Two trips to Spain in October. The cigar situation etc.

[Ryan]

I went to Spain twice in October. The first time a 5-day road trip around Malaga, Seville, Jerez, Cadiz and Gibraltar. I had some people to meet in those places and an old school-friend/chef came with me so we made a sort of gastronomy tour of it as well.

I saw quite a few cigar shops. After picking up the car in Malaga, we made a quick detour over to Torremolinos to see Cava San Miguel, I know the owner, Frank. They are usually one of the best stocked shops on the Costa del Sol. I found a box of 2005 Trinidad Fundadores there in 2017. Not much there this time in the way of full boxes. He dug out a box of 2020 Trinidad Media Luna for me, and that is where I found the Ewee cutter I had been looking for and some lighters. After that, back in the car and up to Seville for two days.

I had cigars waiting for me there, mostly Spanish releases, jars and Tauromaquia etc. We had lunch with one of the retailers, he and all the other (5 or so) shops I visited in Seville had the same story. Not much stock, no Cohibas, they believe the Chinese are buying them all up, that and the black market. Though they are all well aware that Cuba has problems too.

Dinner in Seville was the 10-course tasting menu in Ispal. Interesting menu, all local produce and wines but they’re not quite there yet. Though I got to have my first (and probably last) rabbit kidney.

Same story in Jerez and Cadiz with stock in the shops. Not many full boxes, no vintage in shops where I found full boxes of Grandes de España and 20-year old boxes of H. Upmann No.2 not that long ago. No Cohiba to speak of.

Gibraltar on Saturday and Sunday. A long lunch of Beef Wellington with Albert (and other friends) in his club and a long discussion of the cigar industry, some speculation/concern regarding when and who will replace the Spanish as co-president of Habanos. Some stock in Gibraltar, very few Cohibas. They are in a very similar situation to Ireland regarding stock from Hunters and Frankau. Dinner was with Albert and about 10 other friends in “Tapas by Gaucho” in Gib that night, discussing upcoming Cuba trips.

Sunday, we recovered by the pool for a while until the drive back to Malaga and the flight that night.

 

Estanco San Miguel, Torremolinos

Typical Spain, put a (very decent) ham restaurant in the ground floor of a Kosher Hotel.

The statue of Juan Belmonte (this years Spanish Tauromaquia edition) in Seville.

 

Breakfast.

 

Christopher Columbus's mausoleum

Solid silver side altar in Seville Cathedral.

The alcazar in Seville, the Dorne scenes in Game of Thrones were filmed here.

Breakfast day two. There was a second round of that.

Some of the haul.

Beginning dinner in Ispal, more to come.

[Ryan]

More pictures from this trip.

Partridge two ways.

 

Rabbit kidneys with colleagues.

Orange flavoured Pedro Ximenez, very nice with dessert.

Smoke-infused caramel 

Menu and prices at Ispal

We stumbled into a "festival of nations" festival near the restaurant. No smoking and a poor rum selection in the Cuban section. We found Santiago añejo and smoking in the Puerto Rican area, good pours too. I like Puerto Ricans.

Albert getting some after dinner cigars ready in Gibraltar.

Gib on Sunday from La Linea.

 

[Ryan]

Trip 2. Barcelona and Roses.

We had to cancel the family holiday over the summer, so I transferred the flight to Barcelona for the last week in October during the kids’ school mid-term break. 4 days in Barcelona, then 3 days by the sea in Roses, up near the French border, very close to where El Bulli used to be.

Barcelona was great, it had been 30 years since I was there. Saw about 8 cigar shops there, the well-known ones, Gimeno (now called Domingo cigars), Fuster and Duaso. The best selection I found was in Tabacs Cathedral, near the old Cathredal (not Sagada Familia) just off La Rambla. I picked up a few boxes of H. Upmann Mag 54, some 2007 Epicure No. 1 and 2014 Fonsecas.

A couple of nice boxes of 2020 Lusitanias in Fuster. Some Lusitanias singles and Monte Especial singles in Jordi Duaso’s place, as well as a nice little cutter/cigar stand combination thingy. The same story with cigars there, very little stock coming through. Jordi Duaso was very down regarding stock.

I got a tour of the basement storage and museum pieces in Gimeno/Domingo cigars, the same story there with stock, though I found some Partagas Culebras which I haven’t picked up in a while.

A trip to Andorra wasn’t on the cards, 3 hours each way from Barcelona and the wife wasn’t having it.

We saw the Sagrada Familia, my first time inside it and well worth it. Spent a lot of time on La Rambla and Plaza Real. Walked around Park Guell with the kids, some time on the beach.

I found the best beach bar I’ve ever been in. Shôko in Barcelona. An odd mix of Spanish, Italian and Asian and all very good and quite reasonable. We had gyoza and calamari, all good. Staff very nice, reasonable prices, and music very cool. It’s obviously a nightclub after dark. I’ve never known one of those places to do decent food but this place managed it. I’d guess long lines to get in , in high season. We walked past some of the biggest private yachts in the world, “Dynasty” 100m long and $200 million and “Kaos”, 110m long and $300 million.

