This blog is to share with you some of my enjoyable times of my life. I talk about things I love to do and adventures I have gone through. I take the liberty to recommend places, activities and food that in my opinion are worth to try.
This is just a tool to help you to make your own decisions when you are ready to go to those places (obviously from my own point of view).
Spanish version: http://igotita-disfrutandodelavida.blogspot.com/
Showing posts with label saint valentine´s 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saint valentine´s 2010. Show all posts
The restaurant we reserved for lunch time on Sunday 14th. Was Almenara de Catalucia.
Once there Ana María greeted me as if she'd known me a lifetime, that wondered me due we had seen each other just in our first visit there on November. She explained me they had seen my post at my blog and Willy was willing to talk to me. Nice! Hehehe.
We were there a bit early, so we took a snack at the bar. Willy came very excited about the post. I told him I just had been honest. (This is the way it is).
The restaurant was full. We taste new things: octopus, grilled vegetables, rice with mushrooms and shrimp… Mother of God! A delight! As dessert: chocolate cake and a crepe.
I should confess that week, as far as I had car and time, had gone several times to Almenara. This meal is a vice! I insist, after all is good not to have this restaurant close to home! Otherwise I´ll endorse my salary to Willy! ;P
Here some pics:
On Wednesdays Willy has “cocido madrileño”… O H M Y G O D!! I could bet there´s no better one. Curro had tested cocido madrileño of “la Daniela”, that is famous as the best cocido madrileño in Madrid and he told me the savor is very alike, but you can note Almenara´s one has better quality ingredients. Otoh: at La Daniela it costs 21,755 euros, in Almenara 10 euros and we think Almenara´s one is bigger, but in La Daniela they give you more for free if you want.
So! I am about to proclaim myself the No. 1 fan of Almenara! Actually once, eating a risotto, crossed my mind that God exists! And he should be training Willy as his official chef! I only hope that he won´t call him for sooo long for the job! ;P
An especial mention to Ana María and Stefan, the waitress, which even having the restaurant full, always have a smile for you.
On Sunday 14th. after breakfast, we did the check out and went back to Madrid. We had already reserved for lunch and we went out of the hotel soon just in case the traffic would be so heavy.
We were lucky, almost no traffic, so we were closet o the restaurant 2 hours before of the time we had scheduled the reserve, so we decided to go to visit the mall Xanadu. We still didn´t know it.
In fact I'm not the kind of person who likes to spend the day at the mall. Actually I´m not even a malls fan. But… I liked this one! You see, it has a lot of leisure places, is quite big, so, it has quite a lot of stores but also restaurants, cinemas and…
A bowling:
A karts track!
And its emblematic snow zone:
The prices are not low, but comparing with going to a real sky slope, seems to be better. A friend of mine told me this was great for people just starting skiing, due it´s a safer place.
What I didn´t like was how crowded it was. I know, the place is successful, especially on a carnival Sunday plus Saint Valentine. I should go again in a different day or date to check it.
We arrived at the hotel just in time to take a short shower, put on the swimming suit, the towel and to go down to the Spa.
We were lucky and were the only ones at the spa at that time, 23.00, we had it just for us for an hour more or less.
Actually it was a magic view: big candles in strategic places, the light was off, just the one of the pool was on… definitely a nice atmosphere!
We tried to go inside the pool first… but! It was with cold water! :/ I was so wondered about that, it has a big jet, for you to place under it to have a massage at your back… and you see, this kind of jets supposed to be with hot water! Just natural ones (like in Salto el Hacha in Canamia Park) ;P that usually are in hot places, could be with cold water and even then really help you.
So, if we can´t go straight to the pool, we went to the Jacuzzi. Point is if you take out the pool of the Los Enebrales Spa options, you just have the Jacuzzi, the sauna and a shower with small jets for hydromassage. I usually don´t like saunas… so I just had the Jacuzzi and the shower… that was with cold water as well! :/
So, we start with the Jacuzzi. Yes, I already mentioned that, I´m a Jacuzzis fan, but you see, you shouldn´t be in the Jacuzzi longer than 20 minutes. This is due the temperature of water at the Jacuzzi should be between 38 to 40 C. degrees and you have the risk of having problems if you stay longer. The same with alcohol, you shouldn´t drink alcohol while being inside a Jacuzzi (no matter what you watch on tv)… but the night spa included champagne and strawberries! (And where you could take the champagne if the pool is with cold water, eh?) (Hem… no, the sauna isn´t a valid option for alcoholic drinks).
