Flight was cancelled!

Saturday 28 Nov 09

Our flight to Frankfurt from Bilbao was cancelled!! We were happily sitting in the business class lounge sipping on cava and thinking what a nice life this is and we were told 1/2 hour before boarding that the flight was cancelled. Not delayed - CANCELLED. This is Lufthansa, a German company for god's sake.

Rushed to the ticket counter and there was this bitch who gave double standards to asians. Made us go to the end of the line coz it was so messy and we were in the 'wrong' queue, even though we got there first and are on bloody business class.

Waited a good hour in line. Damn inefficient bitch. Finally a nicer lady helped us out. We were the last to get served. The rest were panicking coz they had connecting flights and business meetings back in KL & Singapore. But it turned to be much better for me. I managed to change my flight direct to Munich (although I burned my train ticket but who cares for the 7 1/2 hour ride anyways) and get to fly back to KL from Munich too!! Double hip hooray!!

Lufthansa was nice enough to put us up in this lovely 5 star Hotel Indautxu in Bilbao. Dinner was even provided for and since we are business class passengers, we get our own individual rooms. Saw the passenger list and some had double & even triple sharing.

Dinner at Hotel Indautxu

But before the airport fiasco, we walked the streets of Logrono for the last time to visit some markets to buy meat. Spain is filled with pork. Think the are obsessed with it. Check out what they had at the markets. I couldn't buy much meat as I didn't want to lug it around Germany for 2 weeks but I bought a few flat packs back. Iberico ham is Euro 69 a kg! Thank god we bought it at the factory for a wholesale price of E25 a kg.

Pigs, pigs and more pigs

Visited a nice cathedral to thank whoever is up there for what i've been given. Saw capoeira in the streets by little kids too. They were good!

Cathedral in Logrono

Had to visit the tapas bars again before we left and I just love the mushrooms. Heaven.

Ham & wine – the life

Friday 27 Nov 2009

I woke up late today at 9am! Got ready in 10 mins to go to Monte Nevado, a jamon (pronounced hamon) factory an hour away from Logrono. The company produces 75% for their local market and the rest is exported to the rest of the world. Malaysia’s difficult to get in coz loads of forms need to be filled. A pity really.

They produce 3 types of breed – 70% Serano (white pig), 20% Iberico (black pig) & 10% Mangalica (almost extinct Hungarian pig that looks like a sheep coz of its curly white wool). They are the only company in the world to produce Mangalica. The director of quality control, Alejandro (damn young & good looking!) took us around and explained the whole process of curing the jamon.

The raw meat is first thawed, added with curing agents, put in the salting chamber, washed, shaped, placed in a drying chamber, coated in fat to protect from dehydration, hung in the aging room and finally packed. Whole process takes an average of about 18 months for the Serano and 30 months for the Iberico and Mangalica. Obviously, the last 2 are more expensive.

I tried my hands at cutting it too! It’s much harder than it looks. 3 of them bought a whole leg (market price E400 but they got it at bout E100+). I bought a small cut from one of them for E20.

At the jamone factory

We spent a bit too long at the jamone factory so was late to Bodegas Lopez Heredia, a small winery that still makes their wine the traditional way, exactly the same 132 years ago. They are the oldest winery in their neighbourhood and the 3rd oldest in Rioja. 80% is for local market, rest for export. Amazing place where everything is done painstakingly by hand.

Their underground cellar is simply out of this world. I was in awe the entire trip coz everything is the same more than 100 years ago. It was like stepping back in time. Almost everything there was built by Maria Jose Lopez’s (the lady who showed around) great grandfather. They still use their 1910 pressing machine. She admitted that others think they are crazy to produce the old-fashion way but she says it works and that’s what gives character to their wine. They had bottles covered in cobwebs from 1920!

Their modern futuristic shop

Bodegas Lopez Heredia, where everything is done the traditional way.

Maria treated us to a late lunch (after 3pm!) at La Vieja Bodega and we sampled 9 different types of wines! One of them was a white 1987 vintage. Phew. She gave us a bottle each to take home but I got an extra rose. Will bring it to Jerry in Germany.

Lunch at La Vieja Bodega

Went to Museo Vivanco after that, an amazing museum dedicated to the culture of wine. We were given a tour of the place after opening hours by this lovely old man. No pictures allowed unfortunately.

Museum of Wine Culture

Loli gave us ½ hour to put our stuff in the room and we went for a walk around Longrono. Only me, Lorella & Maya went. The rest were too tired but it’s their lost coz they missed out on the nicer part of the old town and the night life there. Funny, no rowdy drunk people. Night life here is a family affair at the tapas bars eating & drinking. An old guy who couldn’t speak a word of English tried to pick us up and offered us wine & mushrooms. Apparently that’s normal coz a few tapas bars specialise in mushrooms only. Went back before midnight to pack.

Night life in Spain - Tapas & wine

Off to Spain!

Sat 21 & Sun 22 Nov 09

So excited to be heading to Spain! Going on the invitation by the Spanish embassy as they want to promote more Spanish products to Malaysia. Flew us business class on Lufthansa all the way but was a damn long flight. KL - (stop in Bangkok) - Frankfurt - Munich - Bilbao. But as it was business class, sleep was good and no jet lag whatsoever.

Business class seats, Frankfurt airport & the dodgy plane from Munich - Bilboa

Met up with the rest of the media. 2 from singapore, 2 from Jakarta & 2 from Malaysia. All girls!! haha Didn't stay long in Bilbao as we were whisked off straight to San Sebastian, a seaside town famous for its beach in the north of Spain. Weather here is absolutely lovely!! Bout 17c or so. Sunny too. Stayed at the Hotel Londres y de Ingaterra, the best hotel in town. Love their classic lift right next to my room.

Hotel Londres y de Inglaterra

We had the whole day free so we walked around the town a bit. Lovely city with beautiful waves. Lots of surfing and people were actually bathing there! Too cold to even think of stripping down to a bikini. Waves are crazy!

San Sebastian in the day & night

Awesome waves

Walking the city

Went to the tapas bar later on in the night and stuffed ourselves silly at 3 bars. Concept is simple. Enter a tapas bar, choose whatever you want to eat, tell the guy how many you ate & pay. Wonder y we don't have it here. Oh yea, the kiasus would most likely eat 5 and say they had 3. Loads of ham too. Ended up at a bar for some drinks at the end of the night.

Tapas bars & drinks