What we miss from Southern Spain

It has taken a long time to produce this report. If you know the background, it becomes clear. We had to return to Switzerland from southern Spain quite quickly. And we had to leave a lot of things behind us that we would have liked to see and eat. And that’s why we miss the south of Spain especially.

What we miss from southern Spain

Quite simply – Andalusia we miss – the landscape – both the coast and the backland. The people with their smiling and happy faces as well as the fine, extremely delicate food in the form of tapas. Boy, boy, did we eat tapas. No, tapas in Andalusia taste better than tapas in San Sebastian or in the Barcelona area. Why? Because they are simply Andalusian tapas – period! There is no need for a rational justification – they simply taste good to us – full stop. 🙂

The Andalusian – a cheerful, friendly people

What caught our attention enormously – and also made us think – the Andalusian teenagers still talk to each other personally. I mean, they don’t type any meaningless words into a mobile phone – sorry Smartphone – press send and the impatiently waiting recipient immediately types the equally meaningless answer into his mobile phone. The Andalusian teenagers talk face to face – or face to face – with each other. A phenomenon, you mean? No, it’s real and it’s the way it’s done all over the country. You think maybe teenagers are doing this now? No, they also do it across generations! Old talks to young, young helps old, everyone sits together at the table and laughs, yips and jeers. The young adolescent Swiss could take a leaf out of their book.

Take a Siesta

Maybe the Andalusians are also happy and satisfied because they still have a siesta. From 14:00 to 16:00 every restaurant and bar is filled with families who get together and have lunch together. The office can wait during this time. And there is usually a lot of noise. Fathers come home from work and have two hours to talk to the family and children, play, be present. Look at the time constraints of Swiss families in comparison. Time and deadline pressures prevent anything like siestas. It’s not the lack of time or the pressure of deadlines that is the cause, but rather the need to work in a way that maximizes the return on investment – not to lose any time in closing a deal, driving a project forward, preparing tables and presentations. Poor, rushed, stressed Swiss. Another word might be burnout-optimized Swiss.

Tapas – variety of delicacies

Patatas Brava, Berenjenas, Calamari, Jamon, Tortilla, Asceitunas etc. etc. There are no limits to the variety of tapas. Regional differences can be very large. They all have one thing in common – they taste incredibly delicious. For 3-4 euros you order a glass of beer or wine in Andalusia and get a tapa with it. By this way, one can go from bar to bar in the evening for little money and by this way get the dinner. As the tapas are not small portions. After 3-4 of such delicacies, one is full.

Andalusia – the pearl in the south

Scenically, Andalusia offers something for everybody. There is sea as far as the eye can see. Fine sandy beaches just around the corner, rugged cliffs reaching far into the sea, forests of pine and cork oaks under which the bulls graze peacefully, dry deserts, mountains and snow. The variety of this province and the pleasant climate seduces to give the region the predicate pearl.

Conclusion

The province of Andalusia has captured us. The gentle climate, the lush green of the hinterland, the friendly and cheerful people, the good food have made us very fond of it and we say goodbye for the first time with a heavy heart to a small place on earth. We would have liked to stay longer – we would have loved to come back. And we miss southern Spain.

Among the impressions there are also photos of the northern part of Spain – more specifically of northeastern Spain. As we had to return very quickly to Switzerland, as mentioned in the beginning, there are now also some photos of Catalonia. We will not write a report about this part of Spain and the southeastern part of France. We would have a lot of pictures (about 4700 photos) – but too few words to describe this region from Southern Spain. 🙂