Galicia

Tonight I leave for Galicia on the trenhotel - "Train Hotel". After an overnight ride across Spain to the Atlantic Coast, we will arrive in Galicia, the westernmost Spanish autonomous community perched right above Portugal.

Galicia's location within Spain

The city we're staying in, Santiago de Compostela, is the famous final destination of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage trail from southern France almost to the Spanish Atlantic coast. Galicia is yet another Spanish place with its own language, gallego, which is most closely related to Portuguese.

Santiago is in the province of La Coruña (A Coruña in Gallego), whose capital city is - surprise - A Coruña!

We've heard it's a gorgeous place, so photos will be sure to appear post-trip!

Happenings

My typical day here in Zaragoza has drastically changed since I began taking violin lessons. I now try to practice at least half an hour every day, plus on Thursdays I have my lesson and rehearsal with the group until 10! That isn't to say that I don't have time for other things...in fact, I seem to have lots of free time to skype with my parents and experience Zaragoza.
Last night I went to an organ concert in La Seo, Zaragoza's gorgeous cathedral. The organist was José Luis González Uriol, Organista Honorífico de La Seo, and he played a variety of pieces ranging from Bach to Bohm to Corelli. I only had ever heard of the first, but the others turned out to be lovely as well. I arrived early to be sure to get a seat, as the free concert filled up fast. The concert opened with a prayer - the concert series is part of the celebration of Cuaresma, Lent. But this soon gave over to the melodies and multiple harmonies of the lovely organ. I really do enjoy organ music - the high notes can sound like a flute, the low ones like a powerful baritone saxophonist...An enjoyable evening.
Today I look forward to a Woody Allen movie at the Filmoteca...and this weekend, I'm off to Galicia!

Back from the Capital

Our weekend in the Santa Ana barrio of Madrid was three days of good food and great art. Between bites of spinach pie, seitan curry, vegetable croquettes, mushroom and oat balls, apple cheese onion bake, rye bread, cream cheese stuffed jalapeños, chips with guacamole, zucchini with goat cheese, stuffed shitakes, whipped cream cheese with chocolate and sprinkled with coconut, vegetarian burgers, cherry milkshakes, and a mozzarella-salmorejo tostada, we very much lived up the gastronomical side of our little vegetarian-friendly neighborhood haven. We also visited El Prado (a great escape from the sprinkles) and spent an entire afternoon exploring the artwork and artists we saw in our textbook and discovering new favorites, and then followed it up with a visit to the Reina Sofia modern art museum. We also checked out the National Library, which has a surprisingly interesting museum.

All in all, it was a great trip...and like all of them, I left Madrid wanting more!