Let's just say that the town of Melide is...well...not the most charming of places to spend time in, which is why, after breakfast on day 5, we walked a couple of km BACK along the Camino, to a small village where...they had a Roman bridge!! (This did confuse pilgrims who were walking in the correct direction....we tried to look like we were extra pious & had already walked to Santiago & were now heading...back!!)
Our guide, Maria, also explained the purpose of this strange little building that we had seen in so many peoples yards. It is an Orio, a grain store. (That was the original use anyway.) Maria tried to convince us that they were where wives & girlfriends put misbehaving husbands & lovers!! Some people use them nowadays for bee keeping & later in the day, we were very amused to see one with a line of freshly washed fluorescent yellow lycra cycling gear hanging on it. Clearly that home owner was using their Orio as lodging for pilgrims!!!!!
After our interesting little diversion, it was back to Melide, where we were to learn about one of their signature dishes....PULPO, or..octopus!
The octopus is stunned & then plunged into boiling water...allegedly three times.
Once cooked, it is sliced up & served with olive oil, paprika & salt. Traditionally it is served on a wooden platter, as was ours. It was rich & tasty , but I most certainly couldn't have polished off a whole plateful!
After lunch we experienced another local tradition...Queimada! This is a special brew that is especially for warding off witches & evil spirits! Galicia is of Celtic & pagan roots, which this tradition allegedly springs from. A potent local alcohol is mixed with sugar, lemon & orange peel, cinnamon & coffee beans. Each coffee bean represents a wish. The mixture is set alight...not difficult as the alcoholic beverage in it is VERY potent. The liquid is continually stirred whilst the alcohol is burnt off, giving a very dramatic show of flames. This takes quite a while, & during which a spell or incantation is recited. It was quite Shakespearean!!!!! Once the flames die down, we drink it! It wasn't as revolting as you might imagine, & reminded me of a very sweet mulled wine. It would seriously beat any cough mixture for head colds. After drinking this can you imagine how difficult it was to start walking!!!!!!!!!
Our walk started 19km out of Santiago & it was hot...hence the sunhats! To our utter amazement, most of the wooded areas we walked in today, had a large proportion of a rather familiar tree...we smelt the eucalypts before we saw them!!
It was such a pleasure walking in the wooded areas, a reprieve from the heat. In this case we were walking between high moss covered stone walls, that looked like they belonged around a secret garden.
It was quite a shock to the senses to come out alongside a road again, but what the road signs did tell us, was that we were getting close to our destination. This is probably why, the wire fences were covered in these hand made crosses.
We felt excited to be nearing Santiago & we weren't even authentic pilgrims. We could only imagine the burst of energy this sign must have given those who would have started their pilgrimage weeks ago in the Pyrenees. At this point we were still approx. 12km out of Santiago. I think we can all guess what our destination will be on Day 6!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment