PART ONE OF GALICIA WEEKEND:

GALICIA!!!! perfect. another wonderful, magical place in the world that I have been lucky enough to visit and lucky enough to have seen through the eyes of people who call it their home....... and another place that I must return to one day..

Galicia (btw) is the most north-west province in Spain right above Portugal and along with Spanish they also speak a language called Gallego which sounds like a mix of Portuguese and Spanish. They speak Gallego more than Spanish between each other and more with elders, but everyone is also completely fluent in Spanish and perfectly willing to speak it. During Franco years, it was prohibited to speak Gallego so once he lost power the people began speaking Gallego with pride as a way to demonstrate their new found freedom. This is also what happened on the other side of Spain with Catalán in Cataluña- however there it was a bit more extreme. Anyways, I really liked the accent of the people we met from Galicia, it is Spanish but with a kind of Portuguese accent and it just sounds great. Also, Galicia is very green and mountainous and with beaches everywhere... Maybe the best part of Spain?? I think so.

Continuing...

So the weekend began on Thursday night when Chrissy, Tevia, and I took the metro up to north Madrid to meet the boys, Manuel and Pablo, for some drinks before the long train ride. We all headed up to the train station together (Charmartin) and at 10:30 we boarded. The first hour we spent in the food cart just talking and laughing and such and then we all eventually meandered back to our seats to attempt to sleep on the 7 hour journey. Thank you to my severe case of the fidgets and constant restless leg syndrome I can’t say I slept too much despite my Enya playlist being on repeat for several hours. At 5 or so in the morning the train man (whatever he is called) woke us up and told us we would shortly be arriving at Ourense in Galicia!!! We gathered all our stuff together and said goodbye to Manuel who was continuing on the train a little bit farther.

Enter: Adolfo, Pablo’s best friend who we were to be staying with and who had come to pick us up from the train station. Six in the morning he comes rollin up in an S-Class Mercedes with a techno cd BLASTING through the windows. Success?? Tevia, Chrissie and I couldn’t help but laugh to ourselves as we sped through the galician night in the luxury vehicle with our two new spanish friends. sooo randommmmmmm hahaha. After an hour we show up at this huge, old house right on the outskirts of the city of Vigo, which is the largest city in Galicia. The house is Adolfo’s parents summer vacation home, but he just lives their permanently. Rough life. He had a whole bunch of delicious breakfast goodies ready for us, so we ate and then crashed for a few hours in our cute little room looking out to a backyard full of goats. love it. after our little nap, the boys decided to take us to Santiago de Compostela!!! about 45 minutes away, the capital of Galicia, and the final destination of the Camino de Santiago which is a very famous religious pilgrimage through the north of spain. akin to the appalachian trail, but less intense and historically religious. after a car ride of the same techno cd from before, we showed up in the adorable mountain town and got some food to eat, lots of wonderful seafood, it was definitely the best food ive had yet in spain. the waiters of the restaurant were bemused by our excitement and ended up giving us 3 big shells which are the mark of the camino de santiago.. success. The five of us then headed to the huge cathedral in the center of Santiago which is its defining sight and is literally amazing. I was blown away by how ornate and magical it was and inside were the remains of the saint santiago himself. After the cathedral we meandered around some more, my camera broke tragically (its okay i just bought another one) and then eventually we trekked back to Vigo to meet Pablo’s friend, who is also named Pablo for a drink. They took us up to this ancient fortress overlooking all of Vigo and it’s harbor and honestly it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, if not the most beautiful. The sun was setting and reflecting off the water and the mountains and ahhh, it was heaven literally. i really could live there.

OKAY THAT ENDS PART ONE- I REALLY MUST GET SOME SLEEP. MORE TO COME, MORE TO COME...