 |
| Bateas |
Steps – 5,752
Humidity – 21%
Vigo (pop. 300,000) is in a charming area of
northwest Spain in Galicia. Actually, we don’t see a lot of Vigo, but the whole
area is very charming. We are ported in Vigo, but our tour heads out straight
away for Combarro – a tiny village in northwest Spain (pop. 1250.)
During our time here we see many walkers on their Camino de Santiago
 |
| Horreo |
pilgrimage.
Along the way we listen as Daniel, our guide for
the day (an aspiring teacher) shares info of the area, culture, foods (mussels,
clams, oysters, squid, and octopus), and wine (Albariño.) Albariño is an absolute
favourite wine of mine.
 |
| direction markers |
Combarro is about an hour’s drive from Vigo. Once we arrive, we take a short walking tour of the still sleeping, mostly pedestrian town. We learn of the Horreo (Daniel describes the pronunciation as ‘like the cookie with a Spanish accent’ which are small granaries each individual family and their house have. They about the size of a small car or a garden shed. Once we know to look for them, they are everywhere in the
 |
| Combarro along the estuary |
area driving to, from, and around Cambarro. At first, I thought they were chapels or mausoleums because they are marked with crosses.
The 20 of us trail behind Daniel as he
describes things we see in Combarro. Unfortunately, it is too early for any
shopping, eating or drinking as the tiny, charming town is still sleeping - this
is the Spanish way of life. We were supposed to have free time, but that was
about 15 minutes while we followed Daniel back to the bus. No loss as there was
no shopping or drinking/eating to
 |
| Albariño at someone's home |
be done. If we were staying here on our own for days, we’d definitely buy some of the Albariño…9-12 Euro for 3 bottles!
We also learn about tall stone markers of the
Virgin Mary on one side and Jesus on the other to mark the direction…Jesus
points south, Mary points north.
We also learn that the Albariño grapes are grown high off of the ground. There is so much rain, this keeps moisture off of the fruit.
 |
| anticipation |
The town hugs the estuary that has moderately high
tides (3 to 4 meters.)
Throughout our drive and in Combarro, we see
and learn about Batea - a floating dock about the size of a tennis court used for
mussel farming. There are about
500-600 around Vigo and about 3,000 along the Galician
coast – they are
 |
| Daniel and Jesus |
everywhere we look as we drive along the water.
After our walk through Combarro, we drive about
an hour to El Grove to board a boat for a trip along the estuary. When the 20
of us first boarded it seemed like we’d have the relatively big boat to
ourselves, then about 60 Spanish tourists took over. At first, we thought they’d
be annoying because they were so loud, but they mostly kept to themselves –
dancing and singing…having a grand old time.
 |
| town and estuary |
We pulled up right next to a Batea to learn even
more about
mussel, oyster, and scallop farming from a guy who stepped from our
boat to the Batea. We then were able to view what the farm looked like under
the water from an underwater viewing area.
 |
| feast! |
 |
| mussels |
people, but most of the 20 of us had our own where a bottle of wine and trays of mussels were plunked. Once you finished one, another appeared. We had 2 trays of mussels, but only one bottle. Then came the oysters. This time we had to pay…€10 for 5
enormous oysters. These were cooked and topped with diced red pepper and vinegar – they were waaaay more than one bite, very tasty though.
We were on the water for about an hour and then
we were back to the ship.
We had no interest in lunch when we were back
on board, and had no time to wander the town, so we made a few new friends in one
of the ship’s hot tubs.
One of the ship’s hot tubs is very near our
room on the bow of the ship. seem like the best place for a hot tub as
when the ship sails it is very windy in the front of the boat. Apparently, they
kick people out when we are sailing. Anyway, it is
kind of a secret spot tucked
away way at
 |
| turn-down treat |
the front of the ship. If you didn’t know where you were going, you wouldn’t find it. It’s on the ship’s map of course, but no where people just wander by – I’m not sure how many people look at the ship’s map anyway.
 |
| Batea |
I was there for a good time not a long time –
hot sun, hot water and I don’t mix. After a while, I headed back to the room,
to spend the rest of the afternoon napping and blogging while Chris stayed a
bit longer and then headed up to the top deck for sail away.
 |
| grapes growing high |
No comments:
Post a Comment