No matter how much we ate, the bill was always just a fraction of what it was in a more formal restaurant. Besides late dining hours, a visitor to southern Spain will encounter a different daily rhythm. Except for tourists dutifully trudging from cathedral to museum to monument during the afternoon, the streets grew quiet as the stores were shuttered and offices closed for the siesta. In the evening, as the heat subsided, people flowed onto the streets and re-energized the public spaces. Especially in the evening, people are outside walking, talking, stopping in sidewalk cafes for a coffee, a beer or a glass of wine and something to eat.
Many eateries are both coffee shops and bars.
Even the Haagen-Dazs ice cream parlor in Toledo serves coffee, wine, beer and mixed drinks along with ice cream. Adapting to the leisurely and late dining customs of the Spanish people meant we had time in the early evening to get hooked on bullfighting, which is as much a national passion in Spain as baseball is in the United States. We weren't in the right place at the right time to see a live bullfight, but we became TV aficionados. We watched with fascination and horror as the banderilleros stood directly in front of the charging bull and jammed pairs of mini-spears into the bull's back, and as the bull thundered into the matador's red cape. Tickets to bullfights are hard to get and they sell at premium rates, but television has made the sport accessible to all, and there's even instant replay.