¡Galicia, Galicia!

Galicia, Galicia...

So I have always had hopes of seeing the north of Spain (well ever since arriving here) and finally I got to do it, and in the best way possible!  Julie (a friend from the IES program) and I decided to spend our long weekend (because Monday was father's day, sorry I didn't send you a card, Dad) in Galicia.  Julie has a friend, Irene, who studied abroad during high school in the states.  Irene currently lives in Madrid, but is from A Coruña, Galicia, the northwestern part of Spain.  Irene generously invited us to spend the weekend with her and her family (I say generously because I didn't even meet her until 5 minutes before the bus left).


Anyway, we left Madrid and the big busy city behind for the fresh, lush, green, quant seaside town of La Coruña.  We arrived on Friday night (after the 7-8 hour bus ride) and immediately met Marta, Irene's sister, and (wait because here is where it gets complicated) Ramon (Irene's boyfriend) and Miguel (Marta's boyfriend and Ramon's brother) at the bus station.  Complicated love quad? Not really, but it sure sounds like it right?  Anyway, they are all great people, which I will explain later, after I get boring details out of the way.  We went for dinner and then down to the beach, (A Coruña is right on the coast) and Julie and I got to touch the water.  Too bad it is cold in Galicia, and all hopes of swimming were pretty much lost.

first ocean touch!

Waking up the next morning in Marta's room was awesome.  We had a view of the ocean from the window of the 7th story apartment.  It was so breathtaking.  The kitchen had a similar view, and I just sat there for a few minutes really taking it all in.  To start the day off (at like 12 pm...) we went on a walk from the apartment, along the coast, and up to the Torre de Hercules, an old Roman lighthouse that is a known landmark in A Coruña.  There was a a weird want-to-be stonehenge, a Muslim cemetery, some beaches, a hercules statue, some weird rock formations, and lots of great vistas and rocks to climb on along the way.

view from our window...

stonehenge wanna-bee

beeeeech

Muslim cemetery 

weird rock thingies

Me and Hercules

Super saturated setting, it actually wasn't that pretty in real life

It likes to rain a lot on Galicia, but it turned out to be a pretty spectacular day.

The light posts reminded me of Dr. Seuss

this one is for you dad (note: sail boat)

After the walk to the Torre/Faro (Faro = light house), we went back home for lunch. HOMEMADE PAELLA LUNCH WITH FRESH GALICIAN SEA FOOD.  yum. I cold go on and on about it, but I have other more exciting food endeavors to report on so we'll save that for later.  But Olimpia (Irene's mom) is a great, fresh, healthy cook!


After a much needed siesta we went to watch Miguel's (remember: Ramon's (Irene's boyfriend) brother who is also dating Marta (Irene's sister) soccer game.  It was futsol, or indoor soccer on a small court.  The game was fun, until there were at least 5 yellow cards, 3 red cards, some kid broke a chair, and Miguel almost got in a fight. Oh wait, then it was even more fun!

Irene (left), Julie, and Marta

We went to Ramon and Miguel's house after the game, so the boys could get ready to go out (since it was El Día de San Patricio, more commonly known as Saint Patrick's day).  There, Miguel and Ramon gifted a rugby jersey each to me and Julie.  I'm still not sure why, but they insisted we take them and that they don't wear them.  Also just so happened to be Ireland.

.:::..INTERLUDE..:::. Here I want to talk about the amazing hospitality and friendliness of the Gallegos (Galicians).  Not only did the boys give us their rugby jerseys, but Ramon was our personal chauffeur all weekend, and they were always happy to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.  They also insisted on paying for us, meals, drinks, tours, taxi, treats, you name it!  I heard before going to Galicia that they people were really friendly, and that is no lie.  Even people on the street were really nice, giving us directions like it was no problem at all.  Irene's family was particularly hospitable, Marta gave us her room to sleep in for the weekend (and let me borrow anything I wanted in her closet!!!), Olimpia made us fresh squeezed orange juice every morning and fed and insisted on cleaning up after us, Ramon and Miguel were just all sorts of awesome, and Irene's dad fed us a great lunch and took us on another little driving tour to a really pretty view point.

