A Coruna

Oh dear. I’m losing track of this trip. So much is happening so fast, and I haven’t had a chance to keep up with it. A Coruna was great. I met an old guy at a place called “Friends of the Museums of Galicia”. We talked for a long time and he poured a fine glass of wine at the bar behind the stage.  The place is a little venue for concerts, lectures, shows, etc. Paco retired a few years ago from banking, and now he travels and keeps up with the arts. Nice guy.

While cruising the little alleys of the old town, I found a curio shop. The owner explained what all the stone structures are that I’d seen along the way. There are literally thousands of horreos in Galicia. They are actually storage silos for crops, and the stone stilts keep pests away. Originally, the top was capped with a carved rooster as a symbol of fertility, but Christians replaced them with crosses, which makes the horreos look like raised coffins, but there is nothing religious about them.

Wandering on, I passed a church that was emanating music. I looked inside and there was a group of perhaps 12 people, and it looked like they were auditioning for a man. The next person to sing was a guy who was probably 35 years old, and he started singing with a powerful tenor voice. It took a few moments to realize he was singing “On the Street Where You Live.” The words were in English, but it was obvious he doesn’t know how to speak English at all. Very strange.

That evening, I had dinner at Pablo’s, probably the nicest place in A Coruna. I had to wait till 9pm for them to open. That’s standard for Spain – if you get hungry at 6pm or 7, forget trying to eat at a restaurant. It’s bizarre that Spain is so regimented in its dining customs. Breakfast is only café and perhaps a bollo (pastry), if you’re lucky, but bars are open all the time if you want to smoke with a beer. At Pablo’s, I was the only person in the place the whole time, possibly because Spain was playing Portugal in the World Cup at the time. FWIW, the lobster croquettes and monkfish with crayfish and potatoes in a cream sauce were the second most expensive meal I’ve had on the trip (40E), but far from the 2^nd best meal. The homemade ice cream with a quince sauce and almond brittle was delicious, though.