Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Above: Had to stop numerous times for a delicate tejas de almendra at Pasteleria Fantoba
Any reasonable, sentient person who looks at Spain, comes to Spain, eats in Spain, drinks in Spain, they’re going to fall in love.”
Anthony Bourdain
Guess I’m a reasonable, sentient kind of girl. But, after three weeks, the time arrived to pack our bags and hop a train out of Zaragoza.
Continue reading “Postcard from Zaragoza, Spain: ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’”
Above: Well-muddled mojitos at Gran Cafe Estrella de Cuba
Gathering for lively conversation over cocktails seems important in Zaragoza, and not just for young late-night partiers spilling out of tapas bars crowding the narrow streets of the city’s famed El Tubo district. People like us, canosos (gray-haired), jockey for hard-to-score tables on neighborhood plazas with college students and families with baby carriages to enjoy beer, wine and gin and tonics at all times of day – our kind of place.
We were there in the late spring, and, with COVID restrictions just loosening up, the few tourists around barely had a chance of winning the competition for outdoor spots. Maybe we were witnessing the first exuberant gatherings locals were having with friends and family they had missed seeing, their first opportunities to finally escape their apartments after the long lockdown, their first reunification with vices given up for Lent. Perhaps this is simply the year-round pursuit of happiness in Zaragoza – a good way to live.
Continue reading “Postcard from Zaragoza, Spain: Cheerful toasts echo around plazas”
Maundy Thursday. A holy day of obligation when I was little, but certainly not a holiday universally celebrated in Virginia Beach.
Maundy is derived from the above Latin. Yes, I am of such an early vintage that Mass was still conducted in Latin. That doesn’t mean I understood it. I thought novum do vobis has something to do with Nabisco vanilla wafers, which would have been a welcome substitute for the dry hosts adhered to the roof of your mouth at the Communion rail.
But here in Zaragoza, where we landed on Wednesday, Holy Thursday is big, the launch into a four-day holiday weekend. Thursday is commemorated as the day of the Last Supper, when Jesus informed his apostles one amongst them was about to betray him.
Continue reading “Postcard from Zaragoza, Spain: Mandatum novum do vobis….”
Postcards from Barton Springs 