On the Chocolate Trail

July 5, 2007 Sevilla Is it too hot here for hot chocolate?? Our Cadiz chocolate friend recommended this Sevilla store to us. We, along with others, were very disappointed that it was closed, despite the fact that the hours posted indicated it should be open…

July 3, 2007 Cádiz Here we enjoyed the Granizado de Chocolate, chocolatey and refreshing, prepared by the owner, a Russian born Israeli, now living with her Argentinian husband in Spain.

June 28, 2007 Córdoba In Córdoba, almost nothing.

June 27, 2007 Granada More Goodies including chocolate con churros, which we finally tried, and found a bit too greasy for us. After searching quite a bit, we finally discovered this very lovely store.

June 26, 2007 Villajoyosa Then to the Valor Chocolate Factory in Villajoyosa. The largest producer of chocolate in Spain, Valor uses very sensual and almost soft core,“adult” oriented pitches to sell the chocolate. We saw Nederland Cacao powder in the storage area and chocolate beans from Ghana. The audience, mostly families, giggled in appreciation at

June 24, 2007 Altea We find chocolate everywhere:

June 24, 2007 Sueca In Valencia Province, the outdoor Sueca city map clearly identifies the Comes Chocolate Museum. Owned by fourth generation Comes family member, Pedro Melero, 400,000 people visit the museum each year. He buys his chocolate from a co-op; they decide what is best. It currently comes from Ghana. The Comes-Spanish-only video shows

June 22 – 23, 2007 Valencia We happened upon beautiful chocolate themed ceramics at Santa Catalina Bakery and café, where we hear they have the best chocolate cake in town—

June 21, 2007 Calatayud In Calatayud one store surprisingly features Belgian chocolate, and another shop offers delicious chocolate covered oranges plus other delicacies named for the local ancient ruin, Bilbilis. Poblet Valencia

June 20, 2007 Poblet We had read a text panel at the Barcelona Chocolate Museum explaining that chocolate arrived in Spain in 1520, one year after Cortez arrived in Mexico. A Cistercian monk, Fray Aguilar, shipped chocolate with the recipe to the Monasterio de Piedra in Aragon and possibly also to the monastery at Poblet.

June 18 – 19, 2007 Barcelona There’s a lot of chocolate here, partly because the 18th century port welcomed ships containing chocolate cargo. It therefore had and still does, chocolate factories and chocolate stores. Some of the chocolate factories do not have their own stores, such as Blanxart. Again, there are many opportunities for hot

June 17, 2007 Returning to Spain, to Girona—shucks it’s closed on Sunday: But this one’s not… We missed this one also, learning about it from The Lonely Planet: Narbonne Barcelona

June 15, 2007 …with plenty of additional chocolate options: Carcassonne Girona

June 15, 2007 Carcassonne On to Carcassonne, where these neighboring stores are on the main square: Just inside the medieval walled city, amidst the tourist attractions and souvenir shops, we happily enjoyed hot chocolate, with choies of flavorings again, in a lovely garden setting: Toulouse Narbonne

June 14, 2007 We did not expect to find chocolate at all, only friends of friends with whom to spend the night and visit. Surprisingly, while searching out the one chocolate store recommended by the local Tourist Office, we found a cluster of stores in the Quartier Victor Hugo, close to Victor Hugo Square, near

June 10, 2007 The quantity of chocolate in Bayonne more than compensated for the lack in Bilbao. We arrived on Sunday, so we found the chocolate shops closed, sadly, but we did discover an Italian brand of hot chocolate at a local creperie.