Discoveries that lead off course

The lurch for brunch

We have veered off the beaten path in search for brunch around our new accommodations. The places that seem inviting are not particularly offering what we want. When we thought we could walk through Green Point Park, the gate nearest to us was locked, and by the time we got to the open gate, there was no point traversing the park, we kept to the circumlocutory path on the pavement.

After the formalities, sanitised hands, temperature checks, and registration, we made selections from the menu and I was about to hand over my phone when I realised the menus were only available through a QR Code read by my phone. The Jason of Jason Bakery is assuredly not an Argonaut, but for your sausage, thy chorizo instead.

Sausages Española

You can presume if anyone tries something in Cape Town, there will be a copycat and I cannot speak of the originator, it might well be an agreement at the meeting of Cape Town chefs. For a few blocks down, they kept the kitchen open for us at Sotano, minutes after it should have closed.

Jason offered a downloaded PDF menu whilst Sotano on the QR Code revolution sent us to a web page and this time they were upfront with what they were up to. It would appear chorizo is replacing the sausage and the option will appropriately be called Spanglish Breakfast, a portmanteau of Spanish and English. It was good.

And now that we are by the seaside, Brian can get his salt from the sea, the table salt is not nearly enough for him to salt to taste, pepper to heat, and Tabasco to burn. By the time he is done, it is most definitely another meal that he can finish in style.

Holiday Snaps: Spanish flight of business

Haunts of times past

Walking up the arterial road Avenida de Tirajana is sometimes a spectacle, my hotel sits at the very bottom of the avenue at a roundabout that splays out into a T-junction which is part of Avenida de Gran Canaria; a ring-road that is probably the longest named street on the island.

Anytime I have missed breakfast which ends at 10:30AM I have walked up to Moby’s Restaurant where a Barbara Windsor-like matron serves with all concern and friendliness a good English breakfast with all the trappings apart from the dreadful black pudding.

Economic tombstones

In the last few days, I had the feeling the business was no more, so today, I walked up to satisfy my curiosity and yes, the restaurant space was up for rent, possibly a casualty of the Spanish flight of business confidence.

A few yards, I am thinking English today; yards before the restaurant, just before my hotel found the wisdom of having wireless access as a free service in the lobby, there was Café Punto, an internet café run by a gay French couple with full unrestricted access, delicious Spanish coffees and good chatter.

Again, the dreams of settling in the sunny climes of Gran Canaria seem to have been dashed by the economic downturn – the shop is up for rent too. Dino's little patio Tapas bar is still running though.

The tsunamis of misfortune

Whilst sometimes the business model might be responsible for the failure of many businesses, one sometimes has to take account of circumstances where the entrepreneurs might have done everything right but were overrun by extenuating circumstances well beyond their control.

Many other restaurants and services had become ghosts of what they had once been, premises gutted and For Rent signs hanging on the doors or glass panes that would not be like rich pickings for anyone who thinks there is an advantage to be had.

The desperate situation leaves me scared of entering any shop to purchase a camera, having once branded the traders carteristas (pick-pockets) in the good times, there is no telling how worse the experience might have become.

With sloppy Brits forgive the Spanish

As I got to the Yumbo Centre, I saw a big sign for The British Center and I made for the place to ascertain its authenticity. Well, it could not have been authentic by any stretch of the imagination if Centre were spelt in the American variant of English.

Then, it was not where it was supposed to be, it just was not there, maybe no one could pay to bring the big sign down. Whereas I had eaten pork pies in my mind long before I got there, a mirage it was like an oasis to the thirsty in the desert.

Fund Grube, the pseudo-luxury shopping chain of Gran Canaria could be forgiven for having signs reading, “We are on sale” when what I think they meant “We have a sale on”. If the Brits could not get their signs right I suppose you can forgive the Spanish for getting their contexts wrong.

My Spanish Indecision - Easter in Madrid

Madrid for Easter

A long weekend and my thoughts were in overdrive about where I had never been before. I had the choice between Copenhagen and Madrid, I ended up with Madrid because it had hotels belonging to the Accor chain which Copenhagen did not, I had decided on a 4-star Sofitel smack bang in the centre.

This means, I have still not visited a Scandinavian country ever, sad, but I have till now resisted every attempt to get me off to Norway for official business, I have cried I am from tropics, do not send me to the North Pole, that grovelling supplication has kept me out of those lands all winter.

Then to learn that Madrid would be colder and wetter than Amsterdam over Easter, it would make one think the weather travelled with me.

My flight over was quite lovely and as we approached Madrid the cloud cover was not so bad that I even took pictures from the flight being able frame in the shadow of plane I was in.

Per hotel per issue

I seem to have my share of problems with hotels no matter how will appointed, this time with was first the LAN connection which got fixed after the receptionist lost me an important write-up, I should have kept him miles away from my laptop.

The next day, suddenly, the television would not recognise that there were 2 guests in my room and so would not provide a menu of other service options, just television channels and no LAN link.

When I called reception about the problem, the man was about to start with telling me the service is not a primary hotel facility, I cut him off with a terse - Don't give me that kind of line, it is unprofessional and annoying to guests. My requirement is a room with a full service of Internet access and television services, please arrange this as you will see in my reservation request.

The television did not get fixed till the next morning, but I ended up with a free 24hr wireless LAN connection access, which was helpful but then some service-oriented businesses try to cop-out with a compensation offer rather than providing the service or ensuring the service is available.

Basically, I hate compensation, it cheapens the whole idea of expecting and receiving the service you have requested.

Doing Madrid

We have done a few things, good Spanish food but we have never been about to get a decent restaurant before 22:00 even when we got the reception who are slowly redeeming themselves to book a table in the restaurant that serves the best paella in Madrid. La Paella de la Reina 39 - reservations recommended.

The Royal Palace in Madrid has had my custom, a whole day spent looking through the opulence of Spanish royalty or possibly the rape of the people for the aggrandisement of the privileged few - sometimes visiting such places does tempt one to become republican.

After 4 hours of museum saunter, neck ache from looking up at frescos of megalomania and idolatry, masters by the hands of Goya, Valasquez and Caravaggio to name a few, my back ached like I had been given the Spanish Inquisition version of a back massage, thankfully, my cane did help in succouring the pain.

It definitely became clear why the Spaniards had the temerity to challenge England to many wars, many of which they lost, the Royal Armoury was quite a feast of weapons wrought to damage other fellow human-beings and how royal kids were groomed for a life of the savagery of war.

No flash photography was allowed within the palace walls which meant some rooms were too dark for photography to produce the best images, makes one wish for a camera that develop the real colour of the objects even in the dark, something like infra-red but more colour than green.

Another procession

As we returned to the open courtyard outside the palace, one long procession of religious relics, a guard of horse-riders, people in black and red hoods that could instil the terror of the inquisition, ladies in Spanish comb headdress looking almost too regal but definitely sophisticated - indeed, a Spain steeped in Roman Catholic rituals preserved in the formaldehyde of time - a sight to behold.

There is so much to do in Madrid, and we have hardly done anything, we sighted a cable car service (Teleférico) from the palace and went looking for the 2.5 kilometre ride the next day which was quite good - in all I have taken about 500 pictures, it is possible to suffer repetitive strain injury just clicking away with amateur paparazzi abandon?

Visit my Photo Album to see Madrid and Madrid Tour, I still need to give descriptions to most of the material and there are still about 400 pictures to upload.