Road Trip!

October 12-14

Galicia is acoss northern Spain from Logroño, so to get the most out of our 3-day weekend (Spain's National Day is Oct 12), we rented a car. We've actually done this road trip before, so we didn't plan on making many stops along the way. Instead we decided to save money and leave on Friday rather than spend the night in a hotel on Thursday. But we still had to pick the car up on Thursday because Friday was a holiday. So first thing Friday morning, we find out the car had been in an accident overnight! Go figure! So a slight delay to our plans - we had to go to the police station to give them our info, plus get a copy of the police report for the rental agency. Luckily, we asked for insurance!  After two hours, because the police station had limited hours, we were on the road. 

Te echo de menos Cristina!

 We arrived in Santiago de Compostela 7 hours later. Just in time to meet my friend! She lives in Burela (where I lived last year) but was in town to see her family nearby. She was feeling sick, but still came out to see us. We chatted for almost 2 hours in a cafe, in Spanish. :) I was rusty! Then we had to meet Brian´s friend for sushi and to collect a bag he had stored for us over the summer. That was another reason for renting the car...

Breakfast of Tourists: Fresh-squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate and churros

The next morning, we visited the Mercado de Abastos, a market full of fresh seafood, meats, spices, fruits, vegetables and more. We bought some trinkets to remember Santiago and Galicia by and had the typical tourist breakfast. Then we meandered through the narrow, cobblestone streets enjoying the energy of a Saturday morning - probably for the last time.

On the way out of town we stopped to pick up our housewares that were in storage and we were off again. After an hour on the road, we were in O Grove. We are always lucky to have a bed here, with our friends Gogue and Sefa. They are so generous and every time we visit, it´s an unforgettable experience. This trip was specifically for the 49th Seafood Festival. I was especially looking forward to Pulpo a la Gallega, which is Galician-style Octopus. This year we found out the trick to making it at home. Can't wait to make it for my friends back home!

Lunch: Rodaballo (flat, ugly fish that we weren't impressed with),
octopus, small scallops, bread and wine for our lunch.

Dinner/Round 2: More octopus, razor/knife fish (navajas), bread and wine.

Traditional Queimada ritual

Straight from Wikipedia: Queimada is an alcoholic beverage of Galician tradition. It is a punch made from Galician augardente (Orujo Gallego) - a spirit distilled from wine and flavoured with special herbs or coffee, plus sugar, lemon peel, coffee beans and cinnamon.

Typically, while preparing the punch a spell or incantation is recited, so that special powers are conferred to the queimada and those drinking it. Then the queimada is set alight, and slowly burns as more brandy is added.

The ritual was in Galician, but not many words were spoken, if any.
Just very loud haunted house noises. I mean really loud. Plus strobe
lights blinding us in the pitch black tent.

After the rush to get our queimada and the lights came back on...

A random and talented group of musicians playing in the cafe near
Gogue and Sefa's house. Some were familiar faces from the sing-alongs last Christmas!

By the time we got to bed, it was around 2am. Everyone likes to stay up late here. There were children there that were more awake than I was! Needless to say, we slept in the next morning and had to get on the road without going back for more seafood. But before we could leave, Gogue surprised us with some gifts/donations...a TV, a Sargadelos vase, T-shirts with his infamous Floreano character and wine. With the Albariño wine we bought, some gifts and our many bags and boxes, we had a full car and 8 hours to go with a faulty license plate. We made it back safely though and we hope it's not our last trip to Galicia. Thanks to Gogue, Sefa and family for their very generous hospitality.