Smokey smelling air as several uncontrolled mountain fires have continued to belt smoke and create haze over the valleys below Verin Parador. Sunday morning after our ususal Parador breakfast spread we went up the hill slowly to visit the castle of Pedro the Cruel which has been partly restored but was filled with info about the pilgrims to Santiago and made NO mention about Pedro at all. We came down the single track and made our way to the valley floor the city of Veriin. As Cheryl had never been over the border into Portugal, we headed south for 12 K and crossed into the Big P heading to the city of Chaves, Portugal. 3 coffees was 1.80 euros so the prices are less in the big S. We found the castle tower in the center of town but it took 15 minutes to locate a Sunday morning parking spot. The castle grounds were covered with flowers in all their pink glory. The sidewalks were littered with paper, plastic bottles and various trash. It was an experience and a nice drive. This part of the world is quite poor (Portugal included) we are such International travelers!
We decided to mosie back to Spain for our midday lunch and found a bar / restaurant where for the grand total of 22.70 euros we had the following items: a draft beer, two white wines, solomillo in tomato sauce, enslada rusa, paella with shrimp, ensalada mixta. and two homemade flans with whipped cream/one coffee. Takes the record for lowest cost, maximum taste and variety for lunch. Paul repeated and repeated":22.70?"
We returned to the Parador for a snooze and reading/knitting time and later headed down the hill to visit a .
Bodega, Terra do Gargalo . Unfortunately we could not do a tour as they are processing the current harvest and it is not safe for visitors, however we tasted a couple of wines, gratis, and the lady gave a a very good description of the process and the different grapes. The vineyard is fairly new (20 years) but they are very proud that all their grapes are particular to Galicia.
We bumped into an American couple from Olympia WA (Steve and Liz Brink) who had a Ford Focus that was acting up on them, indications of a potentially clogged fuel line. They made from the Bodega up to the Parador and as luck would have it turned out that they had a room for Sunday evening to let their Ford rest a bit.
I have to tell you about an encounter I had with an old gentleman down in Verin. There was a lot of smoke in the air and I was interested to know if these were controlled burns, so when we stopped for an aperitivo in town I decided to ask someone about it.Well! Talk about opening a faucet! This old chap went on a rant about the rest of the world trying to burn Galicia because Franco was born here. He blamed ETA the Common Market etc, etc.. I could hear Cheryl and Paul behind me saying to each other "How does she do that? Haven't we told her not to speak to strangers?" He bent my ear for about 15 minutes! My theory is that he had been sitting there staring at his tea and just seething about old injustices and when I spoke it was all he needed to unload!
Right now we are sitting on the patio outside having a glass of wine and enjoying the warm weather and inhaling the forest fires. We have just met some Americans who thought that their car had died! This was outside the Bodega they are now checked in at the Parador so we will will probably meet up with them later. Tomorrow we are heading to El Ferrol via Santiago de Compostelo.
Okay, comments from the peanut gallery, we are trying to remember the name of the English couple we met at Taray Botanico on our Driving over Lemons trip last year. It is driving us crazy. David, Joyce, Ron, Sandy? Any help?
All for now, maybe later. The only reason you are getting this is because we are very relaxed and lounging around. Besos y abrazos.
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| Fires in the Hills above Verin, Spain |
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| Cathedral at Santiago de Compostella |
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| Jane Beskow & Cheryl Beagan on patio at Parador Verin |
We decided to mosie back to Spain for our midday lunch and found a bar / restaurant where for the grand total of 22.70 euros we had the following items: a draft beer, two white wines, solomillo in tomato sauce, enslada rusa, paella with shrimp, ensalada mixta. and two homemade flans with whipped cream/one coffee. Takes the record for lowest cost, maximum taste and variety for lunch. Paul repeated and repeated":22.70?"
We returned to the Parador for a snooze and reading/knitting time and later headed down the hill to visit a .
Bodega, Terra do Gargalo . Unfortunately we could not do a tour as they are processing the current harvest and it is not safe for visitors, however we tasted a couple of wines, gratis, and the lady gave a a very good description of the process and the different grapes. The vineyard is fairly new (20 years) but they are very proud that all their grapes are particular to Galicia.
We bumped into an American couple from Olympia WA (Steve and Liz Brink) who had a Ford Focus that was acting up on them, indications of a potentially clogged fuel line. They made from the Bodega up to the Parador and as luck would have it turned out that they had a room for Sunday evening to let their Ford rest a bit.
I have to tell you about an encounter I had with an old gentleman down in Verin. There was a lot of smoke in the air and I was interested to know if these were controlled burns, so when we stopped for an aperitivo in town I decided to ask someone about it.Well! Talk about opening a faucet! This old chap went on a rant about the rest of the world trying to burn Galicia because Franco was born here. He blamed ETA the Common Market etc, etc.. I could hear Cheryl and Paul behind me saying to each other "How does she do that? Haven't we told her not to speak to strangers?" He bent my ear for about 15 minutes! My theory is that he had been sitting there staring at his tea and just seething about old injustices and when I spoke it was all he needed to unload!
Right now we are sitting on the patio outside having a glass of wine and enjoying the warm weather and inhaling the forest fires. We have just met some Americans who thought that their car had died! This was outside the Bodega they are now checked in at the Parador so we will will probably meet up with them later. Tomorrow we are heading to El Ferrol via Santiago de Compostelo.
Okay, comments from the peanut gallery, we are trying to remember the name of the English couple we met at Taray Botanico on our Driving over Lemons trip last year. It is driving us crazy. David, Joyce, Ron, Sandy? Any help?
All for now, maybe later. The only reason you are getting this is because we are very relaxed and lounging around. Besos y abrazos.
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