Well, we had been “more or less” good and “responsible adults” ;) so after been a while at the Jacuzzi (yes, it was more than 20 mins, I confess), we went a bit to the pool. Curro was able to swim and enjoy the jet, no my case, it still was so cold for me.
The strawberries we had were just in pieces for eating them without forks. Around 24.00 came more couples and they gave them strawberries with chocolate… so I asked for that as well! ;) Also I should complain about the rule of wearing caps… nobody but us used them! Gggggggggrrrrr!!
Any way, it was a nice experience. Could be better. Actually I thought it had a better Spa. Specially being the Spa the first attraction of the resort, at least could have better prices, you see, the prices of the Spas I usually go in Madrid are better and the quality is completely another lever (I´ll talk about them in future posts). :)
Upon leaving the Restaurant Mesón Castellano, we both understood differently the waitress´ instructions. Looking for the restaurant we saw more nice places, just that it was already night. We enjoyed, for example, the view of the Escalona´s Castle.
We also saw a nice church, but we had no time to go out of the car to visit it or to search its name:
After asking a couple of times, finally we found the restaurant and it was not bad, but not well enough to put it on the blog. ;P
We finished dinner around 22.00 and we had reserved a night SPA at 23.00, so we went back to Los Enebrales. Going on the road, that was with no lights as far as it was a county road, Curro told me to park the car for a while. Actually I´m wondering why I did it without questioning it, it was night, in the middle of the road, with no lights and very cold. He told me to turn off the lights and to go out for a while… so, well, then I asked! ;P He replied it was for watching something that sadly is not possible to watch in Madrid: the stars at the sky! We had been watching the sky a bit… but just a bit, it was so cold!
We went from Asador Escondido to Guisando. We would liked to have a bit more of time for walking a bit around Burohondo and in my own case, to have a look at La Fonda del Arte that from outside seemed to be a nice place… and afterwards, checking it by internet… God! How I missed it! :/ But well, we were almost loosing the day light and it was needed for watching the Bulls of Guisando.
The Bulls of Guisando are 4 stone bulls done by the Vettones around the II or I A.C. century. There´s no explanation about why they did them. There are a lot of things worth view in Spain! I haven´t heard about them before, it supposed to be mentioned at Don Quijote, but actually I had read it and I don´t remember that. But well, you see, I had read it when I was a teen, without internet, so, no easy way to resolve doubts! ;P
After watching them we went to Maqueda, there was the Restaurant Mesón Castellano, the place Julio recommended us for dining. It seems to be really good, once there the waitress told us they had no space for us, all was reserved a month ago. So, it should be one of the best places of that area. The same waitress told us about another place close there.
Here some of the views from the road, going from Burgohondo to Maqueda:
Yes, I know, Miguel Bosé at the background there is a bit strange… point is I´m a fan and it was what we were hearing during the travel! So, maybe chill out music would be better for the video, but…
We found Asador Escondido at 11870.com. It was with good recommendations and also was in our way back to Los Enebrales.
Even having the indications about how to get there, it was a bit difficult to find (it makes honor to its name!) Burgohondo is a small village, but in a place with a great views.
When we finally arrived there, it was already 16.30 and in Spain the kitchen is usually closed at 16.00. So, Curro went first to ask if it was still possible to eat there. We were lucky; the kitchen was already close but the owner allowed us to stay anyway. From here on, it was like if we would be friends since time ago and he would be willing to show us the best of his cooking! :D
At the beginning we didn´t know the ones attending us were the owner and his son. Since the beginning they were trying to give us good advice about how and how much to order and that is not really usual, so it´s something we appreciate a lot.
At the back of the menu you can read this:
In resume, it says it is a village restaurant, where you will find normal village food, but done with quality products and made with love. You wouldn´t find new creations there, neither they will change your silverware while eating. The place is unpretentious, but with good food and good prices.
