Time to Catch Up

About that Mass – yes, the incense burner is massive, probably more than 50lbs of silver, and they do swing it almost to the ceiling of a very high cathedral. Impressive. And it’s filled with smoking frankincense. The ceremony was also impressive with lots of ritual, and the priest was a good orator, even though I understood almost nothing of what he said.

I’ve been badmouthing the Spanish and Portuguese coastline as too developed and too crowded. Well, I found the antidote. Galicia. The northwestern state of Spain is magnificent. Heck, all of northwestern Spain is magnificent, including Asturias and Cantabria. I zigzagged in and out of the fjords/sounds of Galicia and found wonderful places to spend more time. The coast is rugged and beautiful, with big stands of pine trees and ferns, interspersed with little hamlets of great old stonework. For a vacation spot, Muros ain’t too bad. It’s big enough for a little culture, but with very few tourists. And the beaches around the town are stunningly beautiful. If Muros is too crowded for you, just north of there is a little place called Ancoradoiro. It’s only a few buildings, but there are a couple of hotels and campgrounds, and one hotel owner told me the place has been written up in a surf magazine. OK. Further on, I was winding my way through some very pretty back roads when I came around a bend and saw a beach off in the far distance. I also saw white water peeling down the coast. Whoops! That’s a wave! I thought surely the road must go by it, but instead, the road took a turn up an inland valley. I found a little road that headed off towards the beach and took it. I felt like the early explorers of surf in the 50’s and 60’s when I rode through some farmer’s driveway, and an old woman gave me a WTF look, but I was stoked to be on the track of good surf. I haven’t had much luck with surf on this trip, seeing a lot of potential but not much quality. This could be it. I made a few more turns through pastures and fields. (BTW, Spanish cowshit stinks. Yeah, all cowshit stinks, but Spanish cowshit _really_ stinks. BAD! Maybe it’s revenge for all the bullfights, but it reeks.) Any way, I finally found my way to the beach, and of course, it’s a known surf spot. It had a really nice parking area with new toilets and water fountains and showers. I asked a couple of guys who were walking up to the beach and they said it gets really good there, but it was bad today. Harumpf. It was a bit windy and mushy, but it was still better than anything else I’d seen in Portugal or Spain, and the name of the place is Praia de Trabo.