Most dinners were in various places in Plaza Real. One of the nicest squares in world. Food decent and quite reasonable. I slept on a bench there for a few days in 1991 when I was busking around Europe. I got as far as Amsterdam with a shirt still covered in pigeon sh*t from that experience. They’ve taken the benches away now.

After Barcelona, we rented a car and up to Roses for three days on a beach. We lucked out with the AirBnB, a three-bedroom apartment with a large patio overlooking the beach, 50 feet from the sand. Visited 2 cigar shops in Roses. Found some Petit Edmundo (Spanish Release) humidors in Tabacs Mendez, though not much stock. I asked Rafael, the owner, if he had any Ramon Allones Allones No.2. He laughed. He had a stronger Irish accent than I have. His parents sent him to school for 4 years in rural Ireland to learn English. He gave us directions to The Wine Palace, better than any wine shop in Ireland and the best selection I’ve seen outside of London. We picked up a couple of bottles of Juan Gil Azul 2019, a monastrell (mostly) I had never heard of from around Murcia. About €21 a bottle and drank like a €50 wine. Not available in Ireland, though I have found someone who will ship some to me. I also found some (new to me) Santisima Trinidad 15 year old Cuban rum, which lasted me the three days. Beside the Wine Palace was another cigar shop I hadn’t heard of. Some old VR Clasicos there, I bought all he had left of them. He still had 6 boxes of Romeo Maravillas Año de la Rata, decent price in Spain, I didn’t buy those. Same story with stock, not much. He had a limited edition Aurora humidor with various sizes of Aurora, including one of the biggest cigars I’ve ever seen with a band. Box No.4 of 5, and €4,250. He has had it a few years. The Chinese aren’t interested in it he says. According to him, they’re only interested in Habanos and some Davidoff.

Most restaurants were closed where we were staying in Roses as it was out of season, but we found “Chez Paquito”, just off the beach about 200 metres from our place, again staff and food were great. Some of the best light battered calamari I’ve had. And that great feeling, common in Cuba, of being in the only outpost of hospitality for miles.

That’s it, we squeezed quite a lot in, in 7 days. Great trip.

 

Estanc Duaso, Barcelona.

Estanc Fuster. No sign of Carlo Fuster in the shop.

Few scoops in Scobies.

Rum and cigar with the kids in the pool at the hotel. The weather was great.

Dinner in Plaza Real.

After dinner Lusitania with a Spanish pour of HC 7.

Plaza Real, Barcelona

Sagrada Familia, the "Passion" side.

Sagrada from Parc Guell.

Parc Guell.

 

More to come.

 

[Ryan]

Picasso mural in Cathedral Square.

Tabacs Cathedral.

Dynasty and Kaos.

Shôko restauranr on the beach in Barcelona.

Pintxos in Barcelona

More to come.

[Ryan]

Gimeno Cigars

Sagrada Familia. Well worth a visit.

More rum on the hotel roof.

 

[Ryan]

Roses cigars, rum wine and beach.

 

[Ryan]

Last pictures of Roses. Chez Paquito at the end.

[Sean62]

Thanks for the delightful presentation of your trip.  (and for the delightful Juan LopezSeleccion Superba that you gifted me in Dublin.... I finally smoked it a few days ago)  "The luck of the Irish!"

[El Presidente]

Superb write up Andy 

Enjoy Cuba mate and stay safe. 

 

 

[HuffnPuffff]

Fantastic tales from the road. Thanks for sharing.

Trust you made it out this time without any new pigeon encounters.


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[Rhinoww]

That was an excellent vacation I just took reading the write up amd looking at the pictures. Thanks for investing the time to share. 

[mprach024]

Wow what a posting!  Gorgeous photos, thanks for sharing.  A country I have not visited but this was better than any tourism video.  Btw Kaos is a Walton family yacht (Walmart family), American Royalty of the South.

[Monterey]

4 hours ago, Ryan said:

 

 

 

Is that Loren in the black shirt?

[dangolf18]

Great write-up. I was in Madrid and Barcelona a few years ago and heard similar stories about the Chinese buying everything up. However, I do remember there be an endless supply of 2008 Partagas 898 and Lusitanias for some reason.

[Habana Mike]

Love the travelogue Andy! Seems a great trip.

 

[jonnyfromiranny]

Thanks for sharing. Great information here. Going to save this post for when I finally plan a trip to Spain. Glad you had a great trip!

[Nino]

Muchas gracias Andy - muy buenos detalles de tus viajes y tremendas fotos !

[Mr. Japan]

Fantastic Andy.

[La_Tigre]

Wonderful write up Andy!

Too bad we missed you, we are near San Sebastián now and heading for Madrid soon. Our experience in Barcelona was similar with the stock in the 3 cavas - quite limited. A long talk with one of the people at Gimeno in August found the same concerns.

Would love to find a box of the Tauromaquia!

[Meesterjojo]

Fantastic.

I've been putting off my own trip back to Spain for awhile now. Was going to do one of those things where you get room and board to speak English for a week with folks. Since, as my memory serves, most places are open late anyway, and u could go explore after each day.

I really loved all my time in Spain when I was younger.