Day 3 – Mozarbez to Vigo
I had slept really well and awoke fully refreshed, I looked out of the window, fortunately to no fog today, instead it looked as if it was going to be a beautiful morning, the sun was just starting to rise and the sky was clear. Shazza grumbled as I filled the kettle and got the cups ready for what, on current experience, could be one of our only decent cups of coffee of the day, I try to do things as quietly as possible first thing in the morning if Shazza is still in dreamland, but it is difficult when you are in a hotel room where you don’t have a separate kitchen in which to conduct these morning routines 🤷♂️ She was still only half awake when I put the hot steaming coffee on her bedside locker, “Are you okay ?” I asked, a muffled response from under the cover said “What time is it ?”, “It has just turned 7:30am, did you sleep okay ?” I asked. She said that she hadn’t and that she had been awake on and off all through the night but didn’t know why, she complained of aching a little bit as if she was going down with a cold. Oh dear, not a good start to the day for one of us then, I thought to myself 🤔 I suggested that it was probably because of the much colder weather the previous day whilst we were in Badajoz, we hadn’t really experienced that sort of a chill in the air for a very long time, not since we had left the UK nearly eighteen months ago, and neither of us had been dressed appropriately for it, so perhaps it had come as a bit of a shock to her system, although I have to say that I was feeling okay, must be something to do with these youngster’s eh ! 🤭 Jokingly, I suggested that at our next stop we should perhaps book two separate rooms, as I didn’t want her passing her germs on to me, “Very funny” she said, but not in a humorous way, “So what is the weather like this morning ?” she asked, “You will probably need your thermal nickers on today, and your warm scarf and gloves” I said, “Really !!” She said with a bit of alarm in her voice, I chuckled, “No, you won’t have to wear ‘any’ knickers today as it’s actually a beautiful morning” I said, then proceeded to get my shower and get my stuff re-packed.
Now, the previous evening, when we had done our route planning, perhaps, on hindsight, we should have checked the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts first, as it would have saved us a lot of time 🙄 Initially I had got the road atlas out and had that next to ‘Google Maps’ on my iPad looking at routes up to Northern Spain. I suggested heading to a small hamlet in the Picos de Europas National Park which, but not taking any stops into consideration, would be around a six hour drive to a place called ‘Fuente De’, their were only two hotels there, but it was the location of a cable car that could take us up into the mountains, that would have to be pre-booked on-line, twenty-four hours in advance, and of course provided that it was actually in operation, as the weather dictates the schedule. At the top there was a cafe/restaurant and, according to our hiking ‘App’, there was a pretty ‘easy’ marked walking trail back down the mountain, which could only take 3-4 hours dependent on how wobbly your knee’s are or, alternatively, we could just have a short walk once at the top, as their were other smaller trails, take some photo’s, it would of course be rude not to, and then head back down in the cable car 🤷♂️ There were also lots of other scenic gorges to ‘drive’ through in the same area, with numerous stops at viewing points, as well as some other walking trails, of varying degrees of difficulty, but which included some easy one’s which enable us to test our fitness and stamina levels before progressing on to perhaps some intermediate level hikes. I suggested that we could base ourselves at one of the two hotels for perhaps 3-4 days, so Shazza did a check on her accommodation ‘Apps’ and confirmed that both currently had vacancies. From there we could drive on a little further, eventually reaching the Northern coast (Bay of Biscay), which would only be a couple of hours further drive away, at most, and then work our way around the headland in an anti-clockwise direction, stopping at various small coastal villages or towns where there were plenty of coastal footpath walks that we could undertake. I started to feel quite excited, because this was one of the actual goals of this trip for me, being out in nature, not walking around towns or cities. We both agreed that this was a good plan.
