Eating Out in Spain
One of the greatest pleasures of a holiday in Spain is eating out and enjoying the wide variety of regional and local dishes on offer. With your own transport from car hire in Malaga airport, you will have the freedom to roam the region at your own pace and experience a huge range of Spanish cuisine from simple breakfasts to full-blown three course meals to the delights of tapas.
You will find that meal times are a little different in Spain to what you may be used to. To experience the best atmosphere, it’s best to try to fit in with the local eating hours. This means not going out for your evening meal until 9pm, at the earliest! If you turn up at a restaurant any earlier than this, you may find that you are the only customers. Likewise, lunch (and more specifically the “menu del dia”) is usually only served between 1pm, when the kitchen opens, until about 3pm. A “menu del dia” is a value-for-money set lunch of three courses, often including bread and a small glass of wine or beer, for a price of between 5 and 8 euros. The best places for “menu del dia” will be packed out with workers at lunchtime and how full the car park is, is a good indication of how good the food is! Breakfast is usually a simple affair and may be no more than a strong coffee or a freshly squeezed orange juice and a “tostada” or toast. A real Spanish traditional breakfast is “chocolate con churros” (a cup of thick hot chocolate with piping hot fried “doughnuts” to dunk) and can often be bought from street vendors in the early hours of the morning.
Sampling different “tapas” is of course the best way to try different dishes. Tapas is simply a small “sample” of a dish but a couple will soon fill you up. You can ask for tapas to accompany your alcoholic or soft drink in any bar that does them. Sometimes it will be free of charge whilst other places may charge for them. If you come across a dish that you particularly like, why not try a bigger portion of it? A full size portion is known as a “racion” and this is often large enough for sharing between two. A smaller sized serving is called a “media racion”.
In tapas bars, the cold dishes will usually be displayed on the counter in a refrigerated cabinet. Hot tapas will be cooked to order in the kitchen. There may be a chalked up menu on a blackboard behind the bar or you may simply have to ask your waiter what tapas are available. However and wherever you choose to eat, having your own vehicle from car hire Malaga airport will mean that you can get to sample a wide range of Spanish foods.
Finding Your Online Wine Merchant
One of the most popular ways to buy wines today is through an online merchant. The online merchants are convenient and allow you to browse through the available varieties without ever having to leave your own home. Imagine how much time you can save if you can order a case of your favourite wine to have on hand for your next get together or just to have tucked away at home.
The first benefit of buying your wine online is the ability to search through a much larger inventory of wine than what is available in your local shop. In fact, when you are shopping online, you are shopping from a much larger pool of sellers than just one or two shops in your area. There is also a great deal of information about the wines that you are selecting. You can get an instant review of the wine that you are considering and find out what the experts are saying about your choice.
To find the best wine merchant for your business there are a few things that you should keep in mind. First consider the variety of wines that are available on the site and the information that is available to you about each of the bottles. A wine merchant that has a good selection and the knowledge that you need to pick a good bottle will have you coming back again and again.
One of the most difficult parts of learning about wine is the vocabulary. Choose a wine merchant that offers information for the beginner. It will only be a matter of time before you learn what each of the phrases and words means in terms of wine. The wine merchant that takes the time to explain things to a newcomer is one that will be able to offer a great deal of insight into the appropriate bottle of wine to choose for every occasion.
Finally, take a look at the prices that are available on each of the sites. You may be able to compare the cost of a particular bottle from one site to another to determine which one is charging too much for the wine. That is another of the great features of the Internet. Not only can you shop from multiple wine merchants, you can also compare and contrast their services and prices. You will never be caught spending too much on a bottle of wine when you take the time to do a little comparison shopping.
An online wine merchant can be a great benefit and time saver for you particularly if you are not familiar with wines. Learning wines and how to appreciate them completely could take years in the past. With the Internet, the world of wines and all the information you need to make great decisions on the wine that you will drink is available at your fingertips. In time, you will find a wine merchant that is as familiar to you as your local shop keeper. Why not choose more than one wine merchant to purchase your winesNULL