March 2011 – I returned to Munich after being gone for six weeks. Very glad to see Jay again – He was glad I came back!! Tuesday, March 8, was “Fasching” - Munich's version of Carnival. Americans call it "Mardi Gras". Most people were off for the afternoon, Jay got the whole day off and all the stores closed at 2:00. Everyone was out and about wearing silly costumes. There were a lot of silly costumes and a lot of men dressed up as women. Some costumes you really couldn’t figure out what they were dressed up as. There were several bands playing throughout the day at several different areas around Marineplatz. At certain points you could hardly get through the crowds. People were everywhere. As we walked around there were food and drink booths and believe me the drink booths were crowded. Most people would bring their own beverages and by the end of the night there were empty bottles, broken glass and trash everywhere. Normally the streets in and around Munich are very clean, but when they have festivals, people leave their trash everywhere. It’s a mess!!!! Jay and I had dinner at a local German restaurant and the crews were already starting to clean up. I am sure they worked all night and I would bet that the streets looked just fine by morning.
March 19 – Today we left for Barcelona, Spain. It was a beautiful day in Barcelona. Sunny and in the 60’s. We found our hotel, 987. It is a very modern hotel. The rooms remind me of being back in the 60’s. After checking in, we walked around Barcelona, 11 miles for the day. We walked down Passeig de Gracia, which is a shopping area with all the expensive places. We also walked down a popular street called La Rambla to the Port where there is a monument honoring Christopher Columbus. This monument was built to honor Christopher Columbus on his return from his first trip to America. It is 60 meters tall, the tallest Columbus monument in the world.
As we walked down La Rambla, there are all kinds of vendors selling everything. The streets were very crowded since it was Saturday. The vendors ranged from those selling fruits, birds, plants, jewelry and local artists selling their work. We went to Mercat de la Boqueria, which is a food market selling fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and spices. The fruits really looked good and we will be going back there. The fish on the other hand didn’t smell good at all.
We went to the Barcelona Cathedral, La Catedral, construction was started in 1298. The crypt below the altar contains the tomb of Santa Eulaia, one of Barcelona’s patron saints. The adjacent cloister has a fountain and a flock of 13 geese. The geese represent the age of Santa Eulalia at the time of her martyrdom. The geese have been there since medieval times.
For dinner we found local restaurant definitely off the beaten path. There were some locals playing cards at one table and at another table there were more locals playing dominos. We had tapas, which are small portions, so we were able to try a couple different ones and we also ordered seafood paella. The food was so so.
Antoni Gaudi is a famous Modernism architect in Barcelona. La Pedrera (Catalan for 'The Quarry') is an apartment/office building designed by Gaudi, which was near our hotel. There were a number of other Gaudi designed buildings in Barcelona.
After dinner we walked to the “Magic Fountain of Montjuic”, which at night has displays of color, light, motion, music and water acrobatics.
March 20 – We went back to the Columbus monument and took the elevator to the top (Jay didn’t believe me when I told him there was an elevator in the monument. He said “there is no way there could there be an elevator”. The elevator was very very small. It only fit 4 people.) From the top you could see all around Barcelona. We met a couple from Carbondale, Illinois. They gave us a few ideas on what we could do when we came back to Barcelona. We then walked to the pier and sat and relaxed and enjoyed the sun.
Later in the afternoon we flew to Vigo to stay with Jay’s cousin Bob and his wife Marga, for a few days. Vigo is located on the western coast of Spain about 15 miles north of Portugal. Jay had not seen his cousin in over 30 years. Bob moved to Spain about 35 years ago. We met two of their sons and visited with them on the porch of the house Bob built. The house is off in the woods and away from the town.
March 21 – We had a typical Spanish breakfast, meats, cheese and bread. We then went to the “Feira” market, which is held twice a month in Riedondela. This market is outside and where the locals buy all kinds of things such as fresh breads, meats, cheese, fish, plants, clothing and even a small tractor.
Bob and Marga were our tour guides and they took us to Baiona where we saw a replica of Columbus’ boat “La Pinta”. It was amazing how small the boat was for a trip across the Atlantic and back. It is only 29 meters in length.
It was another nice and sunny day so we stopped and had a beer in the town.
We continued on to “A Guarda” where we saw the remains of a prehistoric village and pictographs. There was a great view from the top of the hill of the Mino River and Portugal. We ate alongside the port in “A Guarda”.
We drove to Portugal and toured the fortress of Valenca, which was built to protect Portugal from Spanish invasion. Then we drove over a bridge that was 125 years old, designed by Gustave Eiffel, back into Spain where we went to Tui. We toured a Cathedral there and when through the tunnel below the Nuns Cloister. We then headed back to Bob’s house, Os Valos.
March 22 – Today we went to Santiago de Compostela, which is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Santiago is where St. James, one of the apostles preached and he is buried in the cathedral. People make pilgrimages from all around Europe to the cathedral. The Way of St James has existed for over a thousand years. There are yellow arrows which mark the Santiago trail. Over 250,000 pilgrims made the walk in 2010. We had a wonderful meal in town and found a great bakery. We toured the cathedral and we were also able to go up on the roof, which was made of granite. This is a pilgrim’s church and there is a second level above the main floor where the pilgrims would sleep.
March 23 - We went for a nice walk along the beach on the north side of Vigo Bay. The beaches were called Nerga, Barra and Donon. Even though it was a little chilly and we had our jackets on, there were people sun bathing in the nude. We had a good seafood lunch in Donon, where we could still see the water. Then Bob and Marga took us to a light house at Cabo Home which had a great view of Illas Cies, the islands at the mouth of Vigo Bay. Bob told us about the history of Vigo Bay, where there are sunken Spanish galleons. They were sunk during a battle with Francis Drake. Supposedly the gold has never been found. In the Jules Verne story “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, Captain Nemo uses the gold to finance his journeys in his submarine. On our way back home we picked up an Empanada at a local bakery for dinner, which was very good.
March 24 – Another nice sunny day in Vigo. Went to Balneario, the smallest city in Spain. There is a spa with a natural spring. The water is supposed to cure almost everything. We drank the water and it tasted terrible, so we figured that it would either cure you or kill you. We toured a castle nearby. A friend of Margas works at the castle. Jay was playing with a wood puzzle in the store and had to buy it. We headed back to Os Valos and had a nice lunch with Bob and Marga. Marga made a Spanish omelet and a casserole with zucchini and eggplant.
We headed back to Barcelona, arriving early evening. For dinner we had Tapas and Paella at a small restaurant near the hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Casanova. This was a very nice hotel and would recommend it.
