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Show HOTELS NOT SO BAD IN 1AND0F DON Spanish Places Are Cleaner Than Many in France, Says HasKin. WAITERS COURTEOUS AND BEDS GOOD Food Is Splendidly CooKed and Rrices Not High' for Americans. BTTEEDEBIcry.-HASKIlf. MADRID, Spaia. Nothing anrpriaea tha traveler in Spain so much aa the manner in which the native hotele are conducted. Tor a long time the impression im-pression has been abroad that dirt and slovenliness mark tha conduct of Spanish hotels, and that all of the food served is so highly seasoned that the foreign throat is burned in consuming it. Persons who insist that the Spaniards Span-iards were formerly uncleanly in their houaekeeping where the public was entertained en-tertained explain the present conditions condi-tions by saying that national pride has risen to the occasion and effected radical changes. Spaniards say that their country never deserved a reputation reputa-tion for dirt. At any rata the average native hotel today is quite as clean as the average American hotel of the same elaas and cleaner than a similar hostelry in France. Instead of being overseasoned, Spanish food is, generally general-ly speaking, unseasoned. (Jreat iniuntire. bv inference, ia done to the Spaniards by writers of guide books for foreigners. "Snanish, but well spoken of, ' is a familiar purees descriptive of a native hotel which is nut far down in that list by the guide book writer who highly recommends the regular tourist resorts to his patrons, pa-trons, investigation will usually show that the Spanish hotel is far better in iotnt of 'pod. service and eleanlincsa than those regularly catering to for-' for-' cign travelers. It is always cheaper bv X.rt or 50 per cent. The prices of food are notoriously high in Spain. Various kinds of taxes, including a protective tariff and a "constimo," the 1st tor a locnl tax that must be paid by evcrv vendor of food in the vicinity where H is iroUiced, combined with the poor agricultural development of the riMintrv, make the necessities ex-cccdinglv ex-cccdinglv expensive. Breakfast baeon, aV. - for example sells for a half dollar a pound in Madrid, and banish tinned butler, the standard of butter in Eu-roiro, Eu-roiro, sells fur ii't cents a pound. -All meats and canned products are higher than tlicy are in America, and eggs are as high. Vegetables alone are moderate moder-ate in price. - , Good waiters There. In these circumstances hotel keepers in more progressive countries would raise their rstes sufficiently to cause the patron to pay tho cost of high Erieed commodities. . Not so with the panish innkeeper. He cuts his expense lor tbe hire of employees and continues to quote low rates to guesta. The condition con-dition will doubtless change when more travelers come to Spain and when more of them learn how much more agreeable agreea-ble it is to stay at a native hotel than at a tourist resort, but inaamueh as few of the travelers in Spain at tbe present time speak Spanish, most of thera find it convenient to etop at fashionable hoeteiries that maintain in-terpretera in-terpretera or employ waiters and clerks who speak English and French. This prevents the Spanish hotels of the modest type from securing travelers trav-elers as guests snd they depend chiefly upon the Spaniards wh'o are unused to paving high prices and unable, as a rule, to do so. The Spanish " foods" has an atmos-. atmos-. phere ail its own. The waiters are universally courteous and universally quirk aad attentive. Their eonrtesy ia mnch more genuine than that of the French waiter, much more agreeable than'the fawning of the Japanese, and a delightful novelty to the American who ia used to the indifferent service for which the waiter in hia "home" hotels expects a tip out of all proportion propor-tion to hia deserts. The agreeable relations re-lations existing between the 8panish waiter and those he serves is probably proba-bly duo in no smsll measure to the unique attitude of the classes toward one another ia Spain. Thera ia ao . equivalent in the Spanish language for ' the English word "snob." i.'o-existent with a peculiar pride of race and' position there exists in the -:irt of the Spanish "hidalgo" a perfectly per-fectly friendly and cordial feeling toward to-ward persona in what are called" for convenience, tbe lower walks of life. Bow Ha Takes Tips. I'pon the other hand, the laborer, the artisan aad the waiter maintain an attitude of cordiality toward the "upper "up-per classes " .unaffected by ths bitterness bitter-ness that ia often felt in countries where snobbishness causes tbe "lower classes" to be eanetsstlv conscious of the sentiment of the wealthy and socially so-cially prominent that men are not equal. The Hpanish waiter ia, therefore, there-fore, polite, hut set senile. He accepts- a gratuity gratefully, but does not. by word or manner, suggest that it should be larger if it seems to him to lie inadequate. The result is that most persons who : "stop at Spanish hotels tip mors will- Ingly than they do elsewhere. They usually leave the establishment rejrre.