Category Archives: Spanish travelling

Galicia, what a treat!

Went to Galicia, in the North West, with its rugged Atlantic coastline, the food, the wine, the people. What a treat!

Our first stop was in Sanxenxo, overlooking the Ria de Pontevedra, where, from the hotel, we were able to watch the dolphins disporting in the water.

The Rias Biaxas are home to one of Spain’s iconic white wines, albariño. We visited Pazo Rubiales to sample the wine. Even after many visits to wine producers, there are new details to learn. The vines this area of Galicia are grown high to protect from the damp.

This Pazo also has an important botanical collection, and we learned many interesting facts about the collection and the history of the estate.

We spent a bit of time in Combardos, the centre of Albariño production. With a small unspoilt centre, this town was a pleasant place for a stroll and a glass of wine or a coffee.

Another unspoilt coastal villa is Combarro. This was a small fishing village and still has a large collection of horreos and cruceiros.

From here, we took a cruise around the Ria, accompanied by mussels and albariño.

We were shown the platforms where mussels, scallops, and oysters are farmed.

The high point of this boat trip was almost certainly the dolphins swimming around the boat. The boat crew was proud that we enjoyed the trip in the full glory of Galician weather, rain!

The afternoon was dedicated to swimming in the sea and pool for the brave few, with a session in the spa to warm up again.

We now looked inland and, going via Ribadavia, where we visited a thermal bath, we relocated to Ourense, our gate to the Ribera Sacra. Here, we spent a day exploring this town founded by the Romans due to the hot springs and gold to be mined nearby. Crossing the Miño river are both the old and new; the Puente de Velas and the Puente Milleneo.

With better weather, we ventured to the cañon de Sil, heart of the Ribera Sacra. A boat cruise  took us up an impressive gorge, equally spectacular from above.

From the boat, we were able to see the small patches of vineyards on the steep slopes. known as viñeras stoicas, all the work, including carrying the harvest, is done by hand. Having sampled the wine from the rias baixas, we had to do the same for this spectacular region. After a hair-raising drive along narrow mountain roads, we arrived at the Bodega Alma das Donas, one of the viñeras stiocas. The owner showed us how to reach the vines on the narrow terraces before we sampled the wines on a veranda overlooking the river Sil, a view so spectacular it almost distracted from the wines!

Our last day saw us being “peregrinos” as we visited Santiago de Compostela. First stop was Monte del Gozo. This is the point where the various pilgrim routes all meet for a view of the city before the final walk to the cathedral. After the pause here, we went on to the cathedral, where we went to see el Portico de La Gloria, having a view of el botafumeiro swinging during the mass.

Having completed our religious duties, we separated to find lunch. Some of us found ourselves at el mercado de abastos, where we could have some delicious tapas. The traditional drinking cup in this part of Galicia is the cunca. Our last work was to track down bars that serve in these dishes.

Having successfully achieved our pilgrimage through the rias and cañones of Galicia, it seemed only right to award ourselves the vieira of the pilgrimage!

Vamos al Puerto

Hispanic Heritage, Multilingual, Spain, Spanish cultura, Spanish travelling, Spanish wine, Uncategorised, , , , , , ,

Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Spain

Once again we visited the regions around Jerez de la Frontera, the land of Sherry. We stayed in El Puerto de Santa Maria, one of the corners of the “Sherry Triangle” the area where the wine must be aged to gain the demarcation of “Jerez DO ( denominación de origen)”.

Of course, this area has much more to it than vino de Jerez. Ever since the Phoenicians founded Cadiz across the bay El Puerto has, thanks to its sheltered waters, been an important trading centre – up to and beyond the conquest of the New World. Even before this the number of archaeological sites show how important this area has been with various tin and copper mining areas.

We learned all this on a tour of the town which visited several patios, the internal courtyards that houses in Andalucia traditionally have as cool, shady, lightwells inside the houses rather than external gardens. These are an important part of the culture and El Puerto, like Cordoba, has an annual Fiesta de los Patios where the owners plant flowers and decorate the patios and create performances in them.

A tour in the area of Jerez wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a bodega or two and so we went to Osborne and Tio Pepe. If you have travelled in Spain you know Osborne, even if you don’t think you do. All over Spain the iconic bulls, visible from the autovias on the hilltops, started out as an advert for the brand of Osborne and still represent this sherry house. On these tours we learned about the “solera” system which is used to refresh the oldest wine and allow every bottle to be consistent every year.