Well it would have been, until that was, we checked the ‘Works of Fiction’ forecasts for the next five days and discovered that the weather perhaps had a different plan for us, one which would mean that we would certainly have to skip making our next stop in the Pico’s, for now at least 🥺 Further up the Northern coast, the forecast was also reflecting a mixed bag of weather over the coming week, so we somewhat reluctantly agreed that we would now have to come up with a different option for the next few days, it would be pointless shelling out good money only to find ourselves holed up in a hotel 🤷♂️
Another option, as the weather was looking much better, was to head across to the Western side of the Galician Coast, from there we could work our way up to the Northern coast in a clockwise direction, just really doing a similar thing to what Plan A had been, but in reverse, and then, hopefully 🤞 we could finish in the Pico’s before we headed South again towards home. I know, I was supposed to be just going with the flow on this trip, and I had been, well for the first two days at least 🤭 but now, and from here on in, the weather was going to be the dominating factor, and something we would be stupid not to take into consideration so Shazza agreed, we really did need to start to do some sort of planning 🤷♂️ So I made us another coffee and we once again studied the maps and route options. We decided to head to ‘Vigo’, a large coastal city that had a variety of things for us to do, both within the city, nearby beaches and coastal walks, and one’s that we could do straight from the hotel so, with the weather looking reasonable for the next five days and, with temperatures during the day forecast to be between 22-25 degrees(c), albeit a bit sketchy after that, we at least now had a Plan B sorted. We agreed on booking a five day stay in a hotel and to use that as our ‘base camp’, we had considered one of those Air B&B type accommodations, it would give us a little more independence and flexibility, but when we looked, the costs were excessive, compared to the cost of a very nice four star hotel that Shazza had seen, which had a vacancy and was pretty much close to the centre, so that was booked and pre-paid and it would now give us the opportunity to spend, after our travelling day, four full days to explore the area, we would of course keep reviewing the weather forecast for further up the coast, as it looked very much as if the weather up this part of Spain was now beginning to change.
Google Maps had given us a choice of three routes, but one of them wasn’t worth considering, as it would take us out to the East before bringing us back in to head West, which is the direction we now wanted to be travelling, but the other two alternative routes had both given warnings of ‘wildfires’ in the area 😲 It seemed strange that not far away it would be suffering with rain, but on this particular side of the country it was still hot enough to spark wildfires 🤷♂️ So we could head into Northern Portugal, then cross back into Spain on its Northern border ? That would have been our personal preference and, although the longer route, it would be on scenic country roads, with lots more nice villages to drive through, but, that would also entail driving through lots of densely forested areas 🤔 The shorter Spanish route would be, potentially at least, on safer and faster motorway routes, although probably much less picturesque, although it would also involve, at one point, leaving the motorway to cut across the corner and using a normal National Road (N631) for around one hour (52 miles), before then joining the A52 motorway all the way to Vigo 🤔 We decided to leave the choice until the following morning when we would check our routes again to see if their were any updates on the locations of the Wildfires.
So on our morning of departure, whilst Shazza got herself ready, I checked both the routes, their was no change, just the same warnings of ‘Possible Wildfires’ along both routes 🤔 I made the executive decision to do the faster Spanish motorways route, better to be safe than sorry as, if there were to be an issue, the overhead electronic motorway signs would give plenty of advance notice. With Shazza not feeling a hundred per cent, I elected to do the first leg of the driving and I told her that I was more than happy to do it all, if she didn’t feel any better later on. I had underestimated just how bad she was actually feeling this morning, for she offered no form of protest, either over me taking the decision on which route we would take, or me doing the driving 😳
We departed the hotel a little before 08:30am and joined the very quiet N630 road, that road took us very quickly onto the A66 motorway just south of Salamanca, we then headed directly North, towards and past Zamora. This I have to say was a very familiar route to us, one that we had driven very many times over the last eleven years, travelling to, and from, the Ferry terminals at either Santander or Bilbao. We had decided to not stop for breakfast until we got past Zamora and had got onto the N631, where we would then be back in unfamiliar and much more scenic territory, hopefully without the smell or sights of any smoke or flames🤞