-- rejrre.-- tins; the severance of a really friendly relation with the boy who waited op-' op-' oa the table. The "boy," by the wit u-often a jrrirzled old than, polished id manners and picturesque in sppear-ance. sppear-ance. whose eunqy outlook npoa life indicates in-dicates that he S personally content with his lot is life, although he may belong to tbe Republican party or go , to a night school to study the doctrines of socialism and to denounce a ffraft . ins; oligarchy that rules the country ia the name of constitutional moaarchv. . It is customary ia Spanish hotels to t provide guesta with sitting room opea-1 opea-1 in into their bedrooms. Two persons I atopfiuff at a .Spanish hot, of good 'hotels not so bad in spain i "Mi r n-l t r ni pit'1 i rui r-f) . ' ir f 4 X' '!' '-T . ''i' ry t'' 'br ivtt h-"i "f , ' ,i rr t ( 'i ph 'n a.M -.-f ft .-if f.f'l' -ha pi St m.'ln f'jr 1 g r, ,.t" ; .Tt.v "). -'h a n hi ii'.'t-n '" r' nr k f ht t r w r ;; i h r' , .ml w f 'lk '.r, !., I'V Jlfi'tn;' J Hl"H L ' I- nrp ' 'm ' ' ' '.i".M.pc! lit', r n lrr-X tha' ft' -ithpf ' ":1trrf'),,' .rfc ' tijp 4 m !"'! uT"'t' jpi 1 n J7 i n " !'! '"''if - , i 1.;. ' I I-f f Fruit Usd f : i f TH"''" i -?(.'' t n -i ,, ': M.-Mt x ! ..," t n 1 i rti 'if ' li , t - ,. t , : ; T .-! .. ,. , . tl. , r i 1m; ''Vi. nf M h,.t- p Mil ih.lP 1 i ,f j n, t 1 1, jt- 1 1 , i i ' li rh rr I -ru-i - art- ' I ' h'- r,t';i-r . '"fM-f "."' ..' -t ' !-.' I I I " . " -i - ' 'i...-n rn.ir.. ,..!., ,) .n,n..r i"" ; I , , t 1 i r n r t t-.- r. ; i - ! nu t'v ' '' s" ' ' ' rn 1 -' ! -inn- .." t lie rtai rH nt hi 1 1 f fa r j i in Xm"- ' not nn in Sjinih t ! trip, hut tiifTf nre "trtHls ' ff r: '! k-nd i i iiI i ti (r purr ir nlftrlx (jr.-l j ti?' mn.p wtfi bHit. Tiiv ' i io,kptl Hlijjh f "j!!v ln mrvi1 inknii; I h'-t In fi'l'l't I'n to nint nd 'ptf. n1 a few pttil, thr ' Alwav 1 jrat .Ipa! of fruit on a Spanish fabl At k hotl rhr(im(i frm $1 to $2 a la v nrhnxpp, frajM. pp)p. par ir 1 tit; are omnmnly offt-r'1 t h if'iwt t 'he e'H of t h mal. Win of ennf, iIwhmi fr.'n an1 m-mt h"(pU i - .ruaaiita.,'' M'ft' f P:.r nw n ,'T1 Tl'' rfiiAt in I'liVrH ah'urf l.pt-'n""wbit. anii re-1 win p. an'i both ar initially h tf"o.l tiH oii1-l l bought for 7? -nts a iinrt in niprira m hotels ha r-n I ' u r'critir f bl wmw W hen the (fiji'M leaves .1 Spuni'h b' tl t MiHke a train trip a lutn-heon provided f'r him. An omelet do wel' nhed th;it it in jjood to eat eold in - j w 'i i ofic "T Ti .iHr orfHued rn,,i'. to-led rh, h bo tie of wne, a hrge .oaf of .n'W whit Spanish bread with out calt in it. irinke a meal that- i ir'i'-h im-re appe'i'.ttig than a bm.-heoi, nt a radrnad rettta-irant in either Spain r A'1'ir..'a Te firigier in Spmn i ihvm- f-tm.-k with th fa-t that there a re tio eonti menrs in e 'den-e at 'he l'tel Kvn a!t an-1 pepper h re eon pi. iiit"S bv their abaenre an a rule, and the ight ..f b"th upon a hotel table is quite rare. humps, meats and f he 'piiebero'' or ''olla pn1rida'' iifion whirh munr of the natives live, are so wll eooked that ther ran be enjoyed with.mt seaanrung, but the foreigner wishes for salt and peppr, and perhaps h dash of Worretershire saue or ta baseo and wonders how the Spanish got their reputation for putting hot thing n their food Pays to Speak Spanish. The traveler in Spain who speaks) i -hough Spanish to make himself under I -tooil t 1 hotel keepers and waiters, nnd it pofvible to live fur about half the That in necessarily born tv the 'ouri!f who dor not know- Spanish and fc:i-le books Or be sent abmit from place o pla.e by 'tourist agencies two rn-tnths course m Spanish will ee anvone who has the si ighf est faculty for learning for "'g" tongues much more than itn cost ifi tnone and time if he is to stay in Spain one month. Th moderate priced lio'eis are for the most pi rt unmen iof!.'i bv Ibiedeker and th ot.ks in :heir gaide 1 k. Hut f.r a half ((seta a gunle printed in Spanish and ;ietl by paniarls when thev travel in I : neir own ennntrv may be had. In it tin- isitor is surprised ti see long lints f hole,, at which, the minimum rate is pesetas, a little Ie-a than Hn Amri 'an dollar, upon th ''American plan" i- we av in Ameri.a, alth'iugh " Amcr can t.lan" hotels are rarr in h Pnite.i States than in any other countrt t" tut w .o-!d. At t hes- native hoteU. off the beaten track of the tipping tour fs, the traveler may nnd Spanish ru t' ms unc hanged and Spanish courtesy -inspoiled. |
