HOTEL OS DE CIVÍS, OS DE CIVÍS
Price: Depends on season. At the end of April (low season) I paid 150€ for two nights, media pensión, which included a buffet breakfast and a huge four course meal. In high season price is 90€ per night, bed and breakfast, 110€ with evening meal (which, for non-residents, costs 35€) .
Slow Pyrenees rating: 10/10
In a few years' time, when the hubris has subsided and the conspiracy theories have gone to that place where all conspiracy theories go to die, folk will ask themselves where they were and what they were doing on the day of the Great Iberian Blackout. I'd just hiked over the 1980m Coll de Laquell when I heard the news via social media, a few hours later, away from the Andorran border, all the Spanish mobile networks went down. But while the rest of peninsula ground to a halt, I kept on walking and when I returned to the hotel, as rain began to fall, the lights were still on. High in the Catalan Pyrenees, the owners had had sufficient foresight to install a generator.
But resilience to exogenous calamities is only one of the Hotel os de Civís' numerous attractions, which also include a spacious, ensuite room and spa (which I didn't use but the price includes an hour's access free of charge). For me, and for the several parties of French tourists who arrived by coach, the big draw was the food and the service. The sumptuous breakfast buffet seemed more Gallic than Catalan, not least the freshly made 'tortillas', which, according to several social media followers, were, in fact, 'omelettes'. Either way, to me they were far more creamy than the usual, stodgy, fried-egg fare.
For hikers, the late hour of Spanish evening meals can be problematic. At the otherwise excellent, family-run Hotel Noguera in Llavorsí, dinner isn't served until 21:00 so I sneaked in a couple of snacks from the local supermercat. At the Hotel os de Civís the hora de sopar is a tolerable 20:00, allowing for a beer before a roaring log fire in the lounge. Needless to say, it was served with a generous hors d'œuvre of embutidos and cheese, which set the scene for the culinary experience that was to come.
I'm still unsure as to whether it was a three or four course dinner, I'm afraid that I was far to stuffed to even contemplate desert.
Whenever escudella is on the menu I feel contractually obliged to choose it. This meaty soup or stew, a Catalan speciality, is the perfect, carb-laden starter, particularly when accompanied by thick slabs of crusty, rustic bread. It's normally served from an olla, or pot, placed on the table so you're free to help yourself. On my second evening, having hiked a good 25 kilometres, it was all I could do to stop myself guzzling the lot.
Second course is less quantity, more quality, a little sophistication. I was tempted by the snails but, on the second evening, won over by the goats cheese drizzled in honey with a couple of fat and juicy tomato slices. Who says mountain food is all meat, beans and stewed veg? Not that I have a problem with meat, beans and stewed veg.
At this point in the proceedings I took a long slug on a glass of the house white in anticipation of a brief, inter-prandial pause before the main dish arrived. No such luck! Whilst my back was turned one of the waiters plonked a plate of embutidos, with a slither of cheese, on my table, cortesía de la casa. It would have been rude to turn it down but on the second evening my stomach was close to full and had to pace myself.
Ah! The plato principal. After a sucession of fine support acts the main attraction took to the stage. I rarely eat meat, seafood with industrial quanitities of garlic and chillies is my preferred fare, but on the first evening I opted for lamb, on the second, rabbit. The latter, pictured below, is a fiddly affair but this was well-roasted and worth the effort. As a rule, perhaps due to some childhood culinary trauma, I consider baked potatoes the alimentary equivalent of Satan's spawn but they're a regular accompaniment in Catalan mountain cuisine and these were sufficiently dowsed in olive oil to alleviate the usually dull tuber taste.
I was just about to lay down my utensils in act of surrender and take a final gulp of wine when the waiter appeared with two bottles of thick, ochreous liqueurs. The chupitos had arrived and guess what! They were on the house. The squat bottle on the left is orujo de hierbas, a pomace brandy, the other, a paler, straw colour was, I think, an infusion of almonds. Look, I'm not an expert on viniculture and I should have asked questions but I was beginning to feel a little guilty. A three/four course meals and all these freebies for less than 20Є, surely something was amiss. There must be a catch.
When I checked out the following morning I fully expected my bill to include a host of extras, the chupitos and embutidos would surely have to be paid for, how can anyone run a business by giving things away. But no, there it was in black and white, 186Є for the lot, that's about 160 of your UK £. Will I be back? Well, as part of the Slow Pyrenees project I'm on a mission so sample as many Catalan hotels as possible but I can't really afford not to return, can I?
