September 26, 2022: After spending a single day in Madrid, we headed to Galicia by train to participate in a 6-day tour from Atlas Obscura and Culinary Backstreets. The tour operators planned to take us on seafood and cultural adventures and they were very successful. Including Elaine and William, there were 12 participants in the tour, plus two guides. Nice and cozy.
Our first day was just a welcome dinner – the tour didn’t get underway until the next day.
The train station in Vigo – it was strikingly beautiful.
The view from our hotel in Vigo
Public sculptures on the way to our welcome dinner
Public sculptures on the way to our welcome dinner
Dinner was at the venerable El Mosquito in Vigo
Dinner at El Mosquito
A tapa at El Mosquito
Wine (albariño of course) giving us a buzz at El Mosquito
September 27: Our tour guides took us to La Guarda (known in the Gallego language as A Guarda – a source of confusion for all the non-Galicians present) to visit with a women’s net-mending cooperative.
Protective seawall – recently rebuilt (again)
Decorations on the seawall.
Our guide Paula (left) and a net-mender explaining the symbols on the wall. The symbols identify nets as belonging to particular fishermen’s families and boats.
View of the Atlantic from A Guardia
A 17th century Portuguese surveillance post. It houses the Museum of the Sea, which was closed the day we visited.
A Guarda has had a women’s net-mending tradition in support of the fishing industry for generations. In recent years the women formed a cooperative to preserve the craft and make the profession of net-mending viable and life-sustaining. The women are mostly older, but are working to recruit the younger generation to continue the work.
Piles of used fishing nets waiting for repair
We were confused regarding whether the workers were mending nets or making new nets, but this woman was using current methods on nets that will actually be used for fishing.
This woman is demonstrating the old-fashioned way of making or mending nets. Both new and old methods use several layers of netting with different mesh sizes.
Floats are used for both the obvious purpose and to identify the nets. The markings on these floats match some of the markings on the seawall above.
Lots of floats!
After a delicious lunch of local seafood, we went to archeological ruins called Castro de Santa Trega, on a high point in southwest Galicia, overlooking the Miño River, which is the border with Portugal. The ruins show the foundations of homes that date from 100 BCE. There is a reconstructed hut and an archeological museum as well.
We walked to this restaurant from the net-menders’ cooperative for lunch.
First course for lunch was a seafood salad, croquettes, and delicious bread. Croquettes are a Spanish staple, coming from a tradition of using up leftovers.
Fried calamar. Yum
The final course (before el postre) was lobster. This was a culinary tour. Expect food pictures!
One section of the Castro de Santa Trega with the reconstructed home. The homes were built close together for defense.
A beautiful day at the Castro.
A beautiful day at the Castro, continued.
Nice front porch. We would have made it facing the sea. Thatched rooves are still used in the area, though thatching is a dying art.
View of A Guarda from the Castro. You can see the big blue sea wall that protects the village.
Where the Miño River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Portugal is visible on the other side of the river.
The fogged suddenly rolled in, and moved on just as quickly. A common occurrence.
At the Museo Arqueolóxico Monte Santa Trega there was a chart of symbols found throughout the Castro, many of which are similar to Celtic designs.
Ancient stone carving excavated from the Castro, on display at Museo Arqueolóxico Monte Santa Trega
We piled into the mini-bus and drove to the O Rosal valley for a tour of the Quinta de Couselo winery and more food!
Grape arbor at the winery patio.
It was October and not many flowers were blooming, but this iceplant bloom managed to survive.
Stone “barrel” with the logo of the winery carved into the head.
These beautiful Mediterranean pine trees were the models for the winery logo.
The first of many horreos (granaries) we would see throughout Galicia. This one is very old, and the sides and back are missing.
The grapes grow on high arbors to protect them from excessive moisture that accumulates due to the vineyard’s location in a river valley.
More grape arbors.
Elaine and William enjoying the beautiful day at the vineyard.
Modern fermentation casks at the winery.
Bottling equipment at the winery
Our winery guide showing the label of a finished bottle.
The old-fashioned way of producing wine was in oak barrels. They are still occasionally used for special vintages.
We found this little pillow giving the name of the winery, and declaring they’ve been around since 1864.
The beginning of the food. Cheese, bread, empanadas and croquettes to be paired with the wines we would taste.
William and Maria (our history guide) examine something in Spanish (or maybe Gallego!)
This was the first wine of three that afternoon.
Of course, there was not enough food already on the table! This is smoked sea lamprey with hard-boiled egg, with Russian salad on the side. This was the first of many Russian salads we would try on our trip.
The next wine, with empanadas peeking out in the background. We failed to get a picture of the third wine label. Many of the grapes for wines produced at this winery were from other vineyards.
El postre. Not sure what it was, but it was delicious.
Back in the bus with stomachs full, and maybe a little tipsy, we headed for the obradoiro (workshop) of Anton Corral, traditional bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy maker. Elaine was over-the-moon through this whole visit, and wanted to take Anton home.
If you look carefully at the above video, you’ll see Elaine handing Anton his box of reeds. She was geeked to have such a responsibility. At some point Anton explained to us that modern bagpipes use a bag made of Gore-Tex, and his bags are from Scotland.
Anton Corral answering questions from our group with our guide Paula translating from Gallego to English. To their right are roncóns (drone pipes) in progress of being made.
Anton’s workbench.
A big difference between Scottish bagpipes and Galician gaitas is how the bag is dressed. This gaita takes it to an extreme and is covered with a child’s dress.
Anton poses with our tour group outside his workshop.
We returned to our hotel in Vigo, and saw this pretty fountain near our hotel. A lovely end to a very full day.
Madrid to Vigo
Vigo to the Castro
