Joys of Spain

____________________ , MADRID and ____________________ - Spain is a country of ____________________ . Madrid seduces in a way no other city ____________________ . It made such a ____________________ impression that ____________________ wrote : ? it is the most ____________________ of all cities , the best to ____________________ in , the ____________________ people , month in and month out the finest ____________________ . ? Much of the ____________________ spirit lies in the historic ____________________ and ____________________ of its ____________________ . National characters are forged by history and perhaps it is the case that Spain's ____________________ - soaked ____________________ - the three and a half centuries' reign of the ____________________ , the half a million lives lost during the ____________________ War ( 1936 - ____________________ ) and the repressive ____________________ regime have taught the ____________________ the price of conflict . Don't be ____________________ into thinking these ghosts are ____________________ swept under the ____________________ though - the ____________________ and very recent ____________________ cries of ____________________ would seem to suggest a chronic ____________________ . Ángel Ganivet , the 19th - century ____________________ , wrote that his ____________________ was ? a ____________________ full of ____________________ all suffering from the same ____________________ : their inability to put up with one ____________________ . ? They attempt to lay their ____________________ to rest with their ____________________ , fiestas and of course , their love of ____________________ . Food to a ____________________ is a way of life , a source ____________________ pride , and a means ____________________ identity . I asked a friend from ____________________ what he considered to be the ____________________ feature of ____________________ cuisine ? He said that ____________________ in Madrid was the ____________________ in Spain as it's flown in straight from the ____________________ . Of course , he would say that . . . the ____________________ in the north - ____________________ by the coast beg to ____________________ . Numerous conversations I had with ____________________ revealed more : the ____________________ look down at the way ____________________ fry their fish in ____________________ ( they also consider themselves the ____________________ cooks in the country ) ; the ____________________ , a jovial bunch from the ____________________ of Spain , consider Castilian food lacking in ____________________ and somewhat ____________________ , like the ____________________ . Each region has its own speciality ____________________ . In Madrid they include ____________________ rotos ( fried eggs on a bed of ____________________ and Iberian ____________________ or chistorra ) and bocadillo de calamares ( squid ____________________ ) . Spain is a ____________________ country but food is the real ____________________ . When god can't solve your problems ____________________ heaven is a shorter walk than the local ____________________ , particularly when you live in such a ____________________ - crowded city . Supposedly , Madrid has more ____________________ than any other city in the ____________________ - ____________________ , in fact , for every ____________________ inhabitants . I headed to my favourite ____________________ bar - La Venencia near Plaza de Santa ____________________ . Dimly lit and ____________________ , decades of dust cling to the ____________________ on the counter behind the ____________________ . Sherry ( jerez ) and ____________________ is all that's ____________________ , delivered by duty - bound ____________________ who are curiously ____________________ . With my drink arrives a plateful of ____________________ on the house ; ____________________ , emerald ____________________ olives in herb - scented ____________________ , nutty manchego ____________________ , and thick cuts of ____________________ alongside little ____________________ . No ____________________ are allowed ( a remnant of the days when fascist spies would sniff out revolutionaries ) and absolutely ____________________ tipping of the staff ( out of respect to the bar's ____________________ principles ) . According to ____________________ King Alfonso X , also called The ____________________ King , had once been ____________________ with a serious ____________________ which only allowed him to take in ____________________ ____________________ of ____________________ with ____________________ amounts of ____________________ .