Le Blog: Spain Road Trip: Days 10-11 (Stilla at the Villa)

Rick Steves bluntly states: "To northern Europeans, the sun is a drug and this [the Costa del Sol] is their needle. Anything resembling a quaint fishing village has been bikini-strangled and Nivea-creamed . . . tourists lie on the beach like game hens on skewers -- cooking, rolling, and sweating under the sun." We are on the Costa Brava, not the Costa del Sol. Still, there are an awful lot of northern Europeans in the beach towns around here.

On Monday, our attitude was, "if you can't beat them, join them."

These Are Actually Authentic Spanish Children Admiring Ivy

But Tuesday, we ventured inland in search of more Spanish and less English. We went to Fuentes del Algar -- some pretty waterfalls about 45 minutes inland, where Spanish ruled:

To get there, we drove through miles of citrus groves -- orange, lemon, and a strange fruit we had never heard of before but which we later learned to be called "hispero." There were acres and acres of hispero trees full of ripe orange fruit. We bought some of the fruit, which did not taste like anything we had tried before . . . it was about the size of a kiwi but with an edible skin and four brown seeds in the middle and a taste that is not at all citrusy. Here is a photo for my mother (who, by the way, is a Master Gardener):

After the falls, we went further inland (and up a windy road) to a small town we had seen on the map. We were in search of an authentic meal . . . and . . . we found it! We stumbled on a restaurant that gave us a feast -- a very memorable meal and one of the best (if not the best) we have had since we've been in Europe: We were served gigantic portions of rabbit, wild boar, chicken, potatoes, a special vegetable soup, special bread with a garlic sauce, wine, and homemade flan with berries (all for a very reasonable price). Wow, what food, whoa, hold the phone, that was good!