But there are those who choose not to (or can't) take their vacation during August. So my friend Jordi organized an afternoon trip last week to see the hidden treasures of Sitges, a gay destination spot that thousands of tourists go for beach, sun and partying. But most miss out on the beauty of the art and architecture of this charming pueblo. Last Tuesday eight of us went to experience some of the modernist architecture at Hotel Romantic and at the Museu Romantic (you may catch a theme here), ending with a brief dip in the Mediterranean.
My Trip to Galicia
It's been 35 years since I last visited Galicia, a region in Spain's northwest corner of the country. Like the Pacific Northwest, it is very green because of the amount of rainfall it receives during most of the year. The last time I was there was with the Christian group, The Navigators, where they had a ministry in Santiago de Compostela, and I would go up with the Valladolid group for joint meetings and retreats.
And just like the Pacific Northwest, the summer, especially
August, is mostly sunny and the beaches are very inviting. Well, not this
time during the days of my visit. But that did not stop my delight in
enjoying this beautiful area of Spain. The main reason for that is
because I was visiting my long-time friend Carlos, who lives in Valladolid, and
his partner Maria. Maria lives near Santiago and Carlos rents an
apartment every August for the month in a small village called Queiruga, on the
Atlantic coast, just south of the Ria de Muros y Noia. Carlos
has been going to this area for decades, is an avid wine connoisseur, and knows
Galicia like the back of his hand. Galicia is known for its food and its
wine and we indulged in both of those throughout my 6 days there as well as
visited some very memorable sights. I also got to know his partner Maria,
a very wonderful and sweet woman and who is the apple of Carlos' eye.
Wine Bodegas
I had visited a few bodegas in California. They were very commercialized and felt similar to having tours at well-known factories, lining up: getting canned lectures and going through their gift stores at the end of the tour. I am sure there are many, many smaller bodegas that I never got to visit there, but the three bodegas I visited in Galicia were simply extraordinary, especially with Carlos and his friends setting up these visits. All of them were personal visits with the owners, hearing them talk about their passion and philosophy of cultivating the land, growing the grapes, working with the soil, temperature, light, and water. They all stressed the importance of intervening in the wine-making process as little as possible, not using chemicals, and allowing the grape of that particular year to express itself. 
I learned about the grapes in this particular region, Las Rias Baixas, and the types of grapes that are known in this area: Albariño, Dona Branca, Mencía, & Merenzao, among others. I got to smell and taste these wines and to discover how my sense perceptions discover how these wines open up with the swirling of the wine in the glass or tasting the same type of grape but from different years. Carlos would also take me aside and explain to me in detail the steps that are taken from picking the grapes, gently extracting the juice, using yeast (preferably the vineyards' particular yeasts and not commercialized ones) to ferment the juice, keeping the fermented juice from mixing with other batches that were picked days later until the whole fermentation process is complete, the affect of storing the wine in barrels for some period of time, to the continued process of the evolution of the wine taste while in the bottle. It was all very fascinating and I felt privileged for a neophyte such as myself to participate in these discussions (mostly as a listener). I also drank some really good wines! Some from the bodegas and others from Carlos' massive stock of various whites and reds.
Galician Food
OMG!!! The food!! Out of this world! That's it in a nutshell. Galicia is known for its seafood. It is so fresh and so good. I had all types of seafood, ranging from shrimp and langostinos, mussels, different kinds of cockle, different kinds of clams to octopus, served in many different ways. But they also have delicious meats: veal, beef, pork and ox in generous portions. Other dishes included "revueltos" (a form of scrambled eggs) mixed with vegetables or seafood. And the desserts are to die for: Santiago cake (made from almonds), a fresh cheese cake, and a delicious caramel cake with ice cream. I'm missing it already!!
Some Sights
Carlos, Maria and I visited the Castro de Baroña, an ancient settlement from 1 BC to 1 AD, at the mouth of the Ria de Muros y Noia. We went to the town of Noia, a delightful town on the sea and had some wonderful meals there. We spent one day in Santiago de Compostela and visited the cathedral and the lively streets in the city center among the hundreds of pilgrims that walk to Santiago from various countries and routes. We also visited the towns of Quiroga, Cambados, and Porto do Son.Our last afternoon, after we visited the bodega in Ribeira Sacra, Carlos took us to the Monastario de Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, in the middle of the Galician mountains in the provence of Ourense. What Carlos didn't tell us was that this is a luxurious "parador" with amazing architecture and views. A parador is a government-sponsored inn, usually in a scenic or historic location and offers lodging and meals at reasonable prices. As you can tell from the pictures below, it was to die for. I quickly looked up the price for the three of us to stay that evening. They had a room for only 125 euros which also included breakfast! But I couldn't get Carlos and Maria to bite on that one.
Upcoming Week
On Saturday I will be in France at a one week meditation retreat. I'll pick up on my blog site the Monday after I get back, on Aug 25.
