Stuffed -- Like a Spanish Olive

Eating was a significant part of my visit to Spain and we had the opportunity to sample many of the local delicacies during our stay. Fish and seafood make up a big part of the Galician diet -- unfortunately for me, since I'm not a big fish fan. I did find some real favorites, though. These scallops -- in "Albarino Wine Sauce in its Shell and on a Bed of Salt" -- really hit the spot. And the setting, the 600-plus-year-old Pazo de San Lorenzo certainly added to the enjoyment!


Another night we visited a tapas bar and tried a number of items. I loved these prawns.

I took this picture in a fishmonger's window. Octopus, or pulpo, is as common as hamburgers in Edmond.
Here's a dish of pulpo at the tapas restaurant. And yes, I did try it. It wasn't bad but falls in the category of "Okay, I ate it once, don't have to do it again" along with raw oysters and rattlesnake.
I've already written about the amazing hot chocolate but haven't mentioned the Tarta de Santiago. This is a sweet almond cake topped with powdered sugar and the cross of St. James.

I really fell in love with Galician cheeses -- they make some wonderful ones. My favorite was Tetilla. I'm not sure if it's called "titty" cheese because it wound up looking like a woman's breast or if the cheese makers had a little too much Albarino and said "Let's see if we can make these cheeses look like boobs." Whatever, it's a beautiful, creamy, mild cheese.

The toughest thing about eating in Spain was the late dinners. Everywhere we went, people graciously fed us copious amounts of food -- two hour lunches were standard. So it was almost bedtime before we wanted to even think about eating more. And that was time for the multi-course feast that also lasted two to three hours.

Everything was beautifully presented. The tables gleamed with crystal and silver. No one could have been more charming or welcoming. You'll be proud of me -- I did my best to show my appreciation by eating as much as possible!

I Love You, Santiago!

It was a gorgeous day the day we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. Our flight had been great and I even got several hours of sleep. So rather than taking a nap, I took to the streets with my camera. The icon of the city is the Cathedral. Later than afternoon several of us went to Mass.

The cathedral is on the east side of a large square and our hotel -- Hostal de los Reyes Catholicos -- was on the north side. This is one of Spain's paradors -- the government turns historic buildings into fantastic hotels. This is quite likely the world's oldest hotel -- founded in 1499 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to house pilgrims who came to the shrine of Saint James. I loved my room and the hotel was wonderful -- beautiful rooms, courtyards, furnishings and a gracious staff.

The first music I heard in Spain was the last I expected to hear -- bagpipes! This northwest corner of the country has a great Celtic heritage. Cut off from the rest of Spain by mountains, Galicia was very different from my expectations -- and I loved it.

Spanish Amulet

When Andreas told us he had an amulet in his pocket, we thought he said omelet! He struggled to pull out a small ceramic figure -- oh, amulet! He says Galicians are suspicious but he isn´t -- still he carries an amulet just in case.... His particular amulet protects him from hypocrites. You can buy different ones to protect you from other things or you can make a hand gesture for general protection.

Andreas was our guide to the Archbishop´s Palace and roof of the cathedral. His English was actually quite good but he apologized for it, saying it "sucked." Patricia (our hostess) told him if he knew that slang term, he was doing fine.

Yesterday was beautifully sunny and I took full advantage -- taking lots of pictures. Today is gray and cooler -- I needed my jacket. Even the exercise of climbing the stairs didn´t warm me too much.

Once you reach the second floor of the palace, you have 84 more tall steps to the roof. We climbed out onto the the granite shingles of the roof -- I don´t know what else to call them. They looked like the same stone used throughout the cathedral. From there we got a bird´s eye view of the bell tower, the rattle tower and the clock tower. The bell and rattle towers are on the front of the cathedral. There are 15 bells in the bell tower, which is the southernmost of the two towers. During Holy Week (I think in the past, don´t think so now, must check this out) they didn´t ring the bells since they were associated with joy so they used a large rattling instrument.

One of today´s highlights was stopping at a convent to buy pasteries from the nuns. We took them to a coffeeshop and Patricia bought me a chocolate espeso (since I don´t drink coffee). This is a wonderful, dark hot chocolate drink almost as thick as pudding. That should keep me awake for a while! And no, that isn't Patricia -- it's a lovely lady at the coffeeshop. I'm sorry I didn't get her name. Tonight we went out for tapas. I thought we'd be in about 10. Obviously, I'm not with the program yet. In Spain dinner starts at 9! We got home at midnight.