ULTIMATE GUIDE: HAVE A VEGAN FRIENDLY DAY OUT ANYWHERE IN SPAIN

Have you ever felt frustrated when your perfectly planned day doesn't quite go to plan?

It’s holiday time. Having just arrived you’re hungry and keen to explore your new surroundings, the feeling of unstructured adventure, bliss! 

You set out with great intentions only to discover nothing is open, you’re in a linguistically dangerous environment and you may, just may have forgotten to do any serious background research on your chosen country.

Note these top five rules and learn how you can have a vegan friendly day out anywhere in Spain.

1.Climate dictates culture

This is true all over the world but specifically in the southern Mediterranean; meal times, business hours and produce are all very much dictated by the season and climate.

So climate dictates culture and culture dictates cuisine, it’s a seemingly straightforward concept but if you don’t quite understand it’s intricacies, yes, you’ll be fine, but you’ll see, hear, taste and experience so much more if you pay some real attention to this concept.

Cuisine in Spain is still predominantly regional and seasonal, you won’t find typical Ajo Blanco, chilled garlic and almond soup in December but you will find it during the scorching hot months of July and August.

2.Meal times

Desayuno, breakfast in Spain is a small meal; a coffee and maybe a magdalena (small cake) as at around 11am it’s common for the Spanish to have a merienda, a snack.

Very few places are open before 8.30am so definitely don’t set out at 7am expecting to find things open, if you happen to have an early morning flight / bus / train then ask for el mercado central, the central market as you can often find early morning bars serving locals and workers.

If in doubt as to what you should eat, look for or ask for if you don’t see it on the menu, pan  / pitufo con tomate, this is toasted bread with garlicky tomato paste and olive oil, lush!

Almuerzo, lunch is long and plentiful. Served anytime between 1.30pm and 4pm, don’t expect your favorite lunch spot to be open much before 1.30pm, relax, have another orange juice in that lovely chiringuito, beach bar you found last night.

Keep an eye out for the menu del dia on all the restaurant boards as you’ll often find three course deal for €10 or under.

Cena, dinner, usually happens from 8.30pm onwards and many restaurants do close between lunch and dinner. In the hot summer months it’s rare to eat before 10pm in the evening but then don’t forget that the Spanish may ir a taper  go to eat tapas between lunch and dinner.

3.Public transport

Calmase, calm yourself down, do not drive yourself crazy trying to make bookings online. 

Both the websites for Spain’s national rail and bus networks (Renfe + Alsa) often just don’t work, step away from your laptop, dedicate some time and physically go to the bus / train station and just book tickets at the office, like we used to in the ‘olden days’.

4.Eat ice cream and drink coffee at midnight 

(maybe not together, that would be strange)

In the summer in Spain, the nicest time of the day is between 11pm and 1am, it’s also the most social. Wherever you are, just head to the nearest plaza, square with a few bars on and join in the fun, this is where you can see the climate dictates culture theory at work.

Families leave their houses to go and eat ice cream and have a coffee, there is absolutely no pressure to drink alcohol which make it socially acceptable to have a juice if coffee isn’t your thing, soya milk ice cream is on the rise and it’s not hard to find sorbets, don’t worry, you won’t miss out on the ice cream (this blog post was temporarily abandoned for a chocolate soya ice).

5.Respect siesta

The Spanish own their cities, they sing and dance in their streets, having lived and travelled all over the world I have never known a more vibrant city than Madrid (and I’ve done carnaval in Rio three times).

Here’s the rule; expect noise, respect siesta.

Blast out music, sing at the top of your lungs or teach your five year old how to play the drums providing it’s not between the hours of 3pm and 6pm, risk being arrested if you do not respect siesta (yes, there’s a story there, yes, I nearly got arrested, we’ll save that for another day).

When in Spain, you’ll quickly find that you whole day revolves around siesta hours as besides napping or being on the beach, there’s not that much you can really do when the whole country’s having a snooze, if you can’t beat them join them.

Most shops, smaller supermarkets and public services close at around 1pm and reopen again between 6pm and 7pm then stay open until 9pm or 10pm, another reason why dinner is a late evening meal.

For the reference, banks in Spain are only open until 1pm / 2pm and do not reopen in the evening, also, original documents are required for everything, copies will not suffice so don’t forget to take your passport, it’s so annoying having to walk all they way back to the hotel.

Here’s a bonus tip: get down with the lingo

Have you heard this before?

“I told them I was vegetarian and they still gave me ham” 

It’s time to get down and dirty with the local lingo and clear up this matter once and for all.

Shock horror, there’s ham in your food and you told them you were vegetarian, what gives?

Soy vegetariana, I’m vegetarian in Spanish means that you don’t eat carne, meat, and because there are other descriptive words for everything else; ave, poultry, jamon, cured ham, cerdo, pork, pescado, fish, it’s presumed that you do eat everything else, hence the sneaky pieces of ham, the Spanish are a generous, friendly bunch, they are not being ignorant or rude in any way, it’s a language thing.

Depending on where you are, soy vegana/o, I’m vegan, is likely to be taken in the same context as being vegetarian so you have to get descriptive on what you do / don’t eat which is where you have to get down and dirty with the lingo, have fun with it. 

I have found over the years this helps when trying to communicate your vegan-ness; soy vegetariana y no consume productos lactosos ni huevo, I’m vegetarian and don’t consume dairy or eggs.

Emma x

OVER TO YOU       

Have you ever felt frustrated on holiday?

Share your thoughts in the comments box below so I can work towards serving the vegan travel community better and creating trips and products that you love.

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