September 15, 2023 Lunch - Meson Abelardo, Puebla de Sanabria Dinner - Rios Irish Tabern, Astorga
We had a rather full day today.
I took a few pictures of the room to explain how old historic buildings are being transformed into luxury eco tourism destinations.
We got dressed and packed some and then went to breakfast at 10:00. Suzette ate lightly. We each took bowls of granola with extra hazelnuts and raisins, but I also ordered two fried eggs and ate them with some tomato pomace, thin slices of serrano ham, and a buttered croissant spread with a fruit spread.
I also drank orange juice and a cup of earl grey tea with milk.
After breakfast we packed and loaded everything into the car and drove just east to a small family owned vineyard that makes totally organic wines, including a nice red with a majority of Mencia grapes at noon.
After a full tour of the wine making process including demonstration of the machinery we tried a 100% treixadura that was not very good, but liked the second white, a blend of Treixadura., Albariño, and lomerein joven (unseated) that was nice. Then we tried a taste of the same three grape white blend aged in oak and did not like it. The fourth wine was a red which was a blend of Mencia with two local grapes that was quite good. I like wines made with Mencia.
We bought a bottle of the red named Preto and started the long drive 3 hour drive to Astorga at around 2:00.
We knew we would get hungry so we tried to break for lunch around 3:00 to 3:30.
We decided to try for a restaurant in Puebla de Sanabria.
The first restaurant was closed but the owners were there and suggested we try Meson Alberado, 1/2 block from the Plaza. We were lucky enough to obtain a parking place just a few feet from the plaza and found Meson Alberado just a few steps beyond the square on a side street at 3:30.
Suzette ordered a beer and I ordered a Martin Codax dry Albariño.
When we looked at the English menu we saw sweetbreads was offered and immediately decided to order them.
Sweetbreads is my favorite organ meat.
We were served a large platter filled with a layer of fried potatoes covered with a wedges sweetbreads covering the entire platter sauced with a reduction of veal stock, white wine, butter, and a touch of cream.
I had never been served such a large a quantity of sweetbreads but dug in and finished all the sweetbreads with Suzette’s help and a second glass of Martin Codax Albariño.
This duchy was owned by the Duke of Albuquerque in the 1500’s, so it may have been the same family but it was not the same Duke for which Albuquerque was named. Suzette though perhaps, a great great grand father.
Before the sweetbreads were served, we split an order of five canned or jarred white asparagus served cold with a good mayonnaise sauce.
After the sweetbreads I ordered a natilla that was a rich yellow hue from the quantity of egg yolks in it. There was a soft biscuit instead of egg white meringue floating island and a generous sprinkle of ground cinnamon.
Suzette then drove us into Astorga through a thunderstorm to the front door of the Hotel Gaudi that is located in the center of Astorga.
In fact when we look out our window we are looking smack dab at the episcopal Palace that was Gaudi’s last commissioned work in the 1880’s across the street from our second floor window.
Looking to the left out the window we look directly at the main Cathedral, two of the most important buildings in Astorga.
The only room similar to this I recall was when we went to Bilbao and our hotel room was directly across the street from the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
We rested for a few minutes until 8:00 and then walked almost the entire length of the old town center to the excavated Roman thermal baths that contain some lovely mosaics.
I noticed across the street from the Roman Ruins a menu at Rios Irish Pub offering dishes of pasta for €5.50. I was beginning to feel weak, so I decided to spend the money on a small dinner to regain my strength rather than a taxi to take us back to the hotel.
So after viewing the Roman ruins we walked back to Rios and took a seat in a corner near the well ventilated front window and door where there were no other customers, sort of a no smoking area by default.
Suzette wanted a beer on tap and I saw that they had Hoegaarden on tap and remembered that we had liked that when in Brussels, so recommended it.
I then asked if they had Irish cider and the waiter pulled out a bottle of Manger’s, so we were set on drinks.
I then studied the menu’s pasta selection and finally decided to order a pasta with a marinara sauce and mussels and prawns.
When a full pasta bowl was served in a few minutes I was surprised to see three lovely steamed mussels and that the pasta was linguine.
It was a lovely bowl of pasta that Suzette helped me eat and made me feel strengthened and ready to walk back to the hotel.
After we finished our beer and cider and pasta, we walked back to the hotel on a different street to see a bit more of Astorga.
We went to bed at 10:30, but not before taking a couple of photos of the Cathedral and the Palace.
I ate three meals today, so I had a restless night, but things calmed down after I ate a container of yogurt to try to make peace with my angry bacteria in my gut at 2:30.
There were small diced cubes of garlic in the marinara sauce that I now realize I should not have eaten.
Bon Appetit
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