By now I've been in many parts of Spain and since I don't yet know the language I'm usually an observer. The south has many tourists and different nationalities living there but since I'm inclined to go to villages and small cities I don't meet many people other than Spanish. I didn't stay long in the south with the hoards of tourists and fancy resorts so I'm mainly in the north where it is also cooler. For the past week I was the only foreign license plate in the camping area and in fact I didn't hear any other language than Spanish at the festival in the last town although there were crowds promenading day and night. Here in this new camp I only see one Belgian motor home and all the rest are Spanish.
Main impressions are that they are great people for family life. Daddy's push their children's prams and walk with their arms around their children. They play ball games and joke around in the water. The children go out with their parents on their evenings walks and visits to festivals and they do go out very late often leaving at 11 pm or midnight and returning in the wee hours. The children definitely feel loved in the families I've seen.
The food here is a big disappointment for me. Almost everything is meat and it's fried and served with chips and the tiniest salad. There's no vegetables at all on the menu. Almost all the menus look the same. It's quite possible to get a 3 course menu for 10 euros in many places and that includes wine or water, even a bottle of wine for one person. The food is cheap but I love crisp veg and fish that isn't deep fried. All that fried food is telling on the Spanish figures. There are many very ample young women strolling around. They have that lovely tan skin so look better than stout people in other countries but they are really big often and of course a stout girl will be an even bigger woman. Naturally there are beautiful exceptions but I used to have a place in Spain years ago and can't help but notice how people have increased their girth even though they walk a lot and their main meal is at lunch time which is supposed to be the best time to have a full dinner. In the tapas bars there's a terrific selection especially in the Basque areas but if one is not a bread eater there's very few that are not served on bread. Of course Im generalising.
Cafe's here are kept busy. Tables are in the open and there's always people sitting there having a beer, a cinzano or coffee. It's very social and the men have grand old chats together the same as in Italy and other European countries that have good weather.
When there's music like at the many festivals all summer almost all of the middle and older age people get up in the squares and dance and they almost all dance really well with flair. Lovely to see how spontaneous it is.
I'm close to a place that teaches surfing and sports to kids and the patience of the instructors is great to see. They spend so much time helping little ones with their tight fitting wet suits joking all the time.
Lunch is obviously the main meal of the day and is not eaten until about 2.30 or 3 pm. Shops have closed at 2 pm and won't open again until 5 pm. Children are still out playing at 11 pm and people are strolling around when I go to bed around 1 a.m. In between hours cafes and bars are full especially the tables outside. Most sociable society enjoying a coffee, water and often a beer even early in the day.
There's probably loads more to add to this but that's it for today
