Back on the Road North.

Last summer is a long way off, but I can't help thinking about the wonderful time we had touring Spain and Portugal with my Spanish Daughters. After our wonderful stay at the Casa Rurale in Portugal, we hit the road again and headed north for Spain. The Spanish State of Galicia to be more precise. The morning sun filtered through the green leafy forest as we resumed our trek.

Seeing new country from the back seat of a car (with a dog breathing in your ear) is really quite an experience. I am used to being up front, so it felt a bit weird to be in back, hanging out the window taking pictures of the beautiful scenery, and the local folks.

Gardens were everywhere. The country side was well tended
and much cleaner than the cities. I guess that is true at home too.

I surprised these ladies as they headed off to tend their crops.
Potatoes perhaps??

We made it back out to the Atlantic coast about mid day, just in time for coffee, and a break for the dog (and me). The small village, I forget the name had a shrine to fisherman over the local chapel, and I am sure was entirely dependent on fishing at one point in time. Today it appears to be more of a tourist spot and a great place for the nearby locals to recreate. We found a nice cafe right across the highway from the old church and settled in for cafe con leche.

That is the church just across the highway from Viola and Bella.

After the caffeine kicked in, we headed down the little dirt lane to the beach about a half mile away. There was a row of stone buildings right at the edge of the sand. At first I thought they were homes, but that was not the case. Several; had been recently renovated, and one was still undergoing repair. After much theorizing, we decided that they were boat houses. My guess is that they were several hundred years old, although we could not find any interpretive information to confirm this. We headed past the row of boat houses, and hit the beach, Bella's favorite place!

We parked in front of the end house that was still just a ruin.

This was the view through the front doorway toward the ocean.
The rock and stone work (what was left of it) were impressive.

We explored the shoreline for a while, and gave Bella some exercise by through "La Pellota". Like all labs I have ever known, she would have kept us there indefinitely throwing the ball, retrieving it with the same excitement and enthusiasm on toss 200 as on the first throw. We didn't stay too long however, as we wanted to get to Santiago de Compostela (our destination in Galicia) at a reasonable hour.

As you can see, Bella is wondering where the ball is!

This cool old fort was just north of our beach stop as we continued
on our way. We never got any info on it, but it had to be at least
14th century.

as Vasco DeGama said: "Siempre Frente, Siempre Frente!!"
keep going straight unless you really have to turn! 

Here is the bridge that crosses the river back from Portugal
into Espana. Locals had crossed out "Espana" and written
"Galiza" 

As we moved back into Spain and kept heading north, the use of
granite as the predominate building material was apparent.

We made it back into Espana, and oddly for me, it felt a little like coming home. We stopped for "Almuerzo" at a small cafe. Unfortunately, time (or all the cerveza) has dimmed the name of the village in my senior brain. The hostess lead us through the bar into a small enclosed courtyard and brought us menus. Wow! we couldn't resist ordering too much food (again!) as the menu items were more familiar, and looked delicious. We ordered oysters, fried peppers, a huge "tortilla", lots of pan (bread), and several other savory dishes. Oh yeah, and cerveza (Viola ordered a pitcher of tinto rojo!).

This is a spanish "Wilbanks Look". The cerveza
went down smooth (too smooth) and that is a plat of oysters
on the table. 

Fried peppers and delicious bread.

This is a "tortilla" extraordinaire! Basically a potato
and egg omelette.

We were getting close to our destination. I will have to defer to Viola for the name of the place, but it was a small village within a short drive of Santiago de Compostela. The little place we stayed (built in the 1500's) is also extensively used by pilgrims. The pilgrimage has been happening for centuries, but was particularly popular at the height of Muslim expansion, since the faithful didn't have access to holy sites in the middle east. Legend has it that the remains of the apostle James are buried on the site of the cathedral which was built in the 9th century. The proprietor was a nice young man who had inherited the house from his parents, and turned it into a hostel. It was a beautiful spot. The rooms were ancient and cozy. My only complaint was that the doorways were built for the typical 16th century Spaniard. Put it this way, I think the current people of Spain would tower over those folks. Needless to say, id bumped my noggin once or twice!

Wrought iron work with the sword of Santiago (Saint James).
the shell is his symbol and marks "El camino de Santiago"
or the "Way of Saint James". this is the route that pilgrims take to
visit the cathedral there.

A granite buss stop with a trail marker to keep the pilgrims on track.

We arrived at a small village just outside of
Santiago de Compostela ready to stretch our legs and relax.

Viola gets us all checked in!

The beds were a bit short too. However, that didn't stop me from
catching some rest after the overdose of great food and cerveza

So, we were poised for one of the highlights of our trip. We were headed to the cathedral of Santiago the next day. But that will have to wait for another post!

That's All!