TRAVEL REPORT
by Gill Moorcroft
REPORT ON TRIP TO GALICIA. September 19th - 26th 2005
Please click on the thumbnails to view the photographs.
A full coach load set off for our trip to Galicia on Monday 19th September. After travelling for most of the day we had our first glimpse of the walled city of Avila which was chosen for our first night’s stay. This city is North of Madrid and Spain’s highest provincial city (3,706 ft above sea level). Although we were warned that due to the altitude it would almost certainly be very cold, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive to a beautifully warm evening and we were able to have a pleasant stroll around the city before dinner. The walls of the city are 2 kms long and are punctuated by 88 sturdy turrets, nine heavily defended gates and was built in the 12th century. It was the most advanced fortification of its day in Spain.
The next day we set off for our final part of the journey to Galicia, eventually reaching our hotel on the outskirts of a town called Padrón. Padrón is named after the hitching stone in the church to which the boat carrying the beheaded body of St. James was tied up when it was brought to Spain. St James was beheaded whilst preaching in Jerusalem. This stone can be seen under thee alterr of one of the churches. Padrón is also famous for its small green peppers (pimientos de Padrón), which when fried in hot olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt are a most delicious meal. Padrón is also famous for being the birthplace of one of Spain’s leading poets.
On Wednesday we were taken by coach for a tour around Santiago de Compostela. We had an excellent guide who told us many interesting facts about the place. The Cathedral at Santiago is build on the site where the body of St. James was allegedly discovered by a shepherd who followed a star - so the name, Compostela comes from Campus Stellae - Field of the Star. No one can say how it got from Padrón inland. The cathedral attracted pilgrims from all over Europe. In the cathedral is a huge incense burner, called a botafumeiro which it is said was swung on a rope across the cathedral to cleanse the church of unpleasant smells emitting from the many unwashed pilgrims. Nowadays, it is more of a rarity to see this amazing sight, but we were fortunate to be witness to this. (Had they “got wind” of a party of u3a pilgrims descending on them!!) Apparently there was a delegation of visiting Polish cardinals who were obviously important enough to warrant the incense burner being swung. We had time after the guided tour to have a look around Santiago de Compostela before catching the coach back to the hotel and having free time in the afternoon to relax by the pool.
The weather on Thursday had turned very misty but we set off by coach with another guide for our day’s sightseeing. We stopped firstly at the island of A Toxa and saw a small church covered in scallop shells, then we were able to buy goods made from its famous spa. The ladies were able to buy “jewellery” made from shells which were on sale from the many small stalls. Scallops shells are in evidence everywhere in the area as they where given to the pilgrims in early times.
From there we went to O Grove where we caught a boat which would take us for an interesting tour around the mussel and scallop beds. Unfortunately, it was still very misty so visibility was poor. However, the crew of the boat brought round endless bottles of wine and mussels for everyone and after copious amounts of both the fact that it was misty didn’t seem to matter much!! In fact we could have been going round in circles, 20 yards off shore, and nobody would have known, or cared much!! So a good time was had by all!!
No time for a “sleepy bye byes” to recover as we were off on the grand tour again. Combarro was our next stop, and those of us who only managed to find the nearest bar for a “coffee” missed a rare treat. To the right of the port area is the old part of the village with really narrow little walkways lined by unusual houses. It was an amazing place with surprises around every corner and very worth the visit, and the sort of place that you probably would not have come across on your own.
A stop off at Muros, with its small, interesting alleyways leading back from the harbour area with its little fishing boats. There is a statue of a lady looking out to sea waiting for her fisherman husband to come home with the catch. Time for a coffee before getting back on the coach.
