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A plate full of pulpo. You eat it with
toothpicks, bite by bite. Then you
break off chunks of crusty bread and
sop up the spiced olive oil. Yum! |
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Our wonderful neighbor,
Miguel |
Today, despite the fact that it's nearly two weeks since our return from Portugal, I had every intention of writing a post about
Fado, the Portuguese art form of song we both love so much, to be followed by a later post mid-week about the photography festival we attended when we were in Braga Portugal.
But then our neighbor across the lane from us treated us to
pulpo at the
feria in Monforte, 20 minutes away from our village, and, as usual, we were enthusiastically swept away. (This is the neighbor who keeps sheep, and sometimes in the mornings, we awaken to their soft bleating.) Off we went, my Fado post tabled for another day.
Pulpo is octupus, boiled, cut in small pieces, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and
pimiento - which in this area, means hot red pepper. All of our neighbors simply love
pulpo, and their enthusiasm has been contagious. Though vegetarians, we do eat
pescados and
mariscos (fish and seafood), but octopus was a new experience for us. When done right, meaning boiled long enough, it comes out moist and tender and just delicious. It is served at long tables, in special buildings at all the fair grounds, and one of the servers comes around with a bottle of the house red wine and a loaf of fresh bread to go with it.
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The woman boiling this pulpo
is the neighbor of a woman in
Turiz, Melucha, whom we met
years ago when she was walking
her cows down the road to graze.
The people in these neighboring
villages all know each other, so
Miguel was able to tell us this. |
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Rajan, adding his touch. We
actually see this woman and
another (who is distantly re-
lated to Miguel), at ferias in
the other villages, since the
market days in the villages
fall on different days. |
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One of the long tables set up for this
event. For those who don't like pulpo,
there is also barbequed beef or sausage. |
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Despite the note about beef, most of
these people are eating pulpo,
always the favorite. |
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| Good to the last drop. |
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| Definitely a satisfied customer. |
Feria is "fair" or market day, and in the mornings, nearly everything is sold at a
feria: shoes, blouses, scarves, belts, beaded jewelry, plants, fruit, all kinds of produce, honey, bread loaves of all types, utensils for making wine, utensils for making the home-made brandy so popular here,
aguardiente. One shot of that will blow your head off, but most people around here confine it to a little shot in their coffee when they do decide to have it. There is also a special drink they make, using
aguardiente, called
quemada, with orange peel, apple peel, coffee beans, and sugar, blogged about, before
, HERE. (Scroll down to the very bottom of it, and you'll learn about the drink and the history behind it, as well as seeing the clay vessel they make it in and the clay cups they serve it in; the set is also called a
quemada, and it is also sold at the
ferias.)
While we were there, a gypsy playing an accordion came in and played some melodies that were so familiar to the crowd, some sang along. It was an absolutely charming touch (and he gained a few coins for that) but, alas, I didn't take pictures. A memorable lunch, for sure.
How about you? Have you ever eaten octopus? Have you ever found yourself eating a dish you thought you never would?
Here we are, still in our first week, and it has felt jam-packed. We arrived Monday evening, late. It was midnight before we got to bed. Then we spent the first couple of days opening the house, vacuuming and dusting, etc., and unpacking. Thursday we met friends in town at our favorite café bar in Monforte, Adega do Carlos, and yesterday we went to Lugo and stayed overnight for the San Froilán Fiesta.
The festival actually goes on for eight days, and yesterday, Friday, was the major religious day as San Froilán is the patron saint of Lugo, and the second day was the actual saint's day. Lugo is an ancient city about 60 miles north of Monforte, and it has both a Roman and Celtic past. (Well, for that matter, you can say that of all of Galicia: a Roman and Celtic past. There are old Roman bridges with arches everywhere, and the culture is both castiliano and galegan .)
What's fascinating about Lugo is that the center of town—the original town—is enclosed in a circular wall with about 17 arched entrances; a wall so thick it's wide enough for a car to drive atop, although only walking is permitted. Inside the walls are the old crooked cobbled streets, replete with restaurants and café bars, as well as two cathedrals and several plazas. Once we drove in and found the closest parking garage to our hotel, we unpacked and headed out to stroll the plazas and listen to music. Because it was the saint's day, all the clothing shops, etc., were closed, although eateries and bakeries were open.
Around the Plaza Mayor two huge stages were in preparation for the evening orchestra/bands. But the ayuntamiento (council building) flanks one side of the Plaza Mayor, and the municipal orchestra of Lugo was playing excerpts from Tschaikovky's Swan Lake, as well as music by Rodrigo and other composers. Really lovely to listen to. Walking down one of the narrow streets, waiting for lunch time (2:00 p.m.), we heard strains by Mozart floating from a restaurant's open doorway.
We are vegetarians, so sometimes it's hard to find restaurant food in Spain, but, luckily we eat fish and seafood. So we had a really tasty lunch of croquetas bacalao (codfish), grilled prawns, and—a real adventurous "first" for us—steamed cockles with lemon. My goodness, they were good. They looked to me like tiny versions of clams, and they had that "ocean" flavor that was quite evocative. Along with wine, of course.
After lunch, wandering around, we found a band in rehearsal at the Plaza Santa Maria. They were playing all the traditional Galician music with traditional instruments. Their orchestra was composed of four harps, four bagpipes, four violins, six tambourines, one huge set of drums and a smaller drum, and about eight "lap" organs with handles, as well as castanets and a mouth instrument that was "twanged". The music was haunting and beautiful, and sometimes sounded Irish, and sometimes sounded Greek, and sometimes sounded Spanish. Just fantastic. Later, around nine p.m., after a picnic dinner in our room, we heard the concert all over again and enjoyed it just as much. Then, at 10:30 p.m. we returned to the Plaza Mayor to listen to another Latin orchestra. We sat and enjoyed that until nearly midnight, and then returned to the hotel and went to bed.