The food was great. You can note the good quality of the products. All we ate was nice. Between each dish, Julio and his son went to ask us if it was ok for us and to talk a bit with us about the place and the village. I don´t remember how, we talked about internet, so we told him we found the place due 11870.com and Curro mentioned that I have a blog (I usually don´t like to mention it)… so! From here on it was like if we would be lifelong friends meeting again after a long time! :)
We had been talking a long while and we also asked him about a recommendation for going to din that night. He also told us some nice tourism places.
We continued with our travel, delighted to have known that place.
We arrived to Avila, which was more quite of what we thought. It wasn´t our first time there, this is a place I like a lot, so I usually take there my visits from out of Spain.
We made a car ride around the wall, thought about doing it also walking, but it was a bit late for eating, we could have the risk of finding the kitchens already closed if we delay more thinking about where to go.
Here the video:
We had not a real idea of where to eat, but we did wanted a peaceful place, better if out of the city. Curro did a search with the iphone at the web 11870.com and we decided to go to a restaurant in Burgohondo.
After San Martín de Valdeiglesias we went straight to Avila, but at the road, just few kms. away of the city, we found this simple but nice Sanctuary:
It was very cold and even the water of the fountains, which was still running, started to create very pretty ice designs.
It wandered me to find there a 3 tellers restaurant, “Nuestra Señora de Sonsoles, Posada Real, Restaurante”. We went inside, it has 2 areas: one as a formal restaurant and the other one is a cafeteria. Both are nice. They have a dolls collection at the cafeteria plus great views to the city.
It was a very attractive place for eating, but we weren´t hungry already, so we just take a tea and a coffee. All the staff was very kind.
We also noticed there was a rural hostel that seemed to be new, just we haven´t went inside. We continued our ride.
We started the route in San Martín de Valdeiglesias. Actually we were searching a cashier, so we had to go out of the car and to ask to different people, everybody was so kind and nice.
By chance we found the castle, that is being repaired and is not possible to go inside, but what you can see is nice. Here some pics:
I went with Curro to the Resort & SPA Los Enebrales, on Friday afternoon, but the traffic was ok. Following the instructions of the web, it´s easy to find the country state where is located the hotel. Just you have to pay attention after Almorox, the sign to enter in the proper road is easy to lost.
The country state is big and in the middle of nowhere (you have 4 kms. at the road just to find out the entrance of the road that goes to the hotel, more or less 2 kms. more). Inside the country state is just the Resort that has only one restaurant.
At the reception desk, chocolates and champagne were waiting us. I can´t tell if this was a special detail due Saint Valentines or if it´s always like that.
The facilities are nice and cozy. Maybe the only one detail I would improve is that there is no lift, ok, it´s just 1 floor, bus as far as they also have not bellboys, you should carry on your bags by your own and if you haven´t pay attention to that detail while preparing your bag, you could spoil the relaxing weekend carrying your bag at the end.
The lounge, nice, when we arrived it was already night, the chimney was already on, as far as we went straight to leave the bags at the room and then back to the lounge, we were lucky to find out the sofa in front of the chimney free. We drink a tea there, watching the fire and went to meet the rest of the hotel after that. When we came back to the lounge, we released we had been lucky before! There was a silent fight for that sofa the whole night! :)
The terrace was precious; no doubt in summer time would be so nice to watch the sunset there.
Our room was a normal double one. Very warm, everything very modern, plasma tv, electric heating. I think due the design of the hotel, all the rooms have a nice view.
There are also suits with Jacuzzi, but maybe because I have a whirlpool bath at home, I didn´t thought the price different was worth to pay for having that kind of room. Here you have the rates to know perfectly what I´m talking about (and remember you have to add the 7% of tax to those prices):
Talking about rates, I should confess this time was a bit difficult for me to know how to approach this post. On one hand our stay there was very, very nice and all the staff were so kind, always with a smile at their face and good manners, great people… but on the other hand, talking about the relation between price and quality (the hotel, the activities, the place…) well… to recommend it or not to recommend it? That´s the point! :/ Well, now I´ll continue talking about the hotel and at the end of this post I´ll talk about this part.
