Casa Juan Marcos Visits Córdoba

In May we made a trip to Spain we called “The Plemsti Progenitors Invade Spain.” That trip sowed the seed for what would become Casa Juan Marcos Olive Oil. Today we return to visit our supplier during the 2023 harvest … among other things.

The Plemsti Progenitors’ invasion of Spain is complete!  Unlike the Moors, we did not stay for 700 years.  Thirteen days was all our wallets could stand, and then we returned to Southern Appalachia.  ¡Hasta la proxima España!

Rain has been a defining feature of the trip.  Before our arrival, I was reading articles about how low the reservoirs in Andalucia were with some being at only about 25% of capacity.  Apparently our presence brought them some much needed rain, so it was fitting that rain should wreak havoc on our grocery trip on our last day in Spain.

In an effort to minimize travel time on Tuesday morning (and to save money), we  moved to an airport hotel for our last night.  There was a large supermarket (Carrefour) located less than a mile from the hotel so all of us but Jim struck out to purchase bubble wrap, olive oil, sherry vinegar and flake sea salt.  

While we were in the supermarket, the heavens opened!  

Since we’re now in suburbia, there was no taxi stand, so I resorted to Uber for our trip back to the hotel.  I scheduled my first ride at 655pm with a driver that was “6 minutes away.” After the fourth Uber driver cancelled because the “streets were flooded,” we were thankful that Jim was not with us.  We texted him and he got the hotel to call us a taxi.  At 815pm, we finally got back to hotel!

I met Juan Martinalbo in 1998.  We were both Engineering & Construction Managers — me for Eastman and he for Intecsa-Uhde, the contractor we had hired to build a chemical plant in Spain.  Over the course of two years we developed a very strong personal as well as professional friendship.  Since leaving Spain in 2000, I have seen Juan three different times, but we had not seen each other since 2009.  On  Monday (our last day in Spain) we met Juan and his wife Isabel for lunch.  It was a great reunion, but one too long in the making.  We vowed not to wait so long for the next one. We also bemoaned the fact that La Trucha no longer serves queso cabrales (blue goat cheese).

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day for us.  We went to a street market before a late lunch in the apartment followed by a nap.  We finally made it to Retiro Park a little after 5pm.  We had a nice walk around the park before racing home before the rain set in.  We didn’t quite make it ahead of the rain.  The last four blocks were in the rain, but it really didn’t dampen our spirits any.

Botín is known as the oldest continuously operated restaurant in the world having remained open as the Botín Restaurant since 1725.

The Botín website offers a tour of the restaurant followed by set menu. While the tour is offered by a third party, I recommend the tour, but you need to book well in advance. Dinner tours are full through the end of June. https://insiderstravel.io/tour/restaurant-tour-madrid-botin-experience/

While it has been over 23 years, I have eaten at Botín in the past. It was interesting to be in the dining rooms when they are empty. Here a variety of pictures from our tour and dinner. The includes manchego cheese, roasted peppers with tuna belly, scrambled eggs with blood sausage and potatoes, ham and chicken croquettes, sautéed mushrooms and roast suckling pig. Dessert was lemon sorbet with cava.

When Jim and I went out to fetch breakfast at 10am on Saturday morning, the streets were empty. At night, things are very different. Here are two pictures from the balcony of our flat. One is at 10am and the other at 11pm.

Kim has become very enamored with the artistic squares she sees everywhere. They are made of wood, stone, metal and painted ceramic. Here is a sampling of the many she has captured on her phone.

Since we had reservations at Botin for dinner at 7:30, we decided to stop for a snack around 1pm. The snack was toast with tomato, olive oil and salt and of course a beer.

I’m about five days behind on this post because Monday was a very busy day that started at 9am with a 150 miles drive and ended with a gin and tonic at midnight.  In between we had to deal with a fair amount of walking in the rain.  Now, it’s a lazy Saturday morning in Madrid and I’m getting caught up. 

Granada’s Alhambra is one of the greatest monuments to Islamic architecture in the world.  It was built by the Nasrid rulers beginning in 1238 and additions continued for the next 200 years. In 1492 the last Nasrid ruler, Muhammad XII, surrendered Granada, and the palace became the Royal Court of Fernando and Isabel.  It was here that Columbus presented his plan to sail west to India. 

Here are some of the images I captured during our visit