It was a good travelling day, the sun was now already high in the sky with just a few clouds, nothing of any significance, the external temperature was 20 degrees(c) so we didn’t need the air-con on at this stage, the normal cool-air fan was sufficient, for now. The motorway was, as usual, very quiet, with very little traffic, and with very long straight sections that went on for miles into the distance, so on went the cruise control and we then both just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed looking out at the scenery, at times we would chitter chatter about nothing of any relevance or importance, but it passed the time. Now, as you may have already gathered, as I was doing the driving, there are obviously no photographs of the surrounding countryside in this part of the ramble, but considering that photo’s of those landscapes appeared very many times in my previous rambles over those last 11 years, let me assure you that you are not missing anything, they hadn’t changed 😉
Once we had turned off the Motorway, and on to the N631 road, the views didn’t actually change that much from what we had already been seeing, flat landscapes that stretched for miles, the mountains far off in the distance, acres upon acres of Olive groves, farm buildings stuck in the middle of large open fields, various livestock, cows, sheep, goats and horses and occasionally a small grouping of non-Olive trees, which did add a bit of variety for our eyes. We passed through the occasional small hamlets, but saw no evidence of any human life, we drove across bridges and aqueducts that spanned small ‘Embalces’ and, for a time, we even drove alongside a long straight train track, but we never saw any trains 🤷♂️ I had to take off the cruise control as the roads became very much more winding and bumpy due to the camber of the road which was very changeable, but this stretch of road was a nice change from the long straight motorway road. Eventually we entered a larger village and as we approached we saw a sign for a ‘Cafateria’, so we stopped for a break, inside it was quite nice, nothing special, probably more homely would be a better description, a few tables and chairs in the centre of the floor, on one wall a cigarette machine dispenser and on another, a colourful gaming machine, of the fruit machine variety. We were greeted with the usual ‘Buenas Dias’, not only by the man behind the bar, but also by the two men who were sat at it, both reading their papers, their glasses of beer within arms reach, we of course responded, ‘Hola’ we said, in cheerful voices, then ordered two Cafe con Leche’s, Shazza ordered her usual ‘Tostado con Tomate’ but I saw a nice looking ‘Tortilla’ on the bar so I ordered a slice of that. Surprisingly, based on our previous recent experiences, the coffees were strong, just as we like them. Shazza enjoyed her Tostado, the usual two generous sized pieces of baguette, my large slice of Tortilla came with a small bread basket with four circles of sliced baguette, the Tortilla was still warm and absolutely delicious, a giant potato omelette as I think of them, “I may just have to switch to this as being my regular late morning breakfast when we get back home” I said to Shazza, although today, as we were a little later eating, it was almost certainly nearer being a Brunch. As we were eating, another group of four people arrived, we, as in the royal ‘we’, the barman and existing customers, all offered them the usual greeting, they responded with ‘Bon Dia’, which suggested that they may have been Portuguese 🤔 When we came to leave, the bill was even cheaper than we pay at home, things were looking up I thought to myself, but just another reminder of what normal life, and prices, are like when you are away from the tourist enclaves. As we departed we said ‘Adios’ and, once again, I had to smile to myself, as they responded with ‘Luego’, but you never know, we may see them again ‘Later’, if we end up returning this way and stop in for a coffee and a slice of Tortilla 🤷♂️
Shazza was happy for me to continue to do the driving, which I was pleased about, as I was really enjoying being back behind the wheel for a long period, I have always enjoyed driving, wether that was in the Motor Home or the car, but since the issue with my right eye a couple of year’s ago, I think I had lost some confidence when driving in town’s and cities, especially when it involved close quarter manoeuvering.
Our journey on the next stage of this N631 became much slower, their was lots of re-surfacing work being done to several stretches of the road and we had to stop, numerous times, at traffic lights, due to one side or other of the road being closed. Their were no clearly evident signs that this work was being carried out as a consequence of damage caused by wildfires, the landscape and tree’s bore no evidence of having being scorched, so it was probably just routine maintenance, for this road was the short cut, the main cross-country link, from the A66 to the A52 motorway route. It had taken us a lot longer than anticipated, due to the roadworks, to get up to the point where we joined the A52 motorway, but it was a relief as I was beginning to get tired and I really needed to stretch my legs. Shazza looked at Google maps on her iPhone and identified a town, ‘Pueblo de Sanabria’, not far off our route that she believed, from the photo’s, would be a good scenic place to take a break and perhaps grab a spot of lunch. However, as we left the motorway we came to a roundabout, in one direction, the town, in the other ‘Lago de Sanabria’ which looked quite large, so just like we often do, we changed our minds about going into the town and headed for the lake, even though it would entail driving a further twenty-minutes (8-9 miles), but as we discovered, it was through some wonderful underlating lush green forested countryside.
