The sleepy fishing village of Muros
Not surprisingly we slept 10 hours straight through that first night after our arrival in Muros. Thankfully, our anchorage held during the night and we awoke the next morning to a calm bay and the seductive sounds of a fiesta or something happening onshore which, naturally piqued our interest and prompted us to inflate our dinghy and go ashore to explore.
The ‘something’ was the ‘Festa da Navalla’ or celebration of the razor clam (!) and the festivities were in full swing by the time we arrived. For the uninitiated, the razor clam is a rather unappetizing, long, finger-like clam and has the consistency of a rubber balloon. For the festa it is liberally drizzled with olive oil, grilled on a “plancha” and served with a hunk of lemon and a feisty crisp ice-cold bottle of local white wine. While Patrice managed relatively well, I tried, I really tried, but despite the encouragement and amusement of the locals at a nearby table, I just couldn’t get past the texture of it. The wine, however, went down with no problem.
Happily we’re in Spain, land of the tortilla, chorizo and other delicacies, so don’t worry, I did not go hungry. For the next two days we remained at our anchorage off Muros and enjoyed discovering this charming little seaside village. As a new weather front approached and the winds turned ominous, we crossed the ria (or estuary) to the port of Portosin (see map below) and have been here for the past few days enjoying the safety and amenities of a port while awaiting the next weather window before continuing south.
Making the most of our time here, we rented a car to better explore this region of Galicia, the wind blown and rugged northwest tip of Spain (see our route marked in red). The mountainous coastline is dotted with beautiful sandy beaches and quaint fishing villages interspersed with forests of pine and eucalyptus and rocky fields of purple heather. The addition of palm trees here and there makes for an unusual combination of vegetation--quite unlike anything we’ve every encountered. Despite its natural beauty the region is probably not a top tourist destination due to its remote location and its savage weather: gale-force winds, fog, pouring rain, cold and thankfully, bursts of sunshine and warmth every now and then, all of which we have experienced during our time here.
Making the most of our time here, we rented a car to better explore this region of Galicia, the wind blown and rugged northwest tip of Spain (see our route marked in red). The mountainous coastline is dotted with beautiful sandy beaches and quaint fishing villages interspersed with forests of pine and eucalyptus and rocky fields of purple heather. The addition of palm trees here and there makes for an unusual combination of vegetation--quite unlike anything we’ve every encountered. Despite its natural beauty the region is probably not a top tourist destination due to its remote location and its savage weather: gale-force winds, fog, pouring rain, cold and thankfully, bursts of sunshine and warmth every now and then, all of which we have experienced during our time here.
From Portosin we travelled to Finisterre so that we could actually see the famous cape which was shrouded in fog when we passed by there by boat a few days ago. We discovered that many of the pilgrims who make the trip to Santiago de Compostela continue on to this point where the current trend is to burn or throw off their shoes and/or articles of clothing that they wore during their pilgrimage.
We traced the pilgrims’ route backwards to Santiago and caught the city in the throes of its seasonal madness. Over 100,000 pilgrims make the 1,000 year old pilgrimage to the city each year from all over the world following “the way of St. James” to where his remains allegedly reside in the cathedral. August is prime time for these pilgrims and tourists to arrive in the city and savvy local businesses take full advantage rendering the town into a three ring circus. Nevertheless, we enjoyed strolling through the narrow streets of this ancient city before heading back to the peace and quiet of Taka Trois.
We traced the pilgrims’ route backwards to Santiago and caught the city in the throes of its seasonal madness. Over 100,000 pilgrims make the 1,000 year old pilgrimage to the city each year from all over the world following “the way of St. James” to where his remains allegedly reside in the cathedral. August is prime time for these pilgrims and tourists to arrive in the city and savvy local businesses take full advantage rendering the town into a three ring circus. Nevertheless, we enjoyed strolling through the narrow streets of this ancient city before heading back to the peace and quiet of Taka Trois.
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