Despite the importance of el Puerto de Santa Maria in the trade with the new world, Cadiz has the fame and so a visit to this compact peninsular city was a must. Cadiz was, as said, founded by the Phoenicians but continued as an important Roman town. This was because it combined two important resources. The coast at this point in Spain was an important tuna fishery, but was also a major salt producer. This meant that it was possible to ship salted fish around the empire from here. Another product of the fisheries was garum, a fish sauce that was a direct ancestor of sauces such as worcester sauce and was the Roman ketchup. In Spain.

While Cadiz looks back to prehistory and the romans, much of Andalucian history is connected with the Moorish era. A visit to the alcázar in Jerez shows an interesting combination of the importance, in the history of this area, of olives oil and Muslim culture as the olive press and the baths are both present. Here, as well as in the Alcazar of Sevilla which we visited the next day, we can see the Christian dilemma of accepting the Moorish styles as the apogee of art and culture at the time with trying to remove it as a sign of reconquest and a signal that those times had passed.

Our whirlwind tour of the area finished in the Plaza de España in Seville, where for the Iberoamerican exhibition of 1929 plaques of all the regions of Spain were produced.

Trip to Olite (Navarra)

Hispanic Heritage, Spain, Spanish cultura, Spanish Food, Spanish travelling, Spanish wine

Navarra is one of the oldest of the kingdoms that make up Spain. It has a wonderful mix of history and nature, not to forget the food. Just before New Year, BLC spent a few cold days in a foggy Navarra to inspect the area and scout out the Bodegas.

Foz Arbayun is the biggest gorge in Navarra. A great introduction to the Spanish Pyrenees, it will stay on the itinerary, with some spectacular scenery and “buitres Leonado”.

The area is home to a number of monasteries and classic Romanic churches. Having looked at a number of these, a trip to the foothills of the Pyrenees led to a combination of the two. A night in the monastery of Leyre, known for its services with Gregorian chants. This will give the opportunity to listen to these in both an evening and a morning service.

The area also has unspoilt medieval hilltop towns such as Ujue with its beautiful church and views of the Pyrenees.

The plan is also to fit in a visit to Pamplona, famous for its bull running. Here you can follow the route the bulls take, or have a coffee in the cafe frequented by Hemingway. As always there is more, such as the fortifications and the bars with the typical pintxos.

And so to Olite. This was the main residence of the kings of Navarra. The palace is notable for the several towers. Apparently there are views. In December the fog hid these! With its small unspoilt medieval centre Olite is a pleasant place to pass the time. We investigated some Bodegas to find one for a tasting but even the losers in this competition have wines that are worth trying and can be found both in the town’s bars and restaurants as well as in the bodegas and their associated shops.

We don’t only think about wine! The nearby area of the Roncal Valley is famous for its cheese, Ujue is known for its caramelized almonds and we also found a seller of local honeys.

A visit to the Bardenas Reales, one of Spain’s deserts, showed it to be interesting but  we will leave it for another trip as this won’t be the best time of year to visit.

Lots to investigate, great people to talk with!

Salud from Sherryland!

English Heritage, Hispanic Heritage, Spain, Spanish cultura, Spanish Food, Spanish travelling, Spanish wine, Uncategorised, ,

        

Just back from Cadiz, Spain, the area where sherry is produced. What a privilege to take some of our Spanish students on this cultural immersion. A joy for the wine lovers, history lovers and culture lovers

Sherry, we called it Jerez in Spain is a fortified wine only produced in this part of Spain, the Sherry triangle, and covers the towns of Jerez de la Frontera, Puerto de SantaMaria & Sanlucar de Barrameda.

This time we stayed in a lovely converted convent, Monasterio de San Miguel in Puerto de Santa Maria. A place full history, this is an excellent base to explore the area.

To learn more about sherry visiting a couple of bodegas is a must. To really appreciate it, one has to taste the different wines, fino, oloroso, Pedro Ximenez just to mention a few, as well as my favourite one, Palo cortado.

This area of Spain is well known for their Andalusian horses. A horse riding performance is only possible to watch in Jerez and Vienna. We did not only go to a performance but went on a “calesa” (carriage) ride.

Cadiz, claimed to be the oldest city in Western Europe, was reached by ferry from El Puerto.

A culture pot, Founded by the Phoenicians, every other civilisation helped to shape this city full of character, light, sun and welcoming people.

In Sevilla with our fantastic guides Emma and Aidan we moved to the times of Jews and Moors living together. At Los Reales Alcazares palace Christian traditions and Moorish architecture get put together. This mixture of cultures could be found in a lot of aspects of Spanish life, and a good example is in the Spanish cuisine that we sampled on numerous occasions.

What a fantastic experience! Thank you everyone for making this trip so special!!