Far from the Madding Crowd in Verona

"Two households both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene.  From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean......"  We all know part of this verse, want to know it off by heart, fail repeatedly and with discontent start to realize Shakespeare is harder than it looks.

Instead we settle to visit Verona for lunch.  Anywhere this romantic is always swamped with crowds, so we dutifully visit the balcony, cup the breast of the Juliet's statue for the obligatory photo, fail to leave a  love letter in the passage and exit into the cauldron of massed tourists and vendors outside, swamping the Amphitheatre.  Flooded with plastic chairs and sun umbrellas touting the throngs of dissimulated lovers to eat with them before your coach picks you up to take you away to Lake Garda.

We turned away from this madding crowd and headed for the river and sanctuary.

I took my wife's hand and crossed the bridge where we climbed the relentless steps to observe Verona from above, Alone!

This city is Magnificent in its truthful and basic italian simplicity.  We walked the cities outskirting suburbs and found Al Duomo a Pasticceria Caffetteria with its secluded garden, purely by accident.

I washed my hands in the old stone fountain and joined my date for a light and passionately prepared lunch.

Feeling dissolute and mildly satisfied with our small achievement we rejoined the madding crowd.

Braised Goat in La Gomera

Despite being an island, which normally means that fresh fish is the best option, I had yet to find the island's speciality of braised Goat.  So we again headed for the bus depot in search of the local bus to Playa de Santiago, as sadly the local ferry service to this small harbour no longer runs.

An extremely quiet sea front greeted us after crossing the volcanic mountains.

This little harbour village offered a selection of good restaurants, so we decided to have a drink first in each and then decide, as menu del dia rarely starts before 2.00 p.m.  We started with a drink on the shore.

La Chalana 

Followed by a restaurant bar in a hollow of an open cave.

Restaurant La Cuevita

However, not in the tourist guide books, we noticed smack bang in the middle right on the shore front an authentic, rustic local's restaurant simply named "Playa".  Serving Goat !  See them on google.

An extremely good meal and easy on the wallet.  A total find and for me the best meal of the trip.

Restaurant Playa in the middle

VERDICT:

La Gomera is not easy to get to as you need to allow an extra day to travel to arrive by ferry from Tenerife.  The ferry is a good service but a little expensive, so as a weekend break destination not a good option.

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This island is far less spoilt and enjoys its tranquil periods of silence different from the other Canary Islands.  but not the cheapest option.

However, the climate makes this a brilliant winter break, especially if you enjoy the peace this island evokes. Additionally this should be sought after for some serious walking, as the island is crisscrossed with a network of  beautiful historic footpaths.  See  Camino  la  Gomera.

Finally, the food, not everyone likes fresh fish or rustic local food like me.  But I have come to realize that both La Gomera and Tenerife have a numerous selection of excellent and inexpensive Italian Restaurants.  Having toured Italy on many occasions I rudely thought, you could not get good pasta dishes outside Italy - I was wrong.

This has evoked lots of older memories of our travels in Italy for me, so I feel now is the time to focus my blog site on the Italian mainland accordingly.

I can already feel myself being drawn to our wine rack to open a good Montepulciano d' Abruzzo.

The Black Mountains and the White Horse

I have been asked several times about this profile photo ? Yes it is me and Yes it is South Wales' best kept secret.

  In fact it has taken me thirty years to find this path.

 You can park up and take the gentle hill walk to the Llyn y Fan Fach lake famous for the Lady of the Lake folklore.

Or if very keen then tackle the summit itself. You have to do this once in your life.  It's not easy but you then reach what is known as "the rooftops of South Wales".

On return to your car, which should be parked in a car park through a farmer's field at the end of a long dirt track, make the effort to drive to Llandeilo and find The White Horse pub.  This is located directly opposite the Cawdor Hotel.  The selection of real ales on offer are brewed by Evan Evans.

See my previous blog named "Three Welsh Ales".  The hand pump simply named Cwrw Ale is legendary and in my opinion the best real ale served in South Wales.  If it is sunny, the beer garden at the rear catches the sun, or if your stiffening  up from this walk ask the locals politely if they will move up a bit and join them on the long bench in the main bar.  The reason, there is a radiator behind and the heat filters straight through to your lumber region. Dogs are always welcome and the log fire light in the winter.

As for lunch, I firmly suggest you take a rucksack and sandwiches as your a long way from home.  If you just do the lake allow one hour 45 minutes, it is a gravel path and can be done in trainers.  If you want the summit allow four hours and you will definitely need walking boots.  The car park is awkward to find but don't give up, although it is free to park it fills up early, and Always google the weather first. For reference Llandeilo being the nearest town.

Rabbit Garlic and Papaya in La Gomera

We were staying for several nights at the Parador Conde de la Gomera.  This is a lovely Parador and definitely worth a google.

If you ever intend to travel through Spain or the Canaries you should always stay at least one night in a Parador.  The Spanish Government have got this concept spot on.  A true inspiration of restoring derelict medieval buildings into good hotels.

