We wanted to get away from Barcelona for a few days and have a well earned rest and we decided to hit the road. So, we start out on Monday afternoon and get to Sacedon in the evening after roughly 6 hours behind the wheel.
My poor Golf TDI could only manage between 80km and 120km/hour as the turbo died en route. The car was ok but climbing hills made for a few strange looks from Spaniards buzzing past us in Seat Marbella’s and the like.Slightly embarrassing to say the least especially when people thought we were going slow on purpose!
Anyway, we reach the town of Sacedon in the autonomous community of Castille La Mancha and province of Guadalajara and find that we are just in time for the town’s “fiestas”. There wasn’t much to do but get some well earned rest and think about Tuesday, the next day.
We got up in the morning and go to “bar España” – a typical name for a bar in the region, to have some breakfast which consisted of a cafe con leche and two pieces of toasted bread. We opted for tomato and olive oil to spread on the bread rather than jam which was a welcome change. The folks down these parts don’t know what they are missing regarding pa amb tomaquet in Catalonia, I can tell you.
After breakfast a quick walk around the town was in order before going off to a small town around 14 km away called Alcocer to have lunch at the wonderful Casa Goyo restaurant.
This place believe it or not is one of the best restaurants that you’ll eat in for the price. We reserved a table just in case and the six of us set out for Alcocer which only has around 313 inhabitants. The setting was beautiful and we sat down to look at the menu. We have been here before and know the owner, Antonia who later came to have a chat with us. They have such delights as Migas (delicious breadcrumbs) here, accompanied by either egg or grapes – totally off the radar food and very traditional!
We opted for the daily menu this time as we know the size of the portions in this place – astronomical. The menu was a very affordable 13 euros per head and i opted for the home made Gazpacho as a starter and the Pork Tenderloin in Tomato for the main course. The dessert was an amazing fig puff pastry dessert with walnuts – again, totally off the radar and very delicious.
To accompany our meal we chose a young house red which went rather well with the tenderloin. As I mentioned before, the thing about eating at Casa Goyo are the sizes of the dishes – gigantic. There was a family eating behind us and when they brought out the “cream caramel pudding” for four people, they collapsed on the floor laughing and promptly got out their iPhones and Samsung Galaxys – this flan was that big and more like a flan for 12 than for four!
Antonia came up to our table at the end of the meal and after having a little chat she very kindly let us look around the Hostal España Casa Goyo she runs in the same town, literally 25 yards away!
If you follow the link you can see pictures of the beautiful rooms you can stay in if you’re ever in this part of Spain. Each room is named after a daughter – very cute.
Wednesday was going to be the day we left for Catalonia but we were all tired and so decided to stay another day in Sacedon. it was also the final of the Spanish Super Cup too and so a trip down to Bar España in the evening was in order!
We ended up in Madrid during the day and found ourselves in El Corte Inglés in the area of Campo de las Naciones in the district of Hortaleza having lunch. As we were eating we remarked on the style of dress of the Madrileños or the Madrid people and found it to be a little more “upmarket” than what we are used to in Barcelona and Catalonia. I have been to Madrid on many occasions and have made this comment on many occasions – it seems that the people from Madrid seem to “dress up” more.
The bill came to 10 euros short of what we paid in Alcocer in Casa Goyo and although the food was good, you just couldn’t compare it.
After a bit of shopping in one of Madrid’s many shopping malls – we went to Plenilunio in the residential area of north west Madrid, it was back towards Sacedon to see the match.
As we all know the match ended 2-1 in Madrid’s favor and therefore won the Spanish Super Cup. One of the highlights was after the match when one of the “Madridistas” inquired if Shakira was going to be singing after the match in the Santiago Bernabéu. one Barca supporter was not impressed but it was all good clean fun.
After the match it was party time in Sacedon and the band that had been so patiently waiting to come on and rock the town, could finally get their music under way. The singer was a sort of Spanish luis Miguel and he showered the town with all the favorite tunes both old and new!
That was it, Wednesday was over and Thursday was going to be a trip of some 600km back to Barcelona. off we went to get some rest.
Back to Catalonia it was then, not one day more as Friday we had some important things to attend to. The poor Golf TDI was pretty much the same but made the journey fine – I think I must have saved on diesel too as we did some 950 kilometres on a full tank. I suppose that’s a bonus you earn for traveling between 80 km and 120 km/hour.
