Garvics

Although Galicia is small, it can be difficult to get around. Buses are somewhat costly, don’t run terribly frequently to some areas and are usually quite full when going to more populous destinations. Despite those challenges, we’ve definitely wanted to make the most of our time in this part of the world and see as many places as possible before we leave, so this weekend we took a short sidetrip to Lugo. It's kind of mid-way between us, about 2 hours each by bus. Lugo the city is the capital of Lugo, the province and Lugo the city is also located in Lugo the municipality. Shannon lives in Lugo, the province, but lives in Burela, the city which happens to be in Burela the municipality. Brian lives in Santiago de Compostela the city, Santiago the municipali ... read more

After a lovely time in Ourense we were excited to check out a new city with the few extra days left of our Carnaval vacation. After 4 hours on the train, gazing out the window at the beautiful countryside, we arrived in León. Along the way we could notice distinct differences as we left Galicia and entered Castille-Leon. This was our 7th of 17 autonomous communitiesthat we have now seen. Entering Castille-Leon, the land became flatter and drier; the colors of the houses became warmer hues of sienna browns, oranges and reds; and the residences and other architectural structures catered to a different landscape and history. The green lushness of Galicia was gone, but the sun was out and we were instantly enthralled in the culture of Leon. Brian picked up his ... read more

Now, more than a month after we were in Portugal, we are just getting back from Ourense and Leon. It’s February 26th and we’ll tell you about celebrating Carnaval and the 7th autonomous community we’ve seen now, after we finish this post on Lisbon, from December 31 to January 5. So, we left Coimbra early in the morning on New Year´s Eve and arrived in Lisbon a few hours later. We had plans to spend New Year’s Eve in a larger city and watch fireworks in Plaça do Comercio. We booked a place to stay for our first two nights to guarantee we had a room for New Year’s. It listed itself as a Bed and Breakfast in a historic building with antique furniture. That is exactly what we got... kind of. It would not be ... read more

It’s always exciting to enter a new country for the first time. Dealing with customs and making sure your paperwork is all in order is always a hassle. In the back of your mind there’s always a chance you’ll be taken to a back room with two way mirrors instead of windows, medical furniture and a box of rubber gloves for “questioning” too. Well, once you’re in the E.U. (European Union) and you want to jump around from one E.U. country to the next, it’s really no different than crossing state lines in the good ol’ U.S.A. Because of this, when we did finally see the Now Entering Portugal sign, it wasn’t nearly as exciting as anticipated. Kind of like crossing the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon (or the Red from MN to ND for ... read more

Our first Christmas away from family, friends and the familiarity of State side customs and celebrations wasn’t too shabby! Shannon arrived in Santiago on the 22nd from Burela to start our nearly 3 week vacation from work. We had our own private Christmas plans before seeing our friends in O Grove. So the next day we hit the town to do some shopping at the local outdoor market. We bought some fresh steaks, wine, chicharrón and percebes for a small Christmas feast that we had planned before hitting the road. The meal turned out great after some creative cooking in Brian´s not-so-accommodating kitchen and we ate like royalty. We relaxed a bit after eating and then decided to go for a walk to check out the town´s Christmas decorations. We walked the 10 minute... read more