Certain things characterize Catalan culture- Pa amb Tomaquet (Bread with tomato), Cava, el Caganer etc.
Below are some images of the celebration we attended in the Placa de la Catedral. Below the older folks are dancing the Sardana.
Below are the members of the Colla, a group of friends who build Castells together. There are also some giants. Someone stands inside and twirls the giant about making it dance to music. On the far right there is a "dolphin" it is pushed around spits water out its mouth.
Below are some images of the Castells. They are quite spectacular to watch, but potentially very dangerous. The video below shows the entire building of the Castell.
Below are some pictures, some newer and some older, of food and friends.
Teo, a coworker and friend, made the empanada below for my parents when they arrived to Spain. Below is the dinner we had.
Teo and Sole- two teachers that I tutored in English invited us over for a special lunch at Sole's house in the countryside. It was a really nice day. Thanks girls!
These three pictures are of the second empanada that Teo made, her cutting it and then Sole setting the table.
Last weekend we had a long weekend for Pentecost. We decided to spend some more time in Galicia, the province just north of Portugal and one of my favourite regions in Spain.
We had two main goals- See the Botafumeiro and hike on Las Islas Cies. Luckily, we were able to accomplish both and then some!
The boat we took to the Islas Cies- an archipelago in the Ria de Vigo, also a beautiful national park.
Lunch time! Empanada de Pulpo (Octopus hot pocket) and an excellent view of the interior lake and the sand beach.
A great view of the water and the other islands in the ria.
Galicia gets a lot of rains so moss and ferns tend to grow all over the place.
Spectacular views of the landscape- we were lucky that it didn't rain that day. This is a view from a bird watching area.
After seeing the Islas Cies we drove to Santiago so that we could attend mass the next morning and watch the Botafumeiro.
Dinner! It was the seafood platter- Mom and Dad would be so proud! I hated seafood as a kid, but I really got into this plate of razor clams, regular clams, crab legs, shrimp, percebes (goose barnacles in English) amongst other things.
The Cathedral of Santiago Apostel at night time.
Below- My video of the Botafumeiro- a large censer that weighs 53kg and reaches a speed of 68km/h. Its original purpose was to perfume the air in the cathedral- the pilgrims were (and some still are) quite stinky. It is still used today on special occasions, like Pentecost, when we were there.
This is the cute little casa rural where we stayed in Finisterre. Below is the view we had from our room!
The small port of Finisterre.
Finisterre- the End of the Earth in Latin, really it is supposed to be the western most point in continental Europe- apparently they were wrong and the actual point is a bit farther north.
The lighthouse on the "End of the Earth" Beautiful views from on top of the mountain!
Before leaving Galicia we had a great meal. Caldo Gallego and some more Percebes- Goose Barnacles. The percebes resemble a finger, and to eat it you hold on to the "nail" and then peel off the skin and eat the fleshy part underneath. I would say that it tastes like the sea. Yum!
This was a funny sign with warning that I actually needed... :(
Thank God for emergency-breaks!
