Spain Day 3 - Tapas and the Desperate Search for Tempranillo

We got up bright and early and hit the "gymnasio". It was fun deciphering the settings on a treadmill in Spanish and unfortunately the gymnasio was a pretty bare bones operation (save the jacuzzi).

Everyone was a bit anxious to hit the road to Ribera del Duero so RRR and I skipped breakfast in hopes of picking up something along the way. After miles of driving with nothing but brown plateaus of land for scenery we stopped at the first gas station and picked up some juice, water, chocolate mini-croissants (which I enjoyed and will continue to pick up as the trip progresses), pretzels and bbq corn. Yes, bbq corn for breakfast!

We kept driving and driving and driving and couldn't find an open bodega to save our lives. How frustrating! We eventually stopped for a late lunch at Bodegas Arzuaga - a winery, hotel and a restaurant. We enjoyed two bottles of wine from the vineyard. Sharpie, RRR and I ordered what we hoped was the local specialty of stewed white beans and ham; but alas, it was more like a black eyed peas with pancetta; tasty but not what we had anticipated.

I followed that with an omlette with shrimp, RRR had Castilian soup, Sharpie a salad with salmon and endive, Mr. RRR a very rare but tasty sirloin (he's a well-done guy so this was quite humorous) and Mitch had the best dish with an oxtail stew complete with golden yellow crispy fries. The oxtail was so flavorful and had probably been braised for hours until it was fork tender. We also found the potatoes to be so much more flavorful with a bit more texture. Delicious!

We piled back in the car and after more driving and futile attempts to find a bodega offering tastings we ventured into the quaint town of Penefiel. We also drove up to the Museo Provincial del Vino; a former castle in Castile which now serves as a museum. We snapped a few pics; had some espresso from the vending machine and basically waved the white flag on tasting and headed back to Segovia.

We cleaned up and headed out to have some tapas although with five people tapas feels more like appetizers than true tapas. Our first stop was La Taurina on the Plaza Mayor. We ordered some Spanish meats, Manchego, shrimp and garlic, wild mushrooms in oil (a bit too oily for me) and octopus with paprika.

The octopus was absolutely delightful! Thinly sliced and perfectly cooked; tender without being too chewy and laid over a bed of soft potatoes with a nice spicy kick from the paprika. The shrimp and garlic was later determined to be the best of the trip with a bit of a coating on the shrimp and plenty of garlic to make you want to sop up all of the oil with some bread.

We continued on to Plaza San Martin, where things were dying down a bit but we sat down in an outdoor cafe and ordered a second bottle of wine, a 2003 Tinot Pesquera from Ribera del Duero along with bacalao in pastry, stuffed peppers in tomato sauce and stuffed zucchini in a queso sauce.

The bacalao and peppers were in pretty much in the same tomato sauce but it was pretty decent.

And just when I thought I couldn't possibly eat any more we stopped at one more place, La Concepcion for a third bottle of wine and two desserts; one peach with peach custard and cardamon sorbet and the other two thin slices of dried apple with a tapioca-like custard sandwiched in between and an scoop of rich vanilla ice cream with a hint of cinnamon to round out the plate.

I must admit I am not a huge fan of Spanish desserts and this one in particular was pretty run-of-the-mill but I was enjoying the ambiance so much I decided to give it a pass.

Eventually we called it a night and prepared for tomorrow's big travel day to Sevilla!