Now this had been worth travelling the extra few miles for, the views were a feast for our eyes, forest, mountains and water. Although the sun was shining, the air temperature was cool, we had considered walking back to the car and getting our swimwear, and beach towels, out of our cases and spending an hour on the beach, their were toilet facilities where we could have changed but, fortunately, we had the good sense to check the water temperature first 🥶🥶 Obviously those already sunbathing and swimming were of a much hardier breed than us Southern softies 😂 We enjoyed a short but pleasant stretch of our legs around the lake. The Cafeteria was more of a beach bar selling beer, soft drinks, crisps, chocolate and ice-creams, than any sort of more substantial food, I could have gone a full on Burger and Chips, so we settled for ice lollies, we could always find somewhere else to eat once we got back on the motorway. However, just a thought to ponder on, isn’t this totally unscheduled deviation from our route just proof, if proof were indeed needed, that actually, I am still more than capable of just ‘Going with the flow’ 😉😂
The short stop, fresh air and walk had done Shazza the power of good, she was feeling much better than she had at the start of the day, how do I know that, other than her of course now being more than happy to eat a cold ice-lollipop 🤔……… yup, she now ‘insisted’ on doing the driving 😂 Now, I would have been more than happy to have continued driving but, her insistence on taking over the driving happened to be very good timing as far as I was concerned, for it was clearly obvious by the surrounding landscapes that we were now in ‘Green’ and very lush Galicia and I, now being relegated to the passenger seat, would be able to provide a public service to you my reader’s by giving my camera ‘clicker finger’ some much needed and overdue exercise 🤗
With our breakfast stop, the delays with the roadworks and the deviation to the lake, it was now well past lunchtime and we still had a little under a two hour drive to Vigo, we had not eaten since our brunch stop and we were both now getting hungry again, so rather than do a major deviation off our motorway route, we decided to just pull in at the next available service station where we could grab a sandwich and also take the opportunity to refuel the car. We hadn’t scheduled another stop until we reached our hotel, but we are suckers for wonderful riverside views and so, as we crossed a wide bridge that spanned the ‘River Minho’, we saw a small village below, down on the riverside, so of course, we went to see if we could get a closer look.
As we looked down, over the nice small vegetable garden directly below where we were standing, we also noticed the very nice swimming pool and the South facing balcony on the house they belonged to, with views directly over the river and the forested hills, this was certainly one of those idyllic ‘wished we lived in this’ sort of a house, on the side of it was a sign declaring that it was ‘For Rent’. Shazza mused over the thought that perhaps they may consider selling it 🤷♂️ and suggested that she may know some potential interested buyer’s 😲 “We would certainly not be too far from the ferry ports if, or when, we wanted or needed to go back to the UK and, we would not be too far from the French border and the rest of Europe for doing more road trips” she said, with a bit of a sparkle in her eyes and a grin on her face. “Very true” I said, then I reminded her of the fog from just the previous morning, and the cold temperature, and how she had felt. We already know how cold it gets in the Autumn and Winter months up this part of the world, let alone the Atlantic storms, frost, ice and snow 🥶 She gave one of her mischievous smiles, we both knew that she, and I, had no intention of moving anywhere else, well not in the immediate future at least, for we both enjoy our year round warmth and are very settled and quite happy where we currently are 😉
It was almost 5pm when we checked-in at the hotel reception, but we knew beforehand that this was going to be yet another very long travelling day, although in all honesty, we had enjoyed this day’s travelling more than the previous one, probably because we had some nice stops along the route, but now we were both ready to take a bit of a break from such lengthy driving day’s. The hotel was very modern and a smart looking place, the car parking was in an underground public car park, with reserved parking spaces for hotel guests (€13 per night), which we had pre-booked, and there was a direct lift up to the hotel lobby. We were allocated a room on the 5th floor, it was very modern and spacious and immaculately clean. Their were the usual facilities, Stocked Mini-Bar, with a choice of alcohol, soft drinks, water and various snack items, but those came at quite a cost 😲 so, apart from using it to