Let´s Do It

"In Spain the best
upper sets
do It

Lithuanians and Latts
do It
let´s do It
let´s fall in love..."

It takes a genius the size of Cole Porter to come up with a lyric that jumps all the way from Spain to Latvia in a sentence, don´t you think?

We´ve had a stroke of genius too, and for our holiday this year, we´re going to Estonia and Latvia.

After much mulling over, we came to the conclusion that it was the only place for us.
It´s different, even mildly exotic.It won´t break our bank. There´s plenty of coastline, but most of it is wild and empty-ish. The landscape is beautiful, but there are no hills, so I don´t have to throw hissy fits and refuse to climb. There´s plenty of history, and lots of old cities and castles, but none of the kind of museums that demmand setting up camp inside for a day, and make J groan.
I´m sure the food is great. My German blood is pretty submerged most of the time, but whenever I´m around rye bread or anything smoked, it bubbles up inmediately. I´ll be in heaven.

Yesterday, after shopping for mosquito repellent and road maps, we had a beer at  La ardosa . There, they serve a tapa that would do Cole Porter proud, in mixing the Mediterranean and the Baltic. A big pickled cucumber, sliced and filled with a bit of red pepper and an anchovy. They also have pickled herrings. The rest of the menu is fully Spanish, and very good.
It´s one of the oldest bars in Madrid, and very beautiful. One day I´ll have to go and draw it slowly, but for now, you can have a look at the tapa.