Sing!

 We’re leaving town.  First a quick walk past some mechanical units; then a neat row of terraces with trees down the centre of the street and then out into the country.

 We might as well nip into Panda Lounge cafe & copas. 56 people give it 4.5 stars.  It is LGBTQ+ friendly, which seems appropriate in Pride Month.  The have an instagram page https://www.instagram.com/pandalounge__ Two days ago TRDZM said ‘A huge variety, everything is very good and the girl who serves is very attentive and friendly, it's a pleasure.’

Let us pick up the theme and amble with it.  As you would expect with cultures with a lot of fragile masculinity Spain has a long History of Anti-Gay laws. These were first repealed in 1822 but were brought back again by the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1928. The Republic over turned those laws in 1932 but Franco brought them back.  Giles Tremlett, in his ‘The Ghosts of Spain’, quotes some Francoist propaganda which, when read with a thoughtful eye, seems to suggest you should lock up your sons otherwise they may just get to like that sort of thing.

Once Franco was dead such radical notions as decriminalising love occurred. In 1995 it became illegal to discriminate against people at work on the basis of their sexuality and in 2022 this was spread to wider areas of life.  Spain did a lot of joining Europe in the 90s. The age of consent for everyone was raised from 12 to 13 in 1999. It went to 16 in 2015. We will probably visit this again.

I think we visited a pharmacy in northern Spain, but we haven’t been to one recently so let's pop in to Farmacia El Alendral. Their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/farmaalmendral/ was last updated 9 days ago.  Seven months ago mayte said ‘The staff are very involved with the people who are going to buy.’

We are going to end the day at the Venta El Algarrobo grill. It gets a solid four stars from over 450 reviews.  Key worlds shall be our guide here.

Breakfast  Alberton wrote ‘Although we had to wait a while to be served, it was worth it. It's a roadside inn with a dirt parking lot. The waitresses are very friendly and the food (from what I've tried) is very good. We went for breakfast and had a pork rind roll with cheese. Spectacular.

Churros -  Jesus felt they deserved ‘Five biker stars 💫. Toasted village bread with Iberian ham 😋. Very good service and very friendly waitresses. We'll be back to try the churros. Of course, bikers should be aware of the dirt parking. 19OCT25. We're back to try the churros 😋. Delicious. And thanks again to the waitresses for their attention and friendliness.’

And finally pork cheek.  Patricia felt ot was a ‘A quiet, family-run roadside inn. The food was homemade and delicious; we ordered potato salad, wild boar, Iberian pork shoulder, venison, and braised pork cheeks, as well as croquettes from the stew pot—everything was fantastic, accompanied by homemade fries. The staff was very friendly and served us quickly. They also have homemade desserts made daily; the custard was excellent.

The price was great for everything we ate. A very good find; we'll definitely be back.’

Tomorrow, as they say, is another day.