I had spoken to my friends and family that live in Los Alcázares about the Tapas routes that they have been on, but I had never been on one.
I had spoken to my friends and family who live in Los Alcázares about the Tapas routes that they have been on, but I had never been on one.
This was my first and I went with friends both old and new. We all met at the La Encarnación bar and hotel on the beachfront at 3 in the afternoon. On meeting at La Encarnación we were contacted by a few others and before going in for the Tapas we changed the first venue and walked along the beach to Mementos bar where we started our tapas crawl. We went to many bars and restaurants during the day, evening, night and finished in the early hours of the morning. The following are the places that I visited with my friends today on my first tapas route.
- Momentos: Here I had a steak roll with a small beer. It was very nice and a good start to the day.
- LA Tropical: Here I had a cold strawberry soup with anchovies. It sounded awful but I decided to try all of the tapas whatever I thought they might be like. I was glad I did as it tasted very good. Another small beer washed it down nicely.
- El Santo Baron: I had a steak and mushroom kebab with a honey mustard sauce and a few chips in El Santo Baron. It was again washed down by a small beer. The kebab was really good and the meat just melted in my mouth. I would highly recommend it to anyone else.
- Bariloche: In Bariloche, the tapas was actually a cocktail. The whole group of us were given a gin, melon and tonic cocktail. It did not last long and we were soon on our way.
- Las Cazuelas De Juli II: In this bar, the tapas was 'Frutos de Mar' or 'Fruits of the sea'. This consisted of a dish with prawns, crab and octopus in a white sauce, covered with melted cheese. I washed this down with a small beer. It was the best so far and I would recommend it to anyone. It was here that the wine that many of the party were drinking began to kick in and some of their singing voices began to loosen up.
- La Encarnación: In La Encarnación the tapas was mushroom in a white sauce served wrapped in ham and served on a pastry crust. Although it tasted really good and looked good it still reminded me of a posh mushroom vol-au-vent. It was washed down again with a small beer. Whilst here a singer and guitarist began to play and we were lucky to be here during happy hour and managed to get a pint at half price as well as our tapas. The wine, beer and cocktails had begun to have an effect on more of the group and more singing was shared with other customers. Whilst here we came across another group of people including my cousin Jill with her husband and friends.
- Juan Navarro: In Juan Navarro, the tapas was again very good, it was two small pieces of steak topped with cheese and a honey sauce and was washed down with a small beer.
- Los Barriles: As we approached the bar Los Barriles we were cheered on by tourists on the tourist train that were passing and some now well-oiled voices began to sing with more vigour. We sat outside of the bar in a covered area and had a tapas of steak with potatoes and a honey sauce. The singing here carried on and a large 10-gallon hat was procured from inside the bar with everyone having their photo taken wearing it. After this bar, we lost a few of our group, but the hardier of us carried on to the next bar.
- Legends: Our numbers were reduced again here although we bumped into my cousin Jill's party. The tapas here was a very small chicken wing with rice. Although it must have been a very small chicken and may even have been the wing of a gnat. My least favourite tapas so far. By now some of the party were singing with much gusto and whilst they were all drinking their wine I managed to sneak inside for a pint and a chat with my cousin Jill.
- Underground bar: By now the party was down to just 6 and although we realised that the Underground bar was not on the tapas route we ventured in for a pint as it would have been rude not to go in as we passed by. We were again joined by Jill and the remainder of her party. Whilst we were inside this bar, Jim managed to get his bike back from Vince and Jans' apartment garage and after this bar, he managed to make good his escape and cycled off into the night.
- La Ponderosa: The remaining five in the group arrived in La Ponderosa around midnight for a tapas. The tapas here was a piece of toast topped with bacon, fried egg, two small potato pancakes, and green pepper. To anyone who may have been to the late-night burger bars in England, they would have recognised it as something to soak up the night's alcohol. It went down a treat and was washed down with another beer. The landlord also forced us to partake in some free shots. The few of us remaining even managed to get a group photo before we entered the next day and made our way to the next venue. Unluckily for us, the Parlour Irish bar had shut before we got there around 1 in the morning so we retraced our steps to go to a late-night bar.
- Cocktail bar: Again this was not on the tapas route but we stopped for a few beers. Luckily, the karaoke singers' microphone was not turned up too loud. I enjoyed a few beers as Jan, Vince, Mo and Mick entertained the Spanish regulars with some renditions of their favourite songs. After singing a few songs and downing a few beers our numbers were again reduced as Jan and Vince returned home.
- Tiki Taka: Now down to just the three of us we went into Tiki Taka, this would be our last stop on the tapas route. We would have had a cocktail but after a walk down the road in the early hours of the morning, our brains had begun to fall foul of the colder temperatures. We forgot they were doing a tapas cocktail and ended up having a few pints instead. Having forgotten to have our cocktail here, we will have to go back to complete all of the tapas venues.
We finished part one of our tapas adventure around 3:15 in the morning, 12 hours after we started. We have plans in place to begin again at my apartment around 3 pm next Thursday. We all had a great day and met some very nice people. visited some lovely bars and tried some really good food.