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As LLL and Jayway had asked some questions about Don Juan Cafe I went back especially this morning for a coffee and to get a few snaps for you. Well, to be honest it was a return trip to exchange a jumper that Mrs G collected yesterday and decided it was too large. I do quite a few such trips but fortunately there is a car park very close to M & S and equally close to Dane John Gardens. As I have mentioned before, my city is very small and you can walk across the old city within the walls in just a few minutes.
So, Don Juan Cafe; well it is really little more than a shack with a few seats under an awning and more at tables opposite on the grass. It was a very dull grey morning so the pictures are not the best quality. The cafe is run by two young guys, one from Venezuela and the other from Bolivia. Their small simple menu reflects their national food and is all freshly prepared and cooked in the 'shack'. All very tasty and they do make very good strong coffee.....
Three pics of the cafe which is right on the footpath through the gardens.
Duty chef this morning.
And for Jay, some of the menu boards. I had a spicy beef Empanada yesterday. Very tasty
Very cool looking little restaurant with lots of character that lives up to its name of Don Juan. Knowing the fellows are from South America also fits in the "why" a coffee shop would be named "Don Juan"!
It is actually a very lovely setting overall and I bet in the summer with warmer weather all those tables are full.
It looks very nice and clean .. Grandad, did you tell them you were coming ??? haa haaaa - Your town seems to be a really interesting place, so much to see, must be lovely in the summer.
LovelyLadyLux wrote:I think the history alone in Grandad's corner of the world would keep somebody going for ages and ages. ALWAYS something to do and see
Jayway wrote:It looks very nice and clean .. Grandad, did you tell them you were coming ??? haa haaaa - Your town seems to be a really interesting place, so much to see, must be lovely in the summer.
Very true ladies. I was born here and never had to go far to find gainful employment in the area. Within the wall the city is only about 500 yards across and inside that area there is so much history. I do have a criticism though about re-development after the war when buildings were not in keeping with those that had been lost. And now the Universities are creating glass palaces fortunately just outside the walls.
But there is plenty to explore and all within walking distance.
Definitely sounds and seems a very lovely place. I wonder what they'd find if they ever decided to dig down and excavate? Am betting the finds would be super interesting and would definitely tell a historic tale.
LovelyLadyLux wrote:Definitely sounds and seems a very lovely place. I wonder what they'd find if they ever decided to dig down and excavate? Am betting the finds would be super interesting and would definitely tell a historic tale.
LLL, before any new builds can be started the archaeologists usually have 6 months to a year to open up the site to record and retrieve all finds. This little street, Mercery Lane, escaped any damage in the blitz. However, immediately behind the buildings on the right was razed and during excavation before rebuilding started, a Roman tiled floor was found. Further work found other Roman artifacts and the heated under floor of a Roman house. This is now a Roman museum right beneath the Lane that you see. There are steps down but also a lift.
I am always amazed how deep these relics are found. It was only about 1600 years after the Romans left and the street level had raised about ten feet.
I'm quite amazed too at how deep things are. I can understand that everything isn't necessarily going to be ground level of today but I am surprised that that much (ahem) dirt has been piled on and accumulated over top of everything. So much so that it has actually obliterated what was before.
You had a photo on here awhile ago of another building that you had to walk DOWN to get into. Quite surprising how everything is built up.
At times kinda makes me want to grab a shovel and start digging to see what I could find.
It is usually the same in any place with continuous occupation. There is a Roman Fort up on Hadrian’s Wall in Northern England called ‘Vindolanda’ a most interesting place to visit. I once had a nice chat with the chap who was in charge of the site his name was Professor Eric Birley, a very nice gentleman now sadly not with us and he explained to me that they were finding so much stuff there because there were at least 9 levels of Roman military occupation on this one site, here is a link to it and well worth a look around the website and if you ever get the chance, a visit. http://www.vindolanda.com/
On a different note and in keeping with Jay’s ghost story on another thread, there is the well known story of a Plumber working in the cellar of a pub in York which was another Roman City. He tells of suddenly hearing a sort of trumpet sound and upon turning around he saw a full cohort of Roman soldiers march across the cellar, out of one wall and disappear through the opposite one. It could have been easily dismissed, as his imagination but the way he described their dress was different to how it was thought by academics to be worn at the time as he described them wearing breeches and other such stuff. Years later it was discovered that they actually did dress in that manner in the colder conditions of the North of England, but rather more telling was his insistence that he could only see them from the knees up as they marched past him! It was later discovered that the original street level would have been lower down than the current floor of the cellar and that they would in fact have been marching on the Roman level, hence him only seeing them from the knees up.
In Cairo's Café Umm Kalthoum
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