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Published: August 2nd 2013
Tuesday 30th July - Relaxing Had a great day relaxing around the pool. Those who wanted to swim swam, those who wanted to read read. Those who went Pink went Pink! In fact most of us went a little Pink - and we had run out of after Sun so that will be on the shopping list for tomorrow! A great day in the Sun with the temparature hovering around the high 20 C's.
We decided to eat out tonight and on the way back via Curtis I spotted this very nice restaurant (Parillada A Meson) on the road into Arzua so we took a short drive out too it. It looked closed i.e. there was no-one there at all - but it wasn't so went in. Inside it was very nicely decorated and a nice temperature. We ordered and had both starters and a main course - this was probably a mistake after seeing the size of the starters... Catherine had enough salad for 5, Eleanor had enough croquettes for 5... I had absolutely gorgeous grilled mushrooms (again enough for 5) - we then had the mains. I'd ordered what was in English as Schnitzel but came as
a massive T-Bone steak - I don't think I'd ever seen so much meat on a plate. Eleanor had Fillet and the boys had Sirloin - all gorgeous with hand-cut chips - and very reasonably priced compared to the UK! Then we rolled out and back into the car.... we were so full we didnt even manage any cards!
Wednesday 31st July - Swap that Car The car was still giving us a few issues with tyre pressure and I didn't want to have to keep going into Spanish garages asking where the pumpa was.... though they seemed to understand when I used appropriate hand signals! So we phoned Europcar and they told us to take into the Airport at Santiago de Compostella and get a new one - this was only 20 km away and we could then carry on for a trip out. We went to the airport and it's massive, new and appears to have very few customers! We drove into the wrong rental area first (the old airport) and were re-directed to the "New Terminal". In here the returns people looked at the car and gave us details to take to the desk for
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Funky cloud over housea new car. This was all done very quickly and proficiently - Aida on the Europcar desk was very helpful. The new car is much like the old but an Estate - it's a Seat Ibiza rather than a Leon. I think it will have more boot space - well we will know when we move on Saturday! After we got the new car we drove to Ponteverda via Santiago de Compostella (past the site of the train crash - the train was removed the day before) - and then round the coast. We stopped at a beach opposite a crazy golf park and as wondered over to the sea Christopher shouts "Dolphins" - and there was a pod of Dolphins literally 10 to 20 feet from the shore. I managed to get a picture of a tail fin so it looks a bit like a shark! Very nice beach soft sand and with football nets etc.
We went further round the coast and found a lovely little village by the sea - Combarro. This was quite busy and we travelled up and down looking for a parking space eventually finding one just off the main road. We then
walked down to the sea - loads of old houses, nice streets and little restaurants down by the sea. Busier than most places we have been but still relatively empty... where are all the people? We took some great photos the light here is excellent - blue skies, not too hot - really good. People were starting to request food and we really liked the look of the place on the front which had fresh Pulpo (Octopus). It was very nice and we got a nice group shot of us all using the tripod. Walking back up to the car the streets were even emptier...I'm not sure people come to this part of Spain as much as they used to as they want to get guaranteed sun and this area doesn't necessarily have it - in fact it's surprisingly green (a bit like Cornwall really!). The drive back to the house took less than an hour and we had homemade Tapas - which was very nice.
Thursday 1st August - Castle, Waterfall, Medieval bridge, Geocache, Rural eating There is a really nice waterfall according to TripAdvisor less than 25 miles away - in fact it's the number 6
tourist attraction in Galicia. We also discovered thatthere was a Geocache near to it. It's over by a place called Silleda - it is the number 1 tourist attraction in Silleda! Lovely drive across country to Silleda - pasta massive reservoir and through rolling Spanish hills - again very green and the roads are ridiculously empty. Silleda is a small town a bit like Azura possibly a bitbigger and posher. We noticed a sign for what looked like a stone circle but was in fact an iron age fort. Nothing to go in so we wandered around and took somepictures and made use of the swing! Then onto Fervenza de Toxa - i.e. the waterfall. We followed the GPS and the signs and arrived via an old church/railway line at avery steep road going down. Not sure we could drive down so I backed up and parked - I can still smell the burning clutch! We then walked down through the trees to thewaterfall - lovely spot - people were picknicking and bathing in the river. Matthew went in and said it was warmer than the pool back at the house! We climbed up ontosome rocks and took more pictures.
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Grain Store We'd left the GPS at the car as we thought the cache was at the top... nope when we got back it was only 160 yards awayunfortunately it was 160 yards into the valley - hence down a the bottom so we gave that one a miss!
Our next stop was a medieval bridge again with a geocache - the bridge had been over the river for at least 1100 years. The geocache seeed to be in the middle of the river so we left it. The difficulty is that the clues are in Spanish so difficult for us to understand! Coming back via Silleda we stopped in a supermarket - we were the only people in it..it's like the places were designed for many times the number of people who are actually here. Picked up some supplies, crisps, cakes and drinks and then headed back to the house. Now came the infamous Lemon drink incident... or how much fizzy lemon drink can I get inside the car. Matthew passed to Eleanor the lid not quite tight... you can see where this is going can't you... I'm driving then suddenly there is fizzy lemon all over the inside
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Combarra of the car as Eleanor/Matthew drop the cannister which hits the floor of the car and erupts like Mount Vesuvius... Catherine grab it and we then start drying the inside of the car. At least it will smell nice!
Back at the house we unpack the shopping, have a few snacks, swim, shower and get ready to go out. I used my near fluent Spanish (hmmm) to book us a table at Casa Assumpta which does a multi-course meal including drink for about 16 Euros. Some very friendly dogs met us in the car park and we proceeded inside. We were the only people eating here... the food was excellent. Fresh bread, house wine, water, grilled peppers and that was just starters. 3 courses - as an example, scrambled eggs and mushroom, beef and hand cut chips, creme brule, coffee - all hand made... then we rolled out and back to the car. The GPS tried to lead us through a farmers field but we were too smart for it! Back at the house though tired a few hands of hearts.
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