Skip to main content

Camino de Santiago, dia 10


October 2nd: I gallantly offered to join Lisa in her Uber from Redondela.  We waited thirty minutes for the car (a very nice Mercedes EV), then another 40-minute drive to Pontevedra, the pleasant touristic city that has set aside a substantial portion of old-town to pedestrian streets. 

The others stayed at Hotel Virgem Del Camino, while I booked at Hotel Madrid.   I dropped off my backpack, then returned to lunch with Lisa at the Hotel Virgem Del Camino–surprisingly big fish lunch.  

 Pontevedra is worth a tourist visit; I took advantage of my early arrival (before the hotel room was available) to visit the municipal museum – very big building beautifully exhibiting hundreds of local paintings and a reasonable discussion of the area history.  Again, evidence of Spain's wealth in such a lavish free museum, sparsely attended. 


The central plaza's church is dedicated to pilgrims, so I got a "sello” there of course.  Then I checking in to Hotel Madrid, old and small but decent–and a bathtub where I could soak my feet!  The wi-fi was a bit spotty, so my scheduled zoom-call with Democrats Abroad planning group was difficult.  I returned to the other hotel to have dinner with the whole group – same waiter, same menu, so I just got croquettes! 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fleeing Trump, Americans go to Portugal

  Fleeing Trump, Americans go into exile in Portugal. “I'm afraid to go back” Not only minorities feel threatened by the Trump administration. Three couples, a mother and an academic tell us why they chose to live in Portugal. Some say: the American dream is over.      The above is today's headline article in our favorite trusted newspaper in Portugal, O Publico .  It's a centrist newspaper, owned by a big supermarket corporation.  Let's combine this with the recent news that Portugal's Air Force is now shifting away from its planned purchase of F-35 jets.  Even though Trump has not even mentioned Portugal in his various diatribes against former allies, Portugal and the rest of Europe are reeling from the attacks.  We hope it has the ironic effect of freeing Europe from American dominance and improving the chances for centrist leadership (against Trump-like parties that have been gaining prominence).  The original text follows: Em fuga de Tru...

EUA: tanto estrago em tão pouco tempo

 As part of my effort to learn about Portugal, both the country and the language, I'm subscribing to the centrist newspaper, O Publico .  There are plenty of newspapers: conservative tabloids, and socialist and communist-sponsored daily papers; I find O Publico to be most sober, with consistently interesting columnists and opinion pieces, in addition to some local (Porto) news, with just enough sporting news to keep me chatting with the taxi driver.   Today's opinion piece sums up, I think, European pundits' view of the U.S. government.  As the title puts it: so much damage in so little time.  I shudder at the rank incompetence and corrupt behavior, demonstrating a cynical attitude toward public service, showing indeed that the cruelty is the point. What scandal, what damage will be the tipping point to collapse this government?   And what will it take to recover from the damage?  Who will be able to trust the US government again, ever?   Only ni...

Seoul Lantern Festival 2014

The Seoul government spends a lot on cultural and tourist events, to the great joy of locals and foreigners alike -- and to the businesses that sell to them. The Lantern Festival has grown into an art display: no longer small lanterns floating on a stream, but rather large hollow paper sculptures lit from within by electric lights, fixed to the streambed. Thousands of people flock to the ChangyeCheon stream  (a waterway analogous to the San Antonio Riverwalk in that it was renovated into a public walkway) to see the dozens of sculptures on a cold November night.