Six Things that Shocked me After Traveling Spain as a Filipina-Asian Traveler

Spain is one of my favorite travel destinations in the world. Being there more than once, I can say that it’s home to many beautiful sites topped with unique culture and rich history. To me, every visit to Spain is memorable. More so, being a Filipino traveler gave my trips to Spain more impact given the strong link between the Philippines and Spain for its history. For one, many places in Spain truly reminded me much of the old side of the Philippines, such that of Intramuros or Ilocos.

Nevertheless, not all in Spain were familiar to me. In fact there are some traditions, culture, and habits that surprised me after experiencing them during my travels around Spain. I’ve listed some of them, also explaining how they’re different from the way I am used to as a Filipina or Asian traveler.

Everything starts late

At first I thought my watch was just off or broken in Spain, but then it wasn’t. It took me a while to get used to how late everything starts in Spain. And since all things are done late anyway, my late reaction caught up eventually. LOL.

In contrast with my travels in Asia, where I’m so used to starting as early as possible (say, at 7AM) to avoid the swarm of tourists and to also visit as many places as possible in a day, mornings in Spain are slow. Think of 7AM as a ghost town. If there’d be someone on the street, it would probably some guy with a bad hangover from last night’s party.

The first time I went to Spain without any idea on this, I once got up at 6:30AM to look for a place to eat breakfast. I ended up a grumpy and hungry in Barcelona for hours because I didn’t find any! With that lesson learned, that night I funnily stacked food to then eat it for breakfast the next day.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that most tourist attractions in Spain do not open earlier than 9AM. This includes museums, parks, and even government buildings. But what’s good is that some attractions have nighttime and extended operating hours, especially during summer (July-September) where the day is longer.

...Even meal times are late

Meal hours in Spain is as late as you could ever think of. While breakfast is usually served at 7AM in the Philippines (or earlier), el desayuno (the breakfast) in Spain starts at 9AM or 10AM. Don’t expect a lot of restaurants or supermarkets to open before 9AM. If you’re lucky, the earliest store would probably a panaderia (bread shop) at 8AM.

Fun fact: Speaking of panaderia, if you’re a Filipino, you’ve probably eaten a Spanish bread or maybe know what it looks like. It’s that sweet, rolled bread sold in local bread shops that sits along with pan de sal, pan de coco, and ensaymada. While I assumed there’s also Spanish bread in Spain, I funnily realized that there’s none! Spanish bread is an urban legend. It’s like Vienna sausage and french fries where the name doesn’t live up to the existence in that place!

Aside from breakfast, lunch time is as late as 2-3PM and dinner is at 9-10PM in Spain. Thinking of a reason why, I noticed that most Spaniards live by the night: they’re nocturnal. It’s no excuse to be a sleepy Asian at 10PM because that’s only when the party gets started in Spain! And as they say there, they go out and party hasta las tantas!

Rice isn't life in Spain, but yeah it exists

For Asians, rice is staple food and comes in every meal. Most especially for the Filipinos, rice is usually eaten 3 times a day.

Even if rice is well-known in Spain, thanks to paella, it’s unlikely to eat it all the time, neither to have it for breakfast. In Spain, people don’t usually eat rice very early, so don’t expect paella to be on the menu at breakfast. They’d probably eat pan con tomate (bread with tomato spread - yes, tomato! And it’s healthy delicious!) with coffee. The Spaniards tend to eat more at lunch and dinner, heavily relying on meat as their source of energy.

Nowadays though, due to the influx of Asian migrants in Spain, there have been a number of Asian restaurants that serve rice meals. As I noticed, there are a lot of Chinese and Vietnamese across Spain and whenever I crave for rice close to how it’s cooked the Filipino way, Asian restaurants are my go-to places!

Liquor is an appetizer

If you don’t have high tolerance for alcohol, prepare to get drunk early in Spain. Unlike in Philippine culture where we start drinking after the meal, wine or beer gets served first before any meal in Spain. When you sit in a restaurant, surprisingly, they’d usually hand over the liquor menu to you first.

In Catalonia region, for example, there’s this liquor called vermut (vermouth), which is a common alcohol-based appetizer before lunch time. It's said to trigger hunger that gives a huge appetite. There are several types of vermut, usually classified between dry and sweet, and it highly resembles to a martini. What I was able to try in Barcelona is the sweet vermut, which had a sweet-bitter taste, accompanied by a slice of lemon in it and green olives on the side.

There are also Filipino drinking traditions that are unacceptable in Spain. Things like: there’s no chaser, putting ice in any liquor is a no no (because they say it ruins the taste!), and on top of that, they claim that San Miguel beer is theirs! (it’s an on-going debate I tell you, so don’t even get started with them about this LOL!). Our typical drinking session of having a tanggero pouring liquor in a single shot glass shared by everyone is exclusively Filipino--something that took me time explaining to my Spanish friends as it’s something very strange to them.

Dos besos and kissing

In the Philippines, a meetup with friends, colleagues, or relatives usually begins with a smack on the cheek, or most likely just a damp of cheek-to-cheek if you aren’t that close with the person. Called a beso-beso, it’s a socializing habit but is usually done by women only. With such conservative culture in the Philippines, it’s unlikely that a guy and girl do this, unless they’re close friends, siblings, or a couple.

In Spain, on the other hand, given its open-minded liberated culture, people can kiss each other there without any malice. During casual acquaintances, even if it’s the first time you meet a person regardless of gender, you usually give him/her dos besos (two kisses), a kiss on both cheeks, so it’s done not once but TWICE.

Kissing in general, the way I notice it, is very casual in Spain. Just like other Europeans, the Spaniards treat a kiss with less value as compared to the Asians. When a guy kisses a girl (vice versa), it doesn’t right away mean the person has romantic feelings for the other.

Though I also have to mention that it’s very common to see people torridly kissing and making out at public spaces across Spain--something that truly shookt me as a Filipina and an Asian at first, as it’s something that I don't often see when traveling Asia.

Siesta time is for real

Siesta is a Spanish word that refers to an afternoon nap, which takes an hour or two, and is usually taken after eating lunch. After experiencing it firsthand in Spain, that’s when I was able to convince myself that siesta is a habit that we, Filipinos, truly got from the Spaniards. In Spain, lunch break is usually longer. Unlike in the Philippines that it’s only one-hour break, a typical afternoon break time in Spain is 3 hours, usually from 2PM to 5PM.

I remember an afternoon in Granada when I saw a nice blouse by the glass of a local clothing store. When I was about to enter the store to hopefully to fit it, I realized that the store was closed because of siesta time. While they take siesta seriously, they kind of compensate by extending the hours at night as most jobs usually end by 8PM (or later) in Spain.