Madrid, Plaza Mayor, La Torre del Oro, Bar Andalu, Bullfight Bar, May 30, 2021. Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain. Pre-Post COVID Road Warrior Adventure.

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Warning: Graphic images of bullfighters being tossed and gored.  Not for the faint of heart.

 

 

Fermín Cruz, waiter at La Torre del Oro, on break.

 

La Torre del Oro, Bar Andalu, a popular tourist stop in Madrid's Plaza Mayor is a bullfight bar with hundreds of photos of bullfighters, bullfighting and bull's heads mounted on the walls.  But this place, which has been going ever since I remember--and that is a very long time, is a bullfight bar with a difference.  There are scores of pictures of bullfighters being tossed and gored, with one particularly horrid photo, which I have included here, but is not recommended viewing for the squeamish.  I suspect that these in-your-face photos are a sardonic on the aversion to bullfighting of many foreigners.  Those of you who root for the bull may change your minds after seeing some these spectacular tossings and gorings of bullfighters. 

Click on title to see entire post.

 

La Torre del Oro offers pricey, but often quite good and authentic Andalucian tapas such as boquerones en vinagre (fresh anchovies pickled with vinagre and olive oil, boquerones fritos (fried fresh anchovies) and other fried fish, cured olives, ensaladilla rusa ("Russian" potato salad), excellent Manzanilla de Sanlúcar and other sherries and good cold draft beer.    

 

Fermín Cruz, waiter at La Torre del Oro with barman, in the Plaza Mayor´s famous bullfight-theme bar.

 

La Torre del Oro, Bar Andalu, Plaza Mayor´s famous bullfight-theme bar.  Note the chairs opposite the bar, which are there because of COVID restrictions, which do not allow patrons to congregate at the bar.   This has destroyed, temporarily at least, the ambience of many tapas restaurants and bars.

 

Photos at La Torre del Oro of bullfighters being tossed and gored.

 

 

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Constructive comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

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Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

 

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  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

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In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes was the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com