The day was planned to chill by the pool overlooking the sea, but the Mountains and lush vegetation in the distance and a good local bus service was too enticing for me.  So instead of heading for the sun loungers we headed for the bus station.  We always order freshly squeezed orange juice to go with our coffee cortado in the mornings.  Ask for zumo de naranja natural.  But the cafe here had more fruit that I have ever seen, pot luck, I chose Papaya and they juiced them for us while we waited for our bus.

We climbed the narrow mountain roads and hoped on and off at various small villages.  All very quiet and sleepy.

Church in Hermigua

From these mountain villages we could see Mount Teide over on the island of Tenerife in the distance.

They have their own small Camino - foot path here. A grueling eight day circuit around the outskirts of the island of La Gomera or approximately three days across the mountains.  in the middle. We observed that this  would make an excellent training ground for winter walking especially due to their climate.  However, there are very few places to stop for food and drink.  We strolled past various banana plantations.

And eventually found a small bar, where the house special was rabbit in garlic sauce.

Rabbit with Canary Potatoes in sea salt

I had wanted to try the rabbit and goat that this island is famous for, served with Canary potatoes baked in rock salt, very agreeable.  Now all we needed was to find a menu del dia for tomorrow serving goat!

Three Welsh Ales

After endless research my decision is you have to try the following three real ales at some stage in 2017.

My choice is based on :-
 Real Ale Quality.
 The service given when served
 and finally the Consistency of the quality of the ale week in week out.

The supreme choice.

Cwrw Ale by Evans Evans, served at the White Horse in Llandeilo.  This is a serious real ale pub.  Serving outstanding ale 52 weeks of the year.

A warm greeting every time.  A log fire in the winter , with a heated bench to sit on in the public bar.  Plus a shaded courtyard for the summer with a lovely sun trap of a rear beer garden, full of buddleia and butterflies.

My Second Choice is Felinfoel Double Dragon.

Note: F is pronounced V, in welsh, FF is pronounced F and DD is TH.

Brewed locally here in Felinfoel and served throughout Llanelli.

I choose to drink this at the New Drovers in Thomas Street, Llanelli.

This quirky bohemian style pub, with a cozy open coal fire in the winter.  The Double Dragon is always amazing here but sadly only opens Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Finally, my wild card is The Reverend James.

Ideally served at the Stradey Arms in Llanelli.

This establishment is more of an eatery, serving home cooked welsh food.  However, the Landlord here is passionate about his ales.   I firmly suggest you order from the starter menu a home made scotch egg with piccalilli to go with the Rev James.

The five litre glass special !

Note: For our readers from overseas real ale is a living, breathing organism.  It has a short shelf life and has no preservatives.  Not to be served too cold, as this will kill off the subtle flavour.  It is flat, although a little head can be achieved if pulled properly from the old style hand pumps.

Temperature is of vital importance it must not be served cold as previously stated but at Victorian room temperature i.e. before radiators were introduced.   Ideally between 12 - 14 degrees C.   Don't forget it is traditionally overcast and raining in the UK, so real ale was rarely drunk in the outdoor sun as this is not lager.  Ale goes off quickly and if not ready to drink and has not settled the beer will still be cloudy, avoid this.  It takes a lot of work to keep this type of ale in pristine condition and similarly there is a lot of work finding a good pint.  Sadly these days there are more poorly served pints than good and lager is taking over. But where is the fun in knowing every time your pint will taste the same.  The adventure is the exploration, the tasting and the banter with the Landlord and locals, and the sheer pleasure when you find that one pint that screams to you YES, this is it and I'm in perfect condition, Drink Me !

The Ferry from Tenerife to La Gomera

We travelled from San Miguel in Tenerife to Los Cristianos early by bus to enable us to have lunch before our ferry left for La Gomera.  We had booked a room at the Parador Conde de la Gomera.

Courtyard in the Parador la Gomera

The promenade at Los Cristianos goes a long way and it is full of restaurants of all kinds and an endless stream of mobility scooters doing the circuit.  The latest trend being tandem scooters!

This port has become popular with people who don't want to walk and don't want to put on a shirt for lunch!  At the port harbour we had purchased our tickets with the Fred Olsen high speed Ferry and even better saw that for one euro we could leave our luggage in the lockers which would be taken over with us, a brilliant idea!

We wanted to try the Fishermans' Cooperative known as Cofradia de Pescadores, for lunch, but knew it may be hard to find, it was!

So ignore the sea front restaurants and walk to what looks like a harbour master's square block building, right among the fishing boats in the harbour where the ferry comes in.

There are no signs, but walk to the back and you find a stair case which looks like stairs to a public convenience.  At the top you find a small restaurant and bar, with a superb ice counter of freshly caught fish from earlier that day.  The tables are covered with navigation maps.

here you have a commanding view to watch the ferry arrive.

Little english is spoken but everyone is friendly.  You point to the fish you want and the barmaid weighs it in front of you for your approval.  Then proceeds to gut and then cook it for you.

I loved it here, we had a huge plate of the freshest prawns and a delicious mackerel to share, an extremely  authentic and cheap meal, then wondered over to board our ferry.

Approaching La Gomera  by Ferry