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When Casey Death first visited Spain in 2004, she was lucky enough to be 'adopted' by a Spanish family. She celebrated traditional festivals and events with them and her 'grandmother' taught her to cook secret family recipes.  

“My Spanish friends and ‘family’ not only corrected my Spanish, but showed me the very best parts of my new Spanish world. I was taken to markets to meet the producers, learn the finer details of chorizo, queso (cheese) and boquerones (anchovies) and to buy whatever we were going to cook for lunch! I was taught traditional recipes for all my favourite foods, invited to Sunday lunch with Spanish families, and spent more than my fair share of weekends lying on the beaches of Cadíz,” said Casey.

She has discovered and explored Spain like the locals do and loves to share her experiences with friends and family. She also wanted other people to be able to experience the 'real' Spain, not just the touristy parts, so she set up Biznaga Travel Company in 2009.    Biznaga Travel Company  is a boutique travel company which offers unique Cultural and Language Holidays for small groups in Spain and Australia. They offer tailor made holidays which are designed to genuinely immerse their guests in the 'authentic' cultures of these two great countries.    

The holidays encompass all parts of Spain, depending on the time of year their guests want to visit Spain and the festivals and activities that are happening around the country at that time. Casey has a definite soft spot for Andalucía (in the south) because “the people there are so laid back, the lifestyle is wonderful and the climate makes it a great destination nearly year-round.”

Frank Camorra from Melbourn'es famed Movida restaurant is leading a tour of his favourite place in Spain - a true local's Gastronomy tour in October 2010. There are only 4 places left – click here for more details.

However, Casey’s very favourite 'less travelled' part of Spain is Galicia - the little pocket of Spain above Portugal. For her, Galicia is totally different to the rest of Spain - it rains all the time and everything is so lush and green ("kind of like the Scotland of Spain!" she explained). Her reasons are simple - "The fresh seafood is incredible, the wine is delicious and the scenery and architecture is just gorgeous". She recommends Santiago de Compostela as an absolute 'must do' and encourages travellers to take a little excursion  down to the very isolated Vigo and Pontevedra.

Part of Biznaga's unique holiday experiences include cooking classes in Spanish people’s own kitchens – not restaurants. They visit markets to buy the produce themselves and then learn the nuances of Spanish cooking – including sampling famous delicacies like jamon iberico.

For more details, visit the Biznaga website at www.biznagatravelcompany.com

Casey has shared some of her recipes with YourWeeklyMenu so prepare some holiday tapas & spanish dishes for yourself.