Today I have a "School Visit" via Zoom with a class iin Monforte de Lemos

   This afternoon, even though I'm in Braga, Portugal, I have a "School Visit" via Zoom with a class in Monforte de Lemos, Galicia, Spain. How cool is that! (The "visit" is to the Escola de Idiomas Eoi Monforte). The class's teacher is a friend of ours, and she teaches English to adult learners. She actually ordered copies of my mystery for students earlier in the year in high hopes that by now Covid 19 would be under control and everything would open up and I would visit in person. (Monforte is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Braga.) Well, things are opening up, but only gradually, and in Galicia classes aren't meeting face to face yet. 

Still, I'm happy to meet her students via Zoom. It's for an hour. I'll be curious about what questions they ask. She has formed a "reading club" with some of her students, and here is the flyer:

    About Monforte de Lemos: Many of you who have followed this blog know my husband and I in pre-Covid days used to go to Galicia twice a year. We started going there in spring of 2014 and even had a house in a small village about twenty minutes away from the town of Monforte (as the locals refer to it).  The "de Lemos" comes from the fact that the town grew up around a castle owned by Conde de Lemos. It's on a hill and overlooks the rather large town that developed since then through the centuries. At times part of it has been a monastery. And there's a cathdral at one side. But now the whole edifice is part of the Parador system and it houses a hotel, a restaurant, and a café/bar. Everyone in town refers to it as "The Parador."

The Parador

The Old Roman Bridge in town

     A walkway in the park in town.

    It gives my heart a twinge to see these old pictures of Monforte. We haven't been there since fall of 2019. Once the borders open up again, we'll look forward to driving up to visit Galicia friends. Until then, we feel very lucky to be in Braga and able to see our Braga friends, whom we've started meeting in the allowable open air spaces outside cafés. 

    Just mentioning the virus at all reminds me that the pandemic is still here for a while. So many countries are suffering from too many cases and not enough vaccines. 

May all of you stay safe and well, and may next year bring happy news for us all. 

Springtime in Galicia — Sort of . . ..

We are in Galicia, Spain, now. We arrived two weeks ago today, and for the most part, this is what springtime in Galicia has looked like this year. Still, no matter how cloudy and rainy, it's always beautiful. We've had rain every single day, but also we've had sprinkles of sunshine every single day. It's always that way in Galicia, although this year in April there has been more rain than sunshine. It does give a different aspect to things. I find that stormy days suggests story.


 

Take this picture of the Parador, which is one of my favorite buildings in Monforte de Lemos,        where we now are renting an apartment while we have put our Trasulfe house up for sale.
             

Doesn't this suggest a somber novel to you?

Speaking of novels, one reason I haven't been posting is that I am hard at work on a new novel, a mystery novel, that requires a lot of research. I'm enjoying it a lot and feeling pangs of guilt for my lack of sociability on line. Nonetheless, my imaginary friends are calling, and I can't let them down. In a future post I will tell a little more about the Parador.


Meanwhile, spring really is coming to this beautiful area. Here is proof:

How about you? Does your writing interfere with your social life? Or is it vice versa?

The Riverwalk in Monforte

There are three rivers that have affected our lives when we come to Galicia, Spain: The Minho, which we cross in our trips to Portugal; the Sil, which has inspired poetry from me when we've climbed to the cell of an ancient monk atop a hill that over looks the river and Doade; and the Cabe, which flows right through Monforte de Lemos, the nearest town to our village. Here is how the Cabe looked from one of the bridges mid-September a few days after we arrived.

Over the years that we've come (14!), more and more features have been added. And now, below the beautiful park on one side that borders the parking lot, a river walk has been created — a path behind many restaurants and homes.

You can see the famous "castle" of the Conde de Lemos atop the hill in the center of the town. I love this castle. It's my dream to one day paint a picture of it on canvas. The town built up around it at the base of the hill, and it dominates the landscape for kilometers.

On the river walk, in one direction is the bridge I mentioned above; in the other, the old Roman Bridge, (puente Romana), still functional (for autos as well as pedestrians) after centuries!

And everything is reflected, as if in glass. And who cannot like ducks? (There are swans here, too, but I didn't get pictures of them this time.

Or fountains?

 If we lived here, I would probably spend every day (well — in good weather) at this park and river. And I would picnic and feed the ducks.



But since we don't, I'm so happy the main parking lot abuts the park, and every trip to do business means walking across the river on one of those two bridges.


How about you? Do you like rivers? bridges? fountains?  castles? parks? picnics?

October in Galicia

                                 

Early October.

Little lambs everywhere. So cute.

Our trip to Galicia this fall seemed to fly by. When we arrived, the weather      
seemed like summer. Except for a couple of rainy and windy days that were chilly, the temperatures have been fabulous. Blue skies and warm afternoons, with moderately  chilly mornings or evenings.  You can see in the picture below that even now fall is only beginning.

Now the trees are starting to turn.

On the far hill is a small village called Piñeiro. It used to show more completely, as well as another small village below it called San Lorenz. But as the population ages and the young people move away or go abroad for jobs, there is less farming. The trees aren't cleared. Also, for the older people, the calefacción is replacing the wood-burning stove for heating the home, and so fewer trees are chopped down for firewood.

 Due to my eye surgery, we couldn't come to Trasulfe until October, and then we squeezed in 4 days of that time to go to Braga, Portugal. (I've been posting pictures of Braga on my Facebook Timeline.) But this was one trip where I didn't work much through the week. I had rewritten my mystery for the trillionth time and sent it off, and except for a couple of book reviews, I let myself kick back and relax on this visit. Rajan and I just spent time with neighbors and friends, or going into Monforte, the nearest big town, and joining others for coffee or lunch or dinner. It was great! Rajan, of course, was better about taking his daily walks and taking black-and-white photos everywhere on country roads and in the small hamlets.

