
wrong on Bacus. We had the Media del Dia (the lunchtime special, which is usually a good deal and provides lots and lots of food).
Pwhew, did it suck. M.'s bistek (steak) was gristly and awful. My food was memorable only for its extreme mediocrity. Heck, it didn't even rise to that level. And the wine with the meal was postively the worst I've ever had, anywhere. Raw and nasty.
But, hey, the other places recommended were just fantastic. We liked Trebol so much we went back again (and on a two day visit, given our constant urge to try out new things, that's saying something). It was comfortable, nicely laid out, and had a great menu.
Since the festival of Corpus Cristi was going on all week, they had a strange sort of canvas cover rigged up over a bunch of the streets in the town. I sort of assumed that this was for the processions through the town, but I could be full of it; maybe it was just to keep us tourists shaded and cool? :-)
Anyway, it was this strip of canvas, deocrated at intervals of 150m or so with sewn or painted on ecclesiastical symbols. It was about a third the width of the street, and suspended about 7m up, tied to ropes on permanent brackets stuck into the walls. Strange.
On to Merida. We had a great time there. It was a small enough city to feel comfortable (about 50,000 people), but large enough to have some variety. We had a bunch of good (if not great) meals, and just about everybody we dealt with was friendly.
We had some great tapas in Cafe Benito [check this in the book!] which is decorated top to bottom with artifacts of tauromania. There are stuffed bulls' heads on the walls, newspaper clippings, posters, pictures, just an amazing collection of bullfighting material. Yow.
I also got a haircut in Merida -- M. was along to ensure that I didn't accidently ask for a scalping, but it all went well. For eight Euros, I got a great cut. (To be perfectly honest, I usually cut my hair myself, with the number two setting on the clippers. This guy did the number two business, but then used a straight razor to clean up the edges. Yow, that's a steady hand.)
The various Roman ruins around the city are just fascinating, and the Roman Art museum is pretty fun. We kind of raced through it due to time constraints, but there's just something wonderful about standing on the stones of a 2,000 year old Roman road as it runs under the museum, down in the basement!
In Toledo, we had some great food in the Trebol Bar and La Tabernita, both on the far side of the Plaza de Zocodover. Both were recommeneded by the Lonely Planet guidebook, but they sure steered us
wrong on Bacus. We had the Media del Dia (the lunchtime special, which is usually a good deal and provides lots and lots of food).
Pwhew, did it suck. M.'s bistek (steak) was gristly and awful. My food was memorable only for its extreme mediocrity. Heck, it didn't even rise to that level. And the wine with the meal was postively the worst I've ever had, anywhere. Raw and nasty.
But, hey, the other places recommended were just fantastic. We liked Trebol so much we went back again (and on a two day visit, given our constant urge to try out new things, that's saying something). It was comfortable, nicely laid out, and had a great menu.
Since the festival of Corpus Cristi was going on all week, they had a strange sort of canvas cover rigged up over a bunch of the streets in the town. I sort of assumed that this was for the processions through the town, but I could be full of it; maybe it was just to keep us tourists shaded and cool? :-)
Anyway, it was this strip of canvas, deocrated at intervals of 150m or so with sewn or painted on ecclesiastical symbols. It was about a third the width of the street, and suspended about 7m up, tied to ropes on permanent brackets stuck into the walls. Strange.
On to Merida. We had a great time there. It was a small enough city to feel comfortable (about 50,000 people), but large enough to have some variety. We had a bunch of good (if not great) meals, and just about everybody we dealt with was friendly.
We had some great tapas in Cafe Benito [check this in the book!] which is decorated top to bottom with artifacts of tauromania. There are stuffed bulls' heads on the walls, newspaper clippings, posters, pictures, just an amazing collection of bullfighting material. Yow.
I also got a haircut in Merida -- M. was along to ensure that I didn't accidently ask for a scalping, but it all went well. For eight Euros, I got a great cut. (To be perfectly honest, I usually cut my hair myself, with the number two setting on the clippers. This guy did the number two business, but then used a straight razor to clean up the edges. Yow, that's a steady hand.)
The various Roman ruins around the city are just fascinating, and the Roman Art museum is pretty fun. We kind of raced through it due to time constraints, but there's just something wonderful about standing on the stones of a 2,000 year old Roman road as it runs under the museum, down in the basement!
posted by K at
11:39 AM
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