The SPA, from outside and without going inside at all during that night, seemed very well, but I´ll talk about the experience there in another post.
The restaurant, very well atended, prices: normal ones for a Resort, but for me, high, especially if you take into account it was the only one place for eating inside the county state. Above this paragraph you´ll find some prices for having a better picture of it (the pics are for the room service, but don´t think the difference with the restaurant was so obvious). So, let´s do some calculations: let´s suppose you spend in average 30€ per person, per eating time, the breakfast is included and I´m thinking about not drinking so much wine or eating sometimes just a sandwich; 30€ x 4 = 120€ per person, just for food, for a weekend. And you still need to add the 7% of taxes! Yes, sure! You can also go to eat to Almorox, for example, just that you should drive to go there and if you were planning a relaxing weekend forgetting about driving and other urban life things, that´s why you selected a place in the middle of nowhere, isn´t it? But ok, you always can take your own sandwiches with you! ;P
There are also snacks at the lounge, the price of a sweet snack plus coffe is 4.5€.
The country state itself offers big spaces for walking, the landscape is this one:
You also have an events room out of the hotel, nice and with a capacity for 600 people. They seemed to be specialized on weddings and I could bet it´s the best place at that area for that. If that would be for me, I know other places with prices alike that would be nicer for me, or at least more charming, but in case I would live at that area and I wouldn´t like my guests to go far away of home, definitely that would be my option. (But take into account that actually I haven´t search).
A curious detail: they have ostriches there! :D
As activities, inside the county yard, as I said: walking, watching the ostriches, reading, playing board games (they have), the SPA (Note! You can´t use the swimming pool besides you pay for a SPA session!). Out of the place and thinking about not going so far away, there´s a paintball, just that I´m not exactly sure if a paintball does match with a relaxing weekend. You also can do a route at the closer locations (as we did!) ;)
Here the video of the hotel:
Just being there I was relaxed enough. Watching the prices of the restaurant and the SPA, we decided to go out the whole Saturday, with not a real plan, where the road to takes us :D (I love that!), we reserved a night SPA for Saturday at 23.00 and after drinking a Pedro Ximenez (it’s one of the few alcoholic drinks I like) with the fire light; we went to sleep.
On Saturday morning we´d waked up with no hurries. Went to breakfast, I liked a lot the presentation of it but you had no options, I mean, it was a fixed menu and you can´t ask for something different, but I think if you prevent them that you need a special food, they will do for you. I liked it, besides it was obviously not for diets! :)
Note: this is a breakfast just for one person!
So, now let´s go back to the part if I would or not recommend the hotel. This time I´ll divide it by concepts and not taking a lot into account the SPA area (that I´ll talk about in another post).
But first let me continue doing sums: we said just for food, eating there, staying 2 nights, talking about having lunch and dinner, no snacks (or having a snack and afterwards taking just a sandwich), it was 120€ per person. For the room, including breakfast, 2 nights in a normal double room, is 110€ per person. Till here: 230€ per person… but! You should add the taxes! Including them, it´s 246,10€ per person…. And remember! We haven´t even touch the water of the swimming pool!
So, if I recommend or not this hotel would depend on the following situations:
- You go there because you want to be a couple of days isolated from the world, almost not going out of the room (I leave this for your own interpretation…) ;) and as much going time to time to play something at the lounge, maybe a walk to watch the ostriches: well, not, I don´t recommend it to you. I know other places close to Madrid, Avila or Toledo with better options and prices.
- You want to organize a company event, the kind of going to do activities to encourage the comradeship and that, maybe even having the whole hotel just for you and not giving the people the temptation of escaping of there… Yes, in this case I recommend it, but if you let me think and search a bit more in google, maybe I found you other nice places with better prices! ;P
- You want to enjoy a good SPA, a couple of days for relaxing, romance and pleasure for the senses: no, I wouldn´t recommend you this place then, I´ll explain better why in the SPA post, but resuming, the same: I can recommend you nicer places with a better SPA quality and the same or even better prices.
- You are looking for impressing someone, that has no real idea about SPAs, showing her/him also that money is not a problem for you, maybe due you are seducing her/him and being isolated from the word is a plus for you ;P Yes! This is your place!