store our ‘Oat Milk’ and our own bottled water, we wouldn’t be availing ourselves of ‘their’ provided contents. There was a large LCD TV, free WiFi (Very fast connection) and plenty of electrical and USB sockets. But of course, no Tea/Coffee making facilities, no balcony and only the side view of a tall building to see outside our large windows 🤷♂️ However, we were not planning on spending a lot of time in the room, only at the end of each day after we had been out somewhere sightseeing or walking, and then again after we had been out and eaten dinner, and perhaps partaken of a few Anti-Covid Vaccines in the process, well you know that it would have be been rude not to 😉 The hotel itself was in a perfect location, right opposite part of the large port, so I had plenty of very large fishing and commercial vessels to look at, but more importantly it was within a very short, flat and easy route to lots of eateries and, we were just a two-minute walk from a large ‘Mercadona’ supermarket, which sold water, snacks and just about anything and everything else that we may have needed, but at prices that were very much more aligned to our ‘pockets’. We had not booked breakfast as part of our room package, they wanted €13 each (per day) for the privilege 😲 The hotel had its own Cafeteria, and separate Restaurant, and it provided room service and, although no words of confirmation were spoken between us, they didn’t need to be, as we usually sing from the same hymn sheet on such VFM matters (Value For Money), so we each knew instantly that we would not be utilising any of those facilities.
We were both tired from the long journey but, unlike the previous evening, we daren’t risk taking a ‘siesta’, we needed to eat a proper meal this evening, so we enjoyed a hot strong coffee, checked our separate Email and social media accounts and then started looking on Google at the local eateries available, and of course the associated customer ‘reviews’. We were in Galicia, renowned for it’s seafood gastronomy, but we were not finding anything out of the ordinary, at least nothing that we couldn’t get down on the Costa del Sol, so we thought that a bit later we would just wander and see if we just fell on something that would tantalise our taste buds. We had read lots of reviews, which all gave a particular establishment 5* and sung its praises, but it was a ‘Mexican’ restaurant, really !! we said to ourselves, ‘Come to Galicia and Eat Mexican Food’ 😲 Little did we know though, that later that same evening, that is exactly where we would end up eating.
We saw on Google that most of the eateries shut their kitchens between 3-4pm, and then re-opened them again between 8:30-9pm, so we got showered and changed and headed out on our eateries reconnaissance mission. Shazza decided to wear her warmer fleece, we were on the Atlantic coast after all, but I risked just wearing a lighter one and was glad that I had, for whilst there was a stiff breeze blowing, it wasn’t cold, in fact the evening was warm and very pleasant. The thing with Google maps is that it is difficult to sometimes assimilate real time distances and, as this was an unfamiliar place, so we headed out at 7:30pm. However, it had only taken us a gentle 15 minute stroll to reach the main food street that accommodated the majority of the eateries, at least those in that particular area, we were later to discover that there are many other areas here in Vigo, but you needed hiking boots to get up hills to them 🤭 but more about that in another ramble. We walked up and down the long narrow alley, all of the eateries had their tables, chairs and umbrellas lined up on the pavements, some with menu’s on the tables that we could stop and peruse. Unsurprisingly, the majority advertised fish, fish and more fish, a variety of both shellfish and wet fish, and of course lots of Galician Octopus. There were plenty that also offered the usual mixture of Salads and, for the Carnivores, plenty of meat choices from Hamburgers up to prime Steaks and everything in between, their were also Pizza’s, Paellas and even Kebabs, this told us just how much of a tourist resort it actually was, so actually I had quite a wide choice, but nothing actually any ‘different’ to what we can, and already have, experienced in our own Marina and local Town, yes even there we can get Galician style Octopus. I did wonder what the difference was between this and any other sort of Octopus, unless it had an additional outer furry coat because of the cold sea temperature 😂 Anyway, I was a little disappointed, where were the Galician Stews or Fish Chowder’s 🤷♂️ As for Shazza, apart from Salads, or Vegetarian Pizza, there wasn’t a lot of ‘Plant Based’ options in fact, we didn’t see one establishment that advertised any kind of vegetables, so personally, I wouldn’t hold out much hope if you were truly of a ‘Vegan’ persuasion as I don’t think that they have yet heard of that particular word in these parts. Fortunately, Shazza does now eat some fish. As for those speciality Galician dishes, well perhaps these are more seasonal, more Autumnal style dishes and we had just arrived a little bit too early to sample them 🤷♂️
