We had a nice slow start to the day, Aberu went to catch the train home for Mother’s Day, we met Eva’s friend Vega in the nearby chemist for a chat and then wandered off for breakfast in a nearby café, La Piada. The café opens at 11 (for breakfast, only inSpain!). We each had a breakfast tray of juiced oranges, coffee and rye bread with tomatoes and olive oil.
We were really lucky with the weather today again, it was a pleasant 22°. Eva had kindly planned to drive us along the less developed side of the Ría de Pontevedra to see some typical Galician scenery and some of her favourite beaches. The contrast between the two sides was unbelievable. The right hand side was really developed with loads of hotels and accommodations whereas the side we were on was much more natural and less touristy. They say that the Galician Rias, those long inlets, are the finger marks that God left when, after creating the world, he placed his hand there to rest.
The first beach we came to was Mogor. It was really beautiful with a few people chilling on the beach, a few more in the sea, proper sand and lovely azure water.
We then got to Aguete and stopped for a beer in a café appropriately named Los Tres Monos (the three monkeys). It was a really gorgeous place overlooking the beach which had a nice bar, space for live music at one end and a cocktail bar at the other. The owner of the bar had taken part in the Spanish equivalent of Big Brother a few years earlier. It was a couples version and he had decided to participate with his pet goat. Hugo y la Cabra Rubia ( Hugo and the blonde goat) He was really popular right from the start, came 4th, and with his earnings he opened the bar.
We then carried on to the Lapaman Beach, Eva’s favourite, which was down a steep hill with no parking available, so Eva waited while we nipped down the steps to have a quick look. It was longer than the others and really picturesque.
We continued our route to Cabo Home, the end point of the Ría by the lighthouse, got lost once (Sue’s fault 🙂 and followed beautiful twisty roads through pine forest to our destination. The detour took us along some very narrow roads and we saw some of the typical stone grain stores (Horreos) and country properties on the way.
We went for a walk along the coast path and unfortunately the fog had come in and was spoiling our view, but by the time we got back it had cleared a lot and we could see across to Las Islas Cíes, one of which had been voted to have the most beautiful beach in the world according to National Geographic. We stopped in the café and had some water and interesting tapas. An octopus and tetilla cheese empanada and raxo (spicy pork) with chips.
We then chilled back at the flat for a bit and went out for dinner. Whilst at the flat we got a message from Marco and he had reached his destination of Valencia ahead of schedule!! Whoo hoo!! 😃👍🤸♂️
Eva took us to see the gothic style Convento de San Francisco on the way to dinner. The stained glass windows were really stunning and again, she taught us a lot about the details of the building, which were really interesting. I now know that La Virgen del Pilar is for the whole of Spain and Zaragoza, Rosario for Coruña, Fátima for the pilgrims from Portugal and Santa Lucía for the blind. There was also the Franco crest which was still in place despite the Ley de la memoria histórica which sought to remove all symbols of the Franco dictatorship. This included the removal of Franco from his tomb in the Valle de Los Caídos to a private location.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Memory_Law
We had a drink in the Plaza de La verdura as it was a bit too early for dinner ( the restaurant didn’t open its doors until 9!) There was a huge space in the middle of the square where the children were doing chalk drawings on the pavement and all the generations were out in force, chatting away and making lots of noise!!
We’d decided to eat a Moroccan meal for a change at Dükela, which was fully booked inside but saved the outside tables for passing customers, so we got there as close to nine as we could. The food was really lovely – we had houmous followed by falafel, bastel (chicken- filled filo pastry) and finally a tagine with lamb, prunes and fried almonds. We met some people who Eva knew from her work in Ethiopia, so had a good chance to listen to some Spanish before we strolled off and rounded off the evening in another bar. This was the second night that we had returned after midnight, which was good going for us as our average van bedtime is about ten!!! It was great to get into a proper Spanish timetable!!
Yet again packed with the unexpected.
The variety of food you consume bewilders me.
Eva is SO kind to show you all these hidden gems.
The photos are lovely and the beaches look almost as good as Cornwall!! Jx🥳🧚♀️🐠🦑🐣
I prefer their beaches without the Cornish weather though :-). That was the 2nd Moroccan meal we had and it was superb. It makes a bit of a change from Spanish. Looking forward to a curry when we get home.