- You are looking for a place for your honey moon, you don´t think you will go out of your room so often, the price is not important for you and you want to ensure a very well attention, with all the facilities for making it a unforgettable experience… and the SPA is just anecdotic for you both! Actually just to have the SPA area just for you 2 (or almost), for a night, with candles and champagne: Yes! This is your place!
Following my story, as I mentioned, the idea was to go out the whole day, where the road led us! :D It was a great day, winter one, of course, that means we had 3 degrees but you see, something I love about Spain is that even in winter time you have blue skies and a shining sun. We were lucky to have a day like that! :D
This year we decided to have a big Saint Valentine´s celebration! Actually the point was the good chance of having that day on a weekend and also that we were needing a good relax, so, actually the whole weekend was priceless! :D
We started it with Sil (my daughter), on Friday morning (I haven´t to work and her University classes started after midday). She would stay at home that weekend (the poor girl! She would have the house for a weekend, for her own and the friends she would like to invite! Yes! She should be suffering a lot with the idea! Hehehehe) ;P Eh! She´s a very, very responsible 22 y/o lady! And I mean it! My family would be quite glad if I would be a 10% responsible at her age of what she is!
You see, we were celebrating her birthday and also Saint Valentine, the point is in Guatemala this date is not just for couples, actually there it´s the friendship and love day. I have great memories of my school days, at Saint Valentine everybody exchanging gifts, souvenirs, cards, candies… :D There it´s a nice festivity for everybody and not just for lovers!
So, we started with Sil since the morning, having breakfast at [h]arina. After that we went to the airport, my brother in law, Edu, his wife, Marta and my nephew, Mateo, were going to Tenerife and left me their car to take care of it ;P It was the first flight for Mateo!
After the airport, we went to lunch at T. G. I. Fridays (“Fridays” for its friends) ;P No, it wasn´t about being hungry after that breakfast! Well, actually we didn´t ate that much there knowing we´ll have lunch at Fridays.
I should confess I love good USA food restaurants (sorry, I won´t ever say “American food”. You see, for Latin American people, if you say “America”, you are talking about the whole continent, not just about USA. I know, even they say “America” instead USA and they say they are “Americans”. You see, for me Americans are all the people living in America, the continent, as Europeans are all the ones living in Europe. So sorry, but I won´t accept to use American for just USA things by my own). After this pseudo break of demands, I continue with my story :D So, I like a lot the good USA food restaurants! Note! I said “good” ones! ;P
At Fridays I always have problems choosing my food, because I like a lot of things. Btw: I had read a comment about this place, somebody complaining about how many chicken dishes they have at Fridays and saying something like “If I would like to eat chicken I would stay at home”… you see… I can bet that grilling meat and cooking eggs with potatoes is something quite common in Spanish houses, and anyway a lot of Spanish people ask for them at restaurants. Actually it´s something really different what you eat at a restaurant than what you eat at home (or at least this is like that for me, I should be in a real hurry to go to eat to a place where I find worst food of what I have at home and I should say that Curro and I cook pretty well). So, as I said, the chick at Fridays is very nice! (And I´m not talking about a waiter! Hehehe oh well… let me think…) ;P
Here the menu for you to have an idea of what you find there:
They also have special menus during week day’s midday, including a first course, a main course, dessert and beverage. Also, as in all the Grupo Vip´s restaurants, you could be part of the club, which gives you a card that gives you special discounts and promotions, like 40% of on dinners from Monday to Thursday, or tickets with a discount for another restaurant.
I also like a lot the atmosphere of the place, it´s normal in USA food restaurants to find very friendly restaurant staff. They´re also famous due making you to dance or at least to stand on a chair when they know you are celebrating there your birthday… like in mine in 2006:
I also like the decoration. At least of the one that is at “La Esquina del Bernabeu”, this one has great views of the cross of the streets Concha Espina and Padre Damian, here you can have a better idea of how it looks:
One of the things with more fans here are the desserts. For me the best of their desserts is… that you can take them home! (I usually have no space for desserts eating here!).
After Fridays, I left Sil at the subway station and went to pick up Curro to start our special weekend.
The restaurant we reserved for lunch time on Sunday 14th. Was Almenara de Catalucia.
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