I did take loads of pictures, though. Despite the fact we are about to go home in three days, I'll be posting about the trip, starting today with a post about the feria. Ah, the feria!

We love it! It's simply the old village fair, although there's a fair or market day in every town or village, no matter what size. Monforte de Lemos (Monforte for short) has three each month, always on the same dates: the 6th, the 16th, and the 24th. The 24th is the biggest one, though, and simply packed with stalls and people. Other towns around have at least two, but Monforte is our favorite. You can buy anything: shoes, clothing, dishtowels, tablecloths, winemaking supplies, stills to make aguardiente, a killer brandy that goes into café or is used to make flavored liquors in every home. (It's legal here to distill brandy for home use, although you can't sell it.)

These made us laugh.

Rajan passing produce stands.

Wine-making vats.

Yup. Stills in all sizes for the home.

         
We went with our neighbor Miguel, as we do at least once each trip.






In the big hall you see pictured below, the specialty is pulpo (octopus). Now, at first, the idea of eating octopus had me wary, but both Rajan and I were surprised to learn we like it—a lot! We look forward to lunch with Miguel on every trip, now.

The way they prepare pulpo at the fairs is to boil it in a copper pot until it is tender, then cut it in small pieces and provide toothpicks instead of forks. Once on the wooden plate, they sprinkle paprika or red pepper, depending on whether you like it picante — we do — and drizzle it with olive oil. (You can also get broiled meat, but we are vegetarians, although we do eat seafood.)

Sonia preparing the pulpo to serve. We see her at all the ferias, including at Ferreira and at Escairón. (She's actually neighbor to an acquaintance near Tuiriz. Slowly you learn these things.) Since the fairs in each town are all on different dates, it works out well for her to make the rounds.   The meal includes a bottle of the house wine and a long loaf of bread to tear into pieces and dip in the olive oil on your plate. (Mmm, good!)

The olive oil.

Miguel, savoring pulpo. 

The pulpo.

Wine, bread, and pulpo. A great trio.

We arrived early, and sat at one of the long tables while Sonia prepared our order. As you can see, the place hadn't filled up yet, but by the time we left, the regulars had arrived—whole families—and the air was full of laughter and greetings.

Before the crowd.

Later—a good time being had by all.

Then it was time to go home. Hope you have enjoyed your afternoon at the feria! More photos and posts to come. Meanwhile . . .

Have you ever been to a village fair? Have you ever eaten octopus? If so, how was it prepared? Have you ever eaten a dish you never expected to eat? What is your favorite "new" food that you tried for the first time?

Back to Galicia

We have been traveling, and I started this post when we were still in England, visiting family. (Post about that to follow when I finish the posts about Spain.) We got back late last night (actually early this morning), but I had promised to get back to two events in the earlier part of our Galicia visit, and here they are:

David and Pepe

David and Terri

                                                    FIRST: The Friday after our arrival -- April 11th -- We went with friends Terri and David to what is known as a "casa rural," but also includes a restaurant/bar and week-end entertainment. The name is Torre Vilariño, and it is co-owned by a cool hombre named Pepe. Alas, I don't know his full name, but here he is with David. And here is the website, which has lovely pictures of the rooms where one can stay, as well as the restaurant and patio.

On this particular Friday, two main musicians were playing. We had dinner first (around 9:30), and the music started around 11:00 p.m. One of the musicians sang, both of them played, and they went through a whole gamut of popular songs from the 80s -- in English. They were really good. Here are a few pictures:

The main duo.

The singer.

Hearfelt guitar work.

Occasionally a third musician joined them and sang along. They had a good sound! (I wish I had gotten the name of the group.)

Jamming!

The servers thought they were
pretty good, too. Singing along
with great gusto!

Susana, server extraordinaire!

The SECOND event was the Fiesta Medieval that takes place each year at the end of Semana Santa (Holy week). It used to only take place on Saturday, but now it has grown to include the entire week-end. We went both days. We love this fiesta, many locals dress up in costume, and small skits and re-enactments are put on in main streets and plazas. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Processions . . . this is a special
Galician bagpipe called a gaeto.

A medieval damsel . . .

A  verrry young knight Templar!

From one of the plazas.

And the little ones on burros!

Entertainers on stilts.

I don't know how
they do it!

This woman was really into
her role. 

The ever-present
witches.

I suppose this is where the knights
collected their helmets. 

To defend their king and queen.
(Isabel and Ferdinand).

King of Castile y Leon.

  

Another feature of this festival each year that we particularly enjoy is the showing of the raptors -- hawks, falcons, owls, ravens . . . Two trainers have taught them to do tricks, and they are always fascinating to watch, not to mention what beautiful birds they are: 

Such beautiful birds! I think they said
this unusual raven (with the white stripe) is distinctive to Galicia.

The horned owl is so commanding!

But this hawk is pretty
impressive, too. 

One of the trainers and a snowy owl. 

The other trainer watching
a falcon he released.

They finished off the show
with an interval when people
could pet one of the birds.

And who would you guess is petting that snowy owl?
Yup. Yours truly. It was really an awesome experience.

So there you are: Two "local" events we thoroughly enjoyed. I hope you enjoyed them too.

How about you? Do you enjoy historical fairs and festivals? Have you ever petted a wild bird?