Spanish views from a small town

On Monday, I took one of my days of being out from morning till night. I had really wanted to visit Porto again, but, even though contagion is going down, the idea of being in the midst of a lot of people, having to wear a mask, was off-putting. So, I decided to visit a corner of Galicia I had never been to, Peña Trevinca. Peña Trevinca is the name of the highest mountain in Galicia, at 2127 meters (The highest mountain in Spain is in the Pyrenees, Pico Aneto, at 3404 meters.). It's right on the border between the provinces of Ourense and Zamora, which means it's also on the border of the two autonomous regions of Galicia and Castilla-León. It's really part of a group of mountains, in a protected area, though it's not yet a national park. It has trails all through it, visiting both the summits, and the myriad of glacial lakes.  My intention was to try to find a short trail to at least one of the lakes. That was my intention. In reality, I spent most of the morning and e...

Yesterday, I took my free day of this holiday week, and went about on my own. Since we can't leave the region, I wandered where my car took me. I stopped in Pontevedra, where I was surprised that it was a local holiday. Easter Monday is a holiday in some regions of Spain, and apparently also in some townships of regions where it's not. I think I also noticed in other towns I passed through that everything was closed.  I bought my lunch there and then drove down to the beach at Cesantes, where I parked, and ate, looking out at the Illa de San Simón, a sanatorium turned Francoist prison, and now a place where they hold cultural events in summer. There were lots of people about, thanks to the lovely day.  From there, I drove down to Tui, but not into town, this time. I drove up to Monte Aloia, where I hadn't been before. Monte Aloia was once a bald hill. But then, some forestry engineers decided to plant it with different species of trees and shrubs. It became the first declar...

Today was another topsy-turvy day. It was a windy, bright fall day. In the morning, I went for a walk, and was between hot and cold, between the warming sun and the sharp wind. After lunch, we went for a drive. We went up the coast to the hills above Muros. My husband was looking for a spot among the wind turbines from which there is a sweeping view of a good part of the west coast. We found a corner, but he doesn't think it was that one. It was a hill above Muros, with wind turbines all over the place, from which the horizon was lost in a blur on the ocean, and the Celtic Olympus of Monte Pindo frowned upon the coastal towns below. Monte Pindo is a granite outcropping rising directly above the coast. Down one side of it, the river Xallas erupts into the ocean in a waterfall, one of very few rivers to do so in Europe. The river was dammed years ago, during Franco's frenzy of harnessing rivers for production. For many years, the waterfall was a memory, until it was decided that ...

Now that I have classes all afternoon, my writing time has become cramped. Yesterday, I didn't have enough time in the morning, and when I finished classes at eight, I was mentally exhausted. All I wanted to do was sit and vegetate. This morning my husband and I went to A Coruña to check something out. We hadn't been in the city since August of last year, when we went to see Patti Smith in concert at  Riazor beach. If this year had been normal, we probably would have gone to this August's concert, provided an interesting group had been booked. A Coruña is a city that my daughter has described as grey. The truth is that, through the middle of its streets, it's much like any other northern Spanish city. The modern parts of Avilés and Gijón are similar, and I suppose so are others all the way to the French border at Irún, though I haven't visited any Basque city. Apartment blocks stretching up, creating shadowy streets, barely any balcony. Smartly outfitted shops next ...

Since I've been writing every day, and using a number in the title, today's post has two numbers. I didn't write yesterday because I wasn't home, so today's post is a double feature, though talking mainly about yesterday. I did my day trip that I usually do at the end of June. Back at the beginning of the year I had started to think about choosing between visiting Luarca in Asturias, again, or Porto during Holy Week. It turned out that I visited my garden. I was thinking I wouldn't go out this month, either, but the New Normal has come with a quieter virus, so I decided to explore.   I did an almost three hour drive to the edge of Galicia, and over it into the province of Zamora, in the region of Castilla-León. All the times I drove to Madrid with my daughter, we passed the exit for Puebla de Sanabria, and I was always left with a little stirring to find out what it was like. So, yesterday, I found out. Since it is listed as one of the Beautiful Towns of S...

The seashore of the province of Lugo was our destination this September. Last July we went to Viveiro to the Resurrection Fest to see Scorpions, but we didn't see the town. So, Thursday we returned and visited without excessive visitors surrounding us. That northern shore is much shrouded in clouds and fog during the summer, thanks to the prevailing northeast winds. The sun does come out, but later in the morning, and the temperatures rarely go very high along the coast. Which is why on Thursday we enjoyed cool seabreezes, while at home temperatures went up to around 30ºC/86ºF.  Viveiro is a very old town. There are Iron Age remains that were found in the area, and the Romans had a town here. The Moors invaded and laid waste. It was rebuilt, and the Vikings then had some fun of their own. In the fifteenth century, its lord mayor, Pardo de Cela, led a rebellion against the Catholic Monarchs, the revolta dos Irmandiños , and the economically important port lost a bit of its impor...

The spirit of wanderlust is upon me. This afternoon, after I finish classes, I'm thinking of getting in my car and going somewhere. I should be thinking about washing clothes, washing some windows, taking some of the inch-deep dust off the bookcases, but none of this sounds appealing. What sounds appealing is getting in my car and pointing it in an interesting direction. So, where? I don't know. I have images in my head of the road trip I'll take down to Portugal next month. But that's an all-day trip I can't quite fit into two hours in the afternoon. City or country? If I choose city it'll probably be Pontevedra or Santiago, the two small cities that are closest. Vigo and A Coruña are too far away. They need more dedication. Country? There I have more options. I can go up to the hills again. I can try a different route this time and avoid the tourist hordes. There are supposed to be archeologists digging Neolithical burial mounds ( mámoas ) along the road lea...