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…you can only drink in one at a time!
I mentioned at the beginning there were four bars in Jesús Pobre — oh, and a restaurant. But let me just explain what actually counts as a bar round these parts.
First of all — a good bar is one you can hear from halfway down the street. Believe me, the Spanish can be very loud… even when there are only two people in the room.
Secondly, you walk in and the barman — and usually a few of the locals — know
your name. Yes, it happens in England too, but here, if you’re a foreigner, that’s absolute village gold.
Next — in summer the bar should be ice cold. In winter, toasting hot. For a hot country, Spain can get surprisingly cold.
And finally — there should be that great smell of food cooking… and beer served to the English in properly ice-cold glasses.
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| They even allow England fans in! |
Let me just explain about the noise. The locals in Jesús Pobre speak Valenciano. Not too many long words, so it comes out like machine-gun fire. Add in the fact the bars aren’t carpeted or wallpapered like back home, so everything echoes… and, well, they do like a good chat!
Another must-have is an outside area — somewhere to sit, eat, and ideally find a bit of shade. Three of the four bars manage that, and of course the one I’d call a proper restaurant does too. All of them serve food though, and all happily call themselves bar/restaurants.
One thing to watch out for is opening times. They can be… flexible in winter, and full-on in summer. I’ll try and make sense of it all as I make that pilgrimage to each one — purely in the interest of research, of course.
Throughout this blog I’ll be looking at all the watering holes in the village — not as a critic, but as an observer… and a regular in a few of them.
“There are four bars in a village of just over 1,000… I’ll be visiting them all.”
Hopefully, I might even tempt a few of you to visit and try them out.
The great Jesús Pobre pub crawl… perhaps!
Click image to go to bar
Part of the “Signals, Sangria & Soul” series
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