Breakfast in Spain
Having the use of a vehicle during your Spanish holiday will give you the freedom to explore off-the-beaten-track parts of the country and sample Spain’s diverse gastronomy. Car hire in Malaga airport is a convenient way to pick up your car on landing. Your first stop might be for breakfast. The Spanish, as a rule, don’t eat a great deal for breakfast (called desayuno in Spanish). You won’t find the huge range of breakfast cereals on the supermarket shelves that you may be used to at home. Nor will you come across the Spanish equivalent of an “All Day Breakfast” on offer. Of course, in areas such as the Costa del Sol, there are plenty of cafes and bars catering especially for the holidaymaker who’s craving a greasy “fry-up” and a mug of strong tea. But when in Spain, why not instead breakfast as the Spanish do?
You will usually find the Spanish having their breakfast in a bar at around 10am. This will normally consist of a strong coffee, which could be with milk (café con leche) or black (café solo). If you want a coffee that’s really strong but not black, ask for “café cortado”. Decaffeinated coffee is also always available. If you’re not a coffee drinker, then all bars also have a wide selection of herbal teas (but don’t expect anything remotely resembling PG Tips!) and also a machine for squeezing oranges for the freshest glass of orange juice (zumo de naranja) you’ve ever tasted.
To accompany their coffee, the Spanish will often have some toasted bread, called “una tostada”. You could have this with butter (mantequilla) and jam (mermelada) but why not have it the way the Spanish prefer, which is with olive oil (aceite) and tomatoes (tomates). You drizzle your toast with the olive oil, spread on some of the mashed and seasoned tomatoes you’ll be given in a little dish, add a generous sprinkling of salt and enjoy! With car hire in Malaga airport you can venture inland easily. In the area of Andalucia around the town of Antequera, they make a lovely, soft type of bread roll called a mollete. These are particularly good toasted for breakfast.
Another favourite breakfast treat for the Spanish is chocolate con churros. This is a strength-restoring breakfast with a real sugar hit to get you going. It comprises a cup of really thick and strong hot chocolate, served with rings of deep-fried sweet fritters, usually sprinkled with sugar, and served piping hot from the fryer. You eat them by dunking your churros in the cup of hot chocolate. The Spanish often have