Analucia & Barcelona - Vegetarians

There are some vegetarian restaurants in Barcelona and the bigger cities. I tried a really nice one in Barcelona. Try happycow. It has lots of listings for vegetarian restaurants in Europe, and I got some very good leads for Barcelona.

Watch out though. I have not been to Andulucia yet, but I have been to Barcelona a few times. While it is easy to find vegetarian food, it is not quite the vegetarian heaven that some cities are. For example, in some restaurants, it is mainly meat and fish based and you will have to just order side dishes. They list vegetables as a seperate course so it might come acorss as strange ordering a few vegetable and salad dishes, but you will get what you ask for.

Watch out for meat and fish where you don't expect it - like tuna fish added to green salad (which you order expecting to be lettuce, mixed leaves, etc.), or ham to 'vegetable' paella. It happened to me a few times. They perhaps just don't have a concept of 'vegetarian' in an ordinary restaurant and cannot understand why you would possibly want your salad without tuna.

On the plus side - lots of markets, selling mouthwatering fruit and veg very cheap. Great bakeries too, perfect for a picnic or self catering lunch.

In the main tourist resorts - like in some of the beach resorts that have mainly British food, they tend to have some vegetarian options on the menu, if you don't mind veggieburger and chips, omlette and chips, cheese pie and chips, veggie breakfast etc.

In Barcelona there is a chain of takeaways that are vegetarian - they do falafles, stuffed pittas etc. I cannot remember the name but see happycow. They are easy to spot - green and yellow store fronts and at least one branch that I remember on Las Ramblas, but they are everywhere.

It is possible to make up a good tapas meal for vegetarians - potatoes in various sauces, plain fried potatoes, garlic mushrooms, fried mushrooms, fried peppers, tortilla, salad plate, various breads, olives etc.

In the bigger cities or anywhere with large numbers of tourists, there are of course the usual fall backs - pizza places, Chinese buffets etc. If you don't mind eating non authentic.

here you find all the veg restaurant in Barcelona http://www.sincarne.net/<BR>and fortunately there are a lot.
Sofo

Hello Dana,
My first question is: why are you traveling by car? Have you looked at train travel? For what you are doing, the train might be cheaper, more convenient, and more relaxing. There is nothing worse than trying to fight traffic in an unfamiliar city like Sevilla. Barcelona is fairly easy to get in and out of, but I've heard Sevilla is a nightmare. If it were me, I'd take the train, supplemented with some bus travel in Andalucia, for what you plan to do.

OK, that aside. As far as vegetarian restaurants go: If you limit your meals to "Vegetarian" restaurants, your options will be very few indeed and you will spend a lot of time trying to find them. I think it would be better to go to regular restaurants and order vegetable dishes as described above. When you order, tell the waiter that you are a vegetarian and you would like the dish prepared with no meat or fish. You still might have the occasional problem, but most restaurants will be accommodating.

I think the place no. 1 was talking about is Maoz, great place to get a bite while out sightseeing, its basically a falafel & salad place, they are everywhere in Barcelona

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<hr>I've heard Sevilla is a nightmare.<hr></blockquote>
Badger is so right. It is. I've driven into Seville twice now and would rather eat light bulbs than do it a third time, and I've had 40 years experience of driving in Europe and European cities. Parking is difficult and expensive too.

I find ViaMichelin pretty accurate but don't forget to add on rest stops time.

I can think of better ways of spending a day than going to Tangiers but that's me. It's far from the most agreeable place in Morocco and quite atypical.

Day 10, via Ronda, will be a heck of a lot of hours in the car and very hard work for the driver. If you want to drive inland in that area, I suggest you consider rejigging your drive from Capleira to Tarifa and spend a night in one of the pueblos blancos on the way, using up the time you'd have spent going to Tangiers.

Day 13 looks like a long tiring day in the car to me even though Cuenca is a nice town.

Overall, I would drop off the hire car at Seville airport which is easily accessible (you won't need a car in Seville anyway), travel into Seville by public transport/taxi, and then take the overnight trenhotel from Seville to Barcelona. See RENFE for details. Spend the money you'll save on car hire, fuel and tolls on nice comfortable accommodation on the train.

Uncle rico - THANK YOU. That is the name - I remember it now. It is great for vegetarians - they are everywhere and very cheap and filling, and with the hot weather like it is you don't need indoor seating anyway.

THANKS ALL – femaletraveller, sofonista & unclerico Appreciate the Veg. support! Excellent link to sin.carne.com – we’ll use that for sure – and great advice/warning about “unexpected” meats.
– Tony b & Badger)– Great suggestion to drop the car in Seville. Thought about this only briefly (before reading about challenges of just driving into Seville). We’ve got two drivers – but what you’ve suggested might give us 1 day (or 2 days) extra (for Sevilla or Pueblos Blanca) – since we can eliminate one night accom. by taking night train (which can offset extra charge for car drop-off) – and missing the Cuenca stop. I’ll discuss with my partner and we might just reconfigure the trip. Accommodation in Seville was tight – so hope we can make it work! ……………Other suggestions still welcome as we tweak this itinerary. Thanks again/!muchas gracias de nuevo!

I agree completely with tony_b: I would not go to Tangier ! use that time for the rest of Andalucia for example !

My tip, as a fellow vegetarian, would be to try and get accomodation with a kitchen whenever possible.