Home-made cafe liquor

They also have great accents, a really sing-songy Spanish that sounds like Italian.  And when they talk to each other, especially on the phone, they talk so quietly you can't hear anything.  I also learned some great words from Miguel and Ramon, and we tried to help them out with their English.

Anyway, another related interlude...these people take forever to get ready.  The girls and the boys!  

You think with the giant clock statue they would be more on time...

Finally we were ready to go and eat dinner on St. Patrick's day night at like 11:00.  We went to a Pulperia (Pulpeira in Gallego), (pulpo means octopus, so put that one together) that was typical Galician.  See following photos for a course by course description...

wine in cute jug mugs

11:45 pm! Dinner Time!

Manchego Cheese

Pulpo

patatas 

pre-eating the pulp

post-pulpo

pimientos

Raxo and patatas fritas

cafe liquor for dessert

Saturday I also learned a really useful song that is sung in Spain, and it goes a little something like this...

Ramon (left), Irene, Miguel

"¡Alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, alcohol alcohol!

¡Hemos venido a borracharnos,

el resultado nos da igual!"

"Alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, alcohol!

We came to get drunk,

And we don't care what happens."

Saturday was a fun night.

Me and Julie just being silly...

Sunday we woke up (late again) and got ready for lunch at Irene's dad, since we were celebrating father's day today.  We had the most giant tortilla de patatas I have ever seen (sorry, no pictures, I though it might ruin the lovely ambience of father's day lunch), a yummy salad, and then filloas and cava for dessert.  (Filloas are a Galician dessert, like crepes and cava is Spanish champagne).  Irene's dad liked me because I ate a lot (almost the entire salad and at least half of the 70 filloas he made).  We also met abuela there, Irene's grandma.  This was the best part of lunch because she was pretty much completely deaf and also impossible to understand.  For some reason, she started telling to Julie to stop eating her soup...we didn't really understand why.  She also told us to find husbands who like to do "women's work" like her son, and kept saying how pretty and nice we were.  She particularly took a liking to me when we tried to leave and she wouldn't let me go.  I asked for a picture with her and she said she couldn't because she was ugly, then said the equivalent of "what the hell!" and took a picture with me.  She was so funny, and cute!!!

Me and abuela

Then Irene's dad took us to the Monte de San Pedro, a really nice view point of the city, where we walked around the did the tiny little maze. At night, we went to a super cool teteria (tea place) that was like a little bungalow with comfy nooks and couches to sit in and we had some tea and hookah.

Monte de Pedro

The labyrinth (there was only 1 way out and in)

ARCOIRIS!

teteria artsy picture

On Monday, Julie and I went to Santiago de Compostela, the capital and probably most well-known city in Galicia.  There is a cathedral there, where Saint James is apparently buried, and it has become a HUGE pilgrimage site.  People come form all sorts of routes (north from France or Spain, Coastal, etc...) to reach the cathedral.  I can tell you that it was a lot easier on the super nice Renfe train we took (cheaper, easier, and it only took 30 minutes!).  Anyway, Santiago was a typical little Spanish town...new city center, old city part, and a Cathedral.  The fachada, or outside, of the cathedral was the prettiest I have ever seen.  It was really old and moss covered and just a huge structure in the front of an ample plaza.  Inside, there was a service going on, so that was really cool to see too. The view around and on the way to and from the city was such a nice breath of fresh air...green, green, green, with wildflowers, and hills and farm houses.

catedral

inside

Saint James?

There were lots of camellia plants for some reason...

The rest of the day was a nice lounge and bonding time with Ramon, Miguel, Marta, and Irene and enjoying the last bit of our time in Galicia.

To come home, we took a night bus (left at 11:30 pm and arrived at 6 am).  It was my first night bus and I survived pretty well (thanks to my benadryl and the luxury of having two seats to myself).