This blog would not be complete without a post about Rosalia de Castro, the poet laureate of Galicia.

The day she published her first collection of poetry in Gallego (Galician) "Cantares Gallegos" May 17, 1863 is commemorated every year as Dia das Letras Galegas (Galician Literature Day) in the Autonomous Community of Galicia.  Rosalia de Castro died in 1885 at the age of 45 of ovarian cancer.

 The following is from the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Rosalía de Castro,  (born February 1837, Santiago de Compostela, Spain—died July 15, 1885, Padrón, near Santiago), the most outstanding modern writer in the Galician language, whose work is of both regional and universal significance.

  In 1858 Castro married the historian Manuel Murguía (1833–1923), a champion of the Galician Renaissance. Although she was the author of a number of novels, she is best known for her poetry, contained in Cantares gallegos (1863; “Galician Songs”) and Follas novas (1880; “New Medleys”), both written in her own language, and En las orillas del Sar (1884; Beside the River Sar), written in Castilian. Part of her work (the Cantares and some of the poems in Follas novas) expresses with sympathetic power the spirit of the Galician people—their gaiety, their wisdom and folklore, their resentment of Castilian domination, their love of their homeland, and the sorrows of poverty and emigration. About 1867, however, Castro began to write more personally, describing in verse her own deepest feelings—remorse, repressed desire, the anguish of living, the desolation of spiritual loneliness, fear of death, the transience of affection, the feeling that everything is in vain. Her complete works appeared in 1973.

Hay una barquita que aguarda, paciente, sobre la mar serena.....

...a que llegue el pescador que la lleve a mar abierto, lejos, muy lejos del puerto, para empaparse de sal, de sol y de viento.

CORREOS

Sociedad Estatal de Correos y Telegrafo S. A. popularly known as Correos in Spain.  It has covered the entire Spanish territory for the past 300 yrs.  In 1850 the first postage stamp was issued bearing the image of Queen Isabella II.  We found this mailbox in the medieval town of Mogrovejo.

Nectar of the Gods

After our stay in Santader, by the sea, the road took us to Potes the main road junction located in the shadow of the tall white peaks of the Picos the Europa.  Here we discovered ORUJO.

And what a discovery that was!  I am still wishing I had filled my suitcase with this nectar of the gods.  The only little bottle I brought, pictured below, was soon gone.  I didn't even had the heart to wash it out, I can still open it, sniff the delicious aroma and dream....

Orujo's basic ingredient is the residue from the wine production.  Once the grapes are crushed, the orujo, or residue: grape skins, seeds and stacks are then fermented in open bats and distilled in a traditional large copper kettle called alambiques. It takes 6 hours or more to distilled while a poteiro (orujo distiller) watches over the brew.

Cantabrians have distilled Orujo since the middle ages.  The people of Galicia in Northern Spain have a long tradition of making strong distilled liqueurs and none is more famous than Orujo used in a popular Galician drink called Queimada.  While in Santiago de Compostela I had the opportunity to try the drink.  See the post to learn how they make it in Galicia.  

C

CANTABRIA and EL CID CAMPEADOR

Months after the conclusion of our fabulous trip I am still going over the pictures, haven't made a scrapbook and still working of a DVD for my "Travels in Spain" night with friends.  So to add to this list I decided to continue the blog (it's quicker than any of the above mentioned projects) adding photos and information on the places we visited.  I will try and go by region but not in order of daily travel otherwise it would required too much organizing and thinking, much more than my little old brain can handle.
So here I go.....

CANTABRIA

Cantabria is one of the green regions of Spain, thanks to the lush green vegetation nurtured by  it's mild ocean climate.  The winds of the Atlantic bring around 47 inches of rain yearly.  Cantabria is a strip of territory nestled by the Bay of Biscay and the Cantabria Cordillera.   It borders the Basque Country to the East, Asturias to the West and Leon and Castilla to the South.  It is reputed to have more cattle than any region of Spain and we ran into (not literally) several bovines on it's mountain roads. The capital of the region is Santander with it's lovely beaches.

Now let me introduce you to Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (1043-1095) known as El Cid Campeador .  He was a Castilian noblemen, leader and diplomat.  If you like epic movies a must see is the 1961 film EL CID starring Charlton Heston (who else?) and Sophia Loren, be warned it's a 3 hour film but worth the watch if you can find it. 

El Cid is the title given to Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar in the Spanish epic poem Cantar de Mio Cid the oldest epic poem in the Spanish language.  It tells the tale of a man who was not only a military hero, but also embodied courageous and moral personal characteristics. He showed great heroism in war but also magnanimity in victory and was revered by his Moorish as well as the Christian subjects.  El Cid came to fame during a very turbulent time in Spanish history, the Moorish kingdoms were divided the Christian regions in conflict with each other.  The legend of El Cid tells stories of his persistent heroism and forbearance.  He counsels against war but fought bravely for his king.  When King Alfonso betrays him he endures five years of exile with courage and humility.  He wins the respect of the Moors as well as Christians and conquers the Moorish city of Valencia maintaining his loyalty to King Alfonso.  The Song of El Cid is not just the story of a warrior, but that of an ideal hero of chivalry. 

Above photo is of a large mural in one of the halls of  the Cathedral in Burgo which also holds Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar's tomb and that of his wife Dona Jimena.    

Final day in Madrid

We ended our trip with a final day of shopping in Madrid - and avoiding shirtless, frat-boy-type German students (alemanes!) that seemed to be taking over the city, or at least taking over the Plaza de Sol and the Plaza Mayor.
Aside from the slew of tourists in Madrid, it is a lovely city and great for night walks to see how they illuminate the buildings and fountains.  Our final night in Madrid we strolled the streets until almost 2:00 a.m. and there were still crowds of people everywhere taking photos, strolling, socializing, or just hanging around drinking and being annoying (alemanes!).
Our hotel was on a pedestrial street right off of the Plaza de Sol, which was great for shopping but a little loud at night (alemanes!).  It was a great location and within walking distance of many sites, but we were a little burnt out by then, so we mostly saw the inside of Chuche (souvenir) shops!

The view of the plaza from our hotel window

Another view from our balcony

Cari in the Plaza Mayor

A picture of a bakery window - we returned later and tried many items, including the Huesos de Santo (Saint's Bones!).  They were yummy but the "marrow" was too sweet for me! 

Tocino de cielo - heavenly!

A few of my Spain purchases.  The shops wrap every single little item, whether it's a gift or not.

Encaje de bolillo in Santiago

We were disappointed when we couldn't get to Camarinas, especially because it is known for its encaje de bolillo (bobbin lace) and even has a museum featuring women demonstrating the lace-making.
Our final day in Santiago held a great surprise, though, when we peeked into a shop and saw a few ladies making bobbin lace!  We asked if we could step in to watch and they allowed us to snap a few photos.  They offer classes (I would so love to learn) and we were there when a women stopped in to plan a special order for a crib set for her grandchild.  Expensive but elegant.

The shop window display

Yay!  The ladies inside making the bobbin lace

The shop



The pattern is printed or drawn on a piece of paper - the bobbins with thread are then pinned, moved and twisted in order to follow the pattern.  Looks so confusing to me! 



Beautiful pattern and color

A few finished products