It was a déjà vu moment when I had my first glimpse of Spain's most impressive medieval walled city, and I say this respectfully of Avila's uniqueness and grandeur, and furthermore, its renowned rib steak.
Once the battlefront between Christian kingdoms of the north and Moorish states to the south, historic Avila is peerless among Spanish towns in the magnificence of its complete medieval walls, nearly 3 km in circumference and still largely navigable on foot. Yet there was something ungraspable about Avila that triggered my recollections from past trips.
Massive ancient walls on an arid windswept plateau. A formidable chain of gigantic watchtowers and ramparts that stood on an strangely grassy lawn, surely the work of modern irrigation in a province where rainwater is a commodity. Where have I seen this before?
You are right if you said Pingyao, another wondrously medieval city and my favorite destination on a past trip to Northern China, halfway around the world. And the uncanny similarities do not stop at the outward appearance, as both Pingyao and Avila are apparently well-known for the same gastronomic contribution to the cuisines of their respective nations.
Beef. Pingyao Beef to be exact, and Avila's famous Carne de Avila.
But that was a realization that came only after I had departed Avila. On this day we started in the morning from our previous base of Segovia and hopped on a highway bus to arrive at Avila at 10:15. Our onward bus to our next base of Salamanca would depart at 17:00, leaving us with a little over 6 hours in a fascinating town with so much to experience, both for our eyes and our tastebuds. With limited time we opted to take a short taxi to the opposite end of town, 2.5 km away, and gradually make it back to the bus station on foot.
When we asked for "Cuatro Postes" our taxi driver nearly dropped us off at Hotel Cuatro Postes instead of the medieval shrine, the aptly named Four Posts associated with a couple of archaic legends that nobody nowadays can substantiate. What everyone can agree on is that the shrine provides one of the most spectacular panoramas of Avila as a complete walled city.
In front of our eyes was the medieval frontier town designed as an unbreachable bastion against Moorish forces in the late 1090s, roughly the same time as the First Crusade in the Middle East. Featuring nearly a hundred watchtowers and half a dozen gates, the town walls would become the largest illuminated monument in the world every evening.
Architecturally weaved into the defensive walls is Avila's distinctive stark grey cathedral, imposing with minimal artistic flourishes and once functioned as much as a formidable fortress as it did as a church. In fact it was the remarkable marriage of these archaic churches with the town's defensive structures that solidified Avila's position as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Part Romanesque, part Gothic and all photogenic, the cathedral features an impressive apse with robust buttresses and extraordinarily thick walls that betray its double function as a major turret on the town wall for defending the easternmost gate where the tourist info office now stands. Impressive for sure, yet these monuments was just half my reason for visiting Avila.
I also wanted my rib steak.
LA ESCALERA (Avila)
Location Map
For once I failed to get a restaurant recommendation from the locals. Uncharacteristically I searched for a steakhouse within Avila's historic quarter on Google Maps, which returned two seemingly good proposals -- one smack dab on the town square and another concealed in a dead end alley half a block away. Experienced travelers already know which one I'd pick.
The hidden one, as always.
Like most upscale restaurants in Avila, La Escalera has designed its menu around the famed Carne de Avila, an exclusive breed of Iberian Black cattle produced here in the high Castilian Plateau. While my Chuleton de Avila, the nationally famous rib steak, must be ordered on its own, my wife's Menu del Dia featured a strip loin of Avileña Beef with the regional specialty of Patatas Revolconas, the pictured dish of paprika-infused mashed potatoes served with pan-fried pancetta and crispy torreznos, in a 3 course meal for less than 20 euros.
My wife's entrecot arrived, sizeable enough that she could not finish it all and gave me a third of it. This third had to be among the best New York strip loins I've ever had -- beautiful grille marks, perfectly medium pink on the inside, tender yet chewy enough to enjoy its intense beefy flavor at each bite. I could have asked my wife for a bigger share except ...
Look at the size of this ginormous, salt-crusted bone-in rib steak, the legendary Chuleton de Avila.
I had heard of the Chuleton de Avila before and expected a large portion. But I didn't expect a monstrous steak weighing 3/4 kilogram (26.5 oz.), within reach perhaps for my Texan coworkers accustomed to their 20 oz. Porterhouses, but more than twice the size of typical steakhouse offerings in Canada where I live. No wonder the locals do siestas after the midday meal.
It was time to cut into the masterfully seared steak, apparently seasoned with nothing but extra virgin olive oil and crystalline salt flakes. Ominously the meat felt rubbery on my steak knife and gave a significant resistance against my hand's sawing motion. And now the taste ...
I wish I could say that it was the best steak ever -- after all we've flown 10 hours to Spain and traveled this far by land to the undisputed Spanish capital of beef. But to be brutally honest, it was just too tough for my preference.
Juicy and flavorful, oh yes and yes. But it was also fibrous to the point that my teeth could not even sink into the toughest sections. Without any disrespect to the chef, I actually preferred my wife's entrecot much, much more. That said, who can complain about a premium rib steak ginormous enough to feed two or three, hailing from a famous lineage of Spanish cattle, and served in a classy steakhouse for less than 20 euros?
I had to give up on finishing both one-third of my wife's strip loin and my own 750g rib steak, which fortunately allowed me to share my wife's dessert, a delectable Portuguese Serradura for a refreshing deviation from your typical rice pudding and flan.
Did I mention that our graceful waiters gave us a full bottle of the local tempranillo to share even though only one of us ordered the Menu del Dia? This sizeable meal of an appetizer, two gigantic steaks that we couldn't finish, plus dessert and a bottle of wine to share, ended up costing less than 20 euros per person.
Bill for Two Persons
| Chuleton de Avila | 18.95 Euros |
| Menu Abulense | 19.95 Euros |
| TOTAL | 38.90 Euros (CAD$58.4) |
Besides its iconic rib steak Avila offered one more nationally famous treat that I was determined to sample. Enter the 160-year-old confiteria of La Flor de Castilla, best known as the institution that commercialized the Yemas de Santa Teresa, now the most popular edible souvenir for Spanish tourists visiting the city.
It is a local medieval recipe of stirring hot syrup into raw egg yolks until the mixture solidifies into this delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture that has since been popularized across Spain. Something this good must also be full of artery-clogging cholesterol -- just like Jamon Iberico I guess -- which was why we had to refrain from downing more than a couple of these luscious yellow orbs in one sitting.
We did make it back to the bus station -- another example of original Spanish architecture found in unlikely places -- for an afternoon bus to our next medieval town. Our next two nights would be spent at the 15th century university town of Salamanca, our 11th UNESCO World Heritage Site on a journey across Spain.