After rolls and coffee at a bakery this morning, we walked along the shopping areas (and I did find a nice belt and scarf.) We returned, then, to the "artesian" tent, where local artisans were showing their beautiful handicrafts. And then we headed back "home" around noon.
Weather-wise, we have been lucky. Except for rain this morning, and not a heavy one, it's another beautiful sunny day. And now, I must wrap this up. I'm at a wi-fi café, and I want to post this before we return to the house. Later, I'll try to post some pictures.
Meanwhile, for us, Galicia is a magical place. I write poetry about it at times. Before we started coming here, McKinley Park in Sacramento used to affect me that way. Do you have a place like that? If so, where?
We left Sacramento Sunday morning, and already the week is drifting by. How can Saturday have come so soon?
It’s a long flight from Sacramento to Santiago. We changed at Dallas and again at Madrid, with generous wait times between flights to make sure any delayed flight would not make us miss the next. Our friends met us in Santiago. By the time we picked up our baggage, it was 6:30 in the evening. They drove us to Monforte, a drive of about an hour and a half, where we shopped for basic groceries. Then we all had dinner around 8:30 at a cafe-bar-restaurant called O Pincho. (Dinner at 8:30 or later . . . . That’s when you know you are in Spain.)
After trudging through airports and lugging carry-ons around for close to 26 hours, we practically fell into bed Monday night and had a good long sleep. One of our last, I might add, because jet lag kicked in the next day and is only starting to fade: we become sleepy or wide awake at very odd hours.
It’s wonderful to be here, taking short walks with our neighbors in the village, driving into Escairon for café con leche, or into Monforte to sit at an outdoor table in the big plaza, enjoying a glass of wine. Or going to Adega do Carlos for raciones at lunchtime (which is between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. in these parts.) Or meeting our neighbors again, late in the day, at the bench down the lane, sitting and talking with them until clouds turn pink and the air turns suddenly cool. Already these lovely friends have loaded us up with potatoes, figs, tomatoes, peppers, and home-made wine. In addition, we’ve been setting up lunch and dinner dates with friends we haven’t seen since our last trip, and tomorrow night is the Fiesta in Tuiriz (a village/town within walking distance, although we will drive, since we won’t go until around 9:30 or so.)
9 Comments on We’re Here in the Land of Mist and Mañana, last added: 9/26/2011
It looks lovely, Elizabeth! My magical places usually involve forests - however, Europe would probably work too!
Forests, yes. Think how many stories take place in a forest!
Ohhhh how I enjoyed reading this post!
It looks like you are having a great time, Elizabeth. I enjoyed this post a lot.
How beautiful!! As a fellow vegetarian, I also had trouble eating in Spain but the country was so beautiful I would go back again and again. Love the pics!
Sounds like a wonderful trip. It's really interesting to visit places where you can see glimpses of the ancient past juxtaposed in amongst the modern. The equivalent in the UK would be places like York and Bath - they have a great atmosphere.
Catherine, thanks. It's always nice to share this wonderful experience with others.
Rachna, yes, we are. Glad you enjoyed the post.
Saumya, yes, food is a challenge for a vegetarian if you don't eat fish or seafood. Luckily we can, but even then, we have to pick and choose carefully when we go out. But the neighbors here are so lovely and kind, and the people so open-hearted. Every time we come we feel so happy.
Nick, that's true. I've been to Bath and just loved it; I spent nearly a whole day there. I'm longing to go to York, too. It's on my bucket list.
Elizabeth, thaks for sharing that magic spell with us. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to the pictures. I can't be there with you but now I can't wait to listen to Tschaikovky's music...I did not know all that about Galicia. Very interesting.
This sounds soooo wonderful! You make me want to go travelling again!
Julia, Galicia is a very interesting part of Spain. We didn't know anything about it before we came, but apparently there's a strong Celtic past here. They actually have cultural exchanges with Ireland.
Lynda, I never realized how much I would love traveling. My family moved quite a bit when I was growing up, so I never thought I would. Now I just love coming here, and also going to India with my husband to visit family. It makes for such a wider world.
Beautiful. So much inspiration to pull from at a later time :-)! Grandfather Mountain in NC, USA is one of those places, for me. Nice post--thanks for sharing :-)
What a beautiful place. I'd love to explore it.
I would think it would be hard to be vegetarians when traveling.
Theresa C: I love the name "Grandfather Mountain". Just reading it makes me feel it's a special place.
Theresa M: You would love exploring it. It never gets old. As for being vegetarian: it's easier to travel than it used to be for sure. But, luckily we eat fish and seafood and cheese. Our diet would be super limited if we didn't.
Oh I could hear the sounds, taste the food and I so want to enjoy the magic. Sounds wonderful. The magic is, you never know when a place will make you feel that way.
Tanya, you are so right! There are places right in Sacramento that feel magic to me.
Sounds wonderful... And the food sounds yummo .
Enjoy xx
I love Spain! Thanks for sharing the pictures!
Michelle and Lydia, thanks for stopping by. I love Spain so much, especially Galicia. That's the only part of Spain I've seen outside of the Madrid airport. We keep thinking we will go see the tourist cities like Madrid and Barcelona and Seville, but actually there is so much interesting history right here in the northwest corner of the country that we drive all around here instead. But one day . . .