Off to the market

Back in Costa Adeje market!

Being still under German occupation, even Captain Clarke couldn’t face another frankfurter hotel breakfast, so we decided to give it a miss. Now, the thing is, we have discovered something. Whilst it is located in an area that is not plagued by shops and restaurants etc., Zena and Simon’s hotel is the centre of our world. Not only is it a much nicer hotel, but everything, and I do mean everything, that we want to do seems to be under 5 minutes walk from their hotel! The Costa Adeje market, for example, is less than 5 minutes walk in one direction, the beach is less than 5 minutes walk in another, our favourite restaurant is less than 5 minutes walk in another and, now we have discovered, a rather lovely tapas bar is yes, you guessed it, less than 5 minutes walk in another! We went to the market again – although on this occasion were a) prepared for the sun and b) did not walk a million miles! We like the Costa Adeje market. It is not too small, but not big enough to be a chore to walk around. It does get very busy at around 11:00, but otherwise it is not too bad. We made a couple of purchases, (belt, shoes, etc.), and made our way back towards our hotel.

Bar Pata Negra

Now, I should mention this tapas bar at this juncture. Called Pata Negra, (black foot), after the very best Iberian Serrano Ham, it is on the edge of yet another shopping centre. This time the ‘Shopping Fañabe’ centre. There are a few bars along the roadside and we pass this shopping centre on the way to either Zena and Simon’s hotel, (obviously!), or the Costa Adeje market. I don’t know why I liked the look of it compared to the other bars. It doesn’t look that much from the outside, but I did see a few locals in it, so decided to give it a try on the way back from the market. We popped in for a coffee and it completely lived up to expectations. They chap was friendly, the coffee was great, so we decided we would return there for lunch.

Captain Clarke with a large gin!

We went back to the hotel and dropped off our shopping before returning for a quick look around ‘Shopping Fañabe’. There is a shop selling shorts and shirts in the shopping centre, (as there is everywhere), and I asked the shop keeper if he had any shirts that were cotton, (all of those that I could see were polyester). “What? At that price?”, he replied. (“Que? Con este precio?”), I pointed out to him that I was quite prepared to pay more for a cotton shirt but he wasn’t happy. Why didn’t I want to buy his cheap shirts? Didn’t I think he had thought about cotton? Nobody would pay the price! I decided that this wasn’t a shopping centre for me, thanked him and left. (I wouldn’t bother with ‘Shopping Fañabe’!). I did, however, remember that I really had wanted something else at the market. Captain Clarke said he didn’t want to come, so we arranged to meet in the tapas bar, Pata Negra. I nipped into the market and returned to the bar to find Captain Clarke well ensconced with a large gin!

We decided to have lunch in the bar. I ordered a ‘tosta’. In Cataluña it is called, ‘Pa Amb Oli’, but here they just call it ‘Tosta’. Basically, it is bread toasted, rubbed with garlic, then with tomato, (a special kind of tomato), and then topped with a topping of your choice. I chose Serrano Ham, (obviously). Captain Clarke chose a light lunch of Gazpacho, (cold tomato soup), which was home made and very good, (although it did need a little more vinegar), followed by pork chop with salted potatoes. It was all very good indeed. Highly recommended!

El Tren

After lunch we decided to be a bit touristy and go on the train around the resort, (you know the kind of thing a little train, which is actually a modified car or tractor, pulls a bunch of carriages around the resort). It didn’t go as far as we thought, but it was a very pleasant 45 minute tour of Costa Adeje and Porto Colon. The chap who drove the train was very friendly and seemed to speak a multitude of languages. He actually had a conversation with a Dutch family on the train, another with a French couple, the inevitable Germans and he insisted on speaking to us in English, which was also very good. I’m not sure how someone with this level of proficiency in several languages becomes a tourist train driver, but he is definitely qualified!

Sunset over the bay on Costa Adeje

Sitting on the hotel balcony I decided to try and capture the sunset. Great Uncle Bulgaria currently holds the star prize for the best sunset photo which he took in Belize, I think. In any event, it beats mine of the Chinese Fishing Nets in Cochin, (just!), but he definitely holds the record. I did attempt a sunset from the balcony, but I’m afraid it isn’t going to take the mantle! Those that will be in Cochin in the near future, I am expecting good things!! Those who will be here in the not too distant future – do better than I did!!

For our evening meal we decided to stroll out on the beach promenade and see what we fancied. Actually, I think we both knew that we would return to the Restaurant Azar, but we sort of pretended we didn’t. We strolled all the way up the promenade, way past all the restaurants and bars, until we could see the old fort on the hill. I don’t actually know what this fort is, (Google hasn’t helped), but it looks very pretty lit up at night.

Restaurant Azar

We returned, (as could be predicted), to the Restaurant Azar where, once again, we had an excellent meal. We both order very rare fillet steaks with bearnaise sauce. The steaks were perfectly cooked and the bearnaise sauce was good, (although I would argue not home made). We washed it down with a bottle of Rosé wine – which, incidentally, almost always comes from Cataluña here, which is a bit of a surprise as there are quite a few good wine areas in Spain that produce Rosé wines. We finished the meal with a couple of, very decent, Cortados, (small Spanish coffees for those that don’t know them), and Captain Clarke had a small brandy – actually, he finished the bottle!

More brandy for Captain Clarke!

Having finished our meal we strolled back to the hotel and into the bar. During the time we have been here, although we haven’t been to the bar every night, we have been a few times. Generally, at about 10:15, two very nice old ladies appeared and ordered a 103 Brandy, (Ciento Tres), each. One evening, early in the week, they complained between themselves that the brandies were getting smaller every evening. We overheard this and had a word with the barman, (Mateo), who promptly poured them much larger ones! We discovered that they had come out here with a small group who they had recently met and all played bridge. Each evening they played bridge until about 10pm, before going their separate ways. Our two ladies, (from Lytham St Anne), were nice old dears. One was very poor sighted and the other had Parkinsons, but they looked after each other well.

The hotel bar … under German occupation!

Last night was their last night. We didn’t really ever find out their names, but we knew it was their last night yesterday, so we decided to go to the bar and say goodbye. They were late and we thought we might have missed them, but the barman, (a different chap), assured us that he hadn’t served any ladies with 103 brandy. They appeared at about 10:30pm and I asked the one, “Did you enjoy the bridge?”, “Oh yes”, she said, “We always do”. “Did you win?”, I said. “Goodness no!”, she said, “We never, ever, win!” They were purely here for the enjoyment of playing and had no expectations that they would ever win! We paid for their brandies last night and wished them a good and safe trip home. It was genuinely so nice to see two ladies, each with their own problems, supporting each other and having a lovely time to boot!

It would be remiss of me not give a quick update on medicals. My blisters are no longer bleeding, (thanks to Compeed), my muscles still ache like hell, but we are walking at least 7 miles every day at the moment! The really important update though is on Captain Clarke’s man flu. It seems that he has escaped the worst of it and is now left with a sore throat and a very bad cough. He is currently doing a better impression of Barry White than Barry White does! We will be going out shortly to visit a pharmacy, (they seem to have featured quite highly on this trip!), to obtain something for his cough. In Spanish, of course, I shall need to ask for a tincture for someone who has a very bad ‘tos’! It’s RudyMenTerry!