We stopped at a small bar, what Shazza calls and ‘Old Man’s Bar’, not a fancy pub with loud music blaring out so as to make any kind of normal conversation inaudible, or a lively cocktail bar, and certainly not a place for raucous youngsters, in fact we could have walked straight past it as it was such a quiet an anonymous looking place and, we probably would have done so, had it not been for an elderly man sat outside, with his beer, newspaper spread out all over the table, smoking a cigarette, and coughing a quite chesty cough after each puff 😁 We sat outside with our glasses of ‘Vermut’ just enjoying the evening, people watching and mulling over what gastronomic choices were available to us 🤭 We decided, that as everywhere appeared to be much of a muchness, we may as well try something different, okay the ‘Mexican’ it was then. We nearly walked past that too for it was advertised as an Oyster bar. I just happened to see a waiter preparing the outside tables and asked if this was the ‘Mexican Restaurant’, he said that it was a ‘Mexican Style’, not one that served authentic Mexican food like Chilli-con-Carne or Burritos, but they used locally caught fish and served it in a Mexican style, with an assortment of different Mexican fusions. That sounded interesting, we thought, our eyebrows raised, but only because neither of us had a clue what this ‘fusion’ business was that he was talking about, it was more a case of ‘Con-fusion’ to us 🤭 I looked at Shazza, she looked at me and we both said “Okay, why not”, he asked if we had made a reservation, our hearts sunk, “No, we have just arrived in the city this evening” I told him, “Just wait a moment please” he asked, a couple of minutes later he came back and said “Yes, I have a table for you”. Now this waiter, ‘Adoni’ turned out to be a right gem, we told him we had no idea what we would be ordering so asked him for his recommendations and from that, well what a truly different type of gastronomic experience we had that evening, he told us that much like Tapas, we just order as we go and stop when we have had enough, he recommended a ‘Ceveche’ starter which was a Salsa with raw fish, served with home-made Tortilla Chips, but when it came out there were two strange, what looked like dried flower buds, on a side-plate. He told us to squeeze lime juice over the ceveche and then eat some, with the plain unsalted Tortilla Chips, after our first taste we then had to chew these flower bud looking things, just one each, then taste the Salsa again. WOW ! If we thought the Salsa tasted good after the first taste, the rest was just amazing, it just seemed to combine and lift all of the flavours to another level, was that the ‘Fusion’ that he had mentioned 🤔 Thereafter he made other recommendations, explaining what each dish was, and without any exaggeration, each dish was just as absolutely fantastic, spicy hits with some, but not of the hot mouth burning spicy variety, he served each course and then went off to serve other customers, but he always came back and asked how we had enjoyed what we had eaten and wether we wanted to try anymore, we just kept going until we were full.
Well I said earlier in the ramble that I was disappointed with the gastronomic offerings, I take that back one hundred per cent, this wasn’t just food that once eaten you would forget about, this was a celebration of food, combining presentation, colour, flavours, or more simply put a ‘Fusion’ 😂 To top it all off, the exceptional service was quite honestly over and above anything we have previously experienced and the cost for this wonderful gastronomic experience, including four generous glasses of wine and at least four different courses, less than €50 😲 We were so impressed that we immediately booked to go back three nights later, to try some different things, Saturday evenings were apparently Oyster Night, so what the heck, I ordered half a dozen Oysters which, the waiter informed me, would be served three different ways, now I really did have another gastronomic experience to look forward to 🤗 I have only ever had Oysters once before, on that occasion they were just served naturally with a squeeze of lemon juice, they were okay, nothing to write home about though, so it will be interesting to see what I make of this next experience 🤔
We had had a very long day and we were both pretty tired, but what a way to round it off. As for what we will do on our first full day in Vigo, well that is for another day 😉
To be continued……………………..
Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena
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