The next day, our ultimate destination was A Coruña and again it was misty which was a pity as it was difficult to get the full beauty of the scenery and wonderful beaches that you find in this part of Galicia. We stopped at various little towns and villages on the way….. and saw a lot of churches…..!! The mist turned to rain briefly but in true Brit form we were able to don our waterproofs in double quick time – well we have had a lot of practice. One of the main attractions in A Coruña is the Tower of Hercules (the lighthouse) which was built on the site of a Roman lighthouse. The more energetic amongst us braved the damp to climb to the top and the mist cleared sufficiently to get a good view of the surrounding area.
On our last day in Galicia, our guide took us to Finisterre (Land’s End) and along the Costa de Muerte (coast of death). In 2002 the tanker “Prestige” leaked its contents causing an ecological disaster along the coast. The cleanup has been amazing and you would never know now that this had happened. There was also a lot of evidence of forest fires from the drought this year, which has decimated vast areas of the countryside.
Everywhere in the region you see strange constructions in the gardens of houses called “horreos” . They are small buildings, mostly made out of granite and standing on granite pillars which were designed to store grain, potatoes, garlic etc. and were protection from the weather and from rodents. We were taken to see the largest “horreo” in the area at a place called Carnota and this one stands on 22 pillars. There were another few stops at villages…. and a few more churches…. then back to the hotel for the last evening of our stay in Galica.
The meal on the last evening started out as usual with all our party at one end of the dining area behind a partition. As a nice gesture, the hotel supplied us with bottles of champagne at the end of the meal. One of the corks was popped and landed on the party of people the other side of the partition. Fortunately they took this in good part and it transpired that they were a party of Polish people, including priests, on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. They all started singing Polish Folk Songs (I presume), and so not to be outdone the Brits had to reciprocate. Starting off with rousing renditions of “Rule Britannia” and “Jerusalem” and quickly degenerating into “We’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Roll out the Barrel”. For future trips, it would be advisable to be prepared with song sheets as most of the second verses had to be “la- lalled” in the absence of the words!! We all ended up joining in with some dancing while our bemused waiters watched on. They were trying to conduct a Galician custom of offering us all a taste of queimada which is an alcoholic drink which is set light to while the following verse is recited (in Spanish):-
“All owls, toads and witches.
Evil demons and devils, spirits of the snowy fields.
Crows, salamanders and sorceresses, spells of witch-doctors.
Reeds, rotten and full of holes, lair of worms and vermin.
Fire of souls in torment, the evil eye, black spells, the smell of the dead, thunder and lightning.
Dog's bark, portents of death; satyr's snout and rabbits foot.
The sinful tongue of the old man's harridan wife.
Hell of Satan and Beelzebub, fire of burning corpses, wretched mutilated bodies, farts from infernal arses,
the roar of the raging sea.
Barren womb of the unmarried woman, catawalling cats on heat and the mangy and filthy hair of the ill-begotten goat.
With this ladle I will raise the flames of this hell-fire, and the witches will flee on their broomsticks, to bathe on the rocky shore.
Hear, hear! The howls of those who burn in the aguardiente and thereby purify themselves.
And when this brew runs down our throats, we will be free of all the sins of our soul and of all witchcraft.
Forces of air, earth, sea and fire, I make this call to you: if it be true that you have more power then man,
here and now, make the spirits of the friends who have departed share this queimada with us.”
With cases packed we set off on Sunday morning for the journey back home. After a day’s driving we had an overnight stay at Segovia, famous from its Roman aqueduct which dominates the city. The aqueduct has a maximum height of 28.90 meters, is 728 meters in length and has 167 arches. This was built 2,000 years ago out of blocks of stock and no mortar was used at all. It was an impressive sight and a tribute to its construction that it has survived so well today. Our hotel was conveniently situated within its shadow. The following morning we had a couple of hours or so in which to visit the Alcazar and a brief look around Segovia as a taster of what the place had to offer. Maybe a future visit could be arranged for a longer look at this most interesting city.
Then it was back on the coach for our eventual arrival in Calpe at about 8.00 pm. A wonderful time was had by all on this visit to a completely different part of Spain.
Thank you Jean from us all.
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