Thru Galicia to Portugal: Part 1-The Cheese Festival

I am sitting in our living room thinking about how it SNOWED in Bilbao yesterday and comparing it to the mild, spring-like weather we had in Galicia, when I realized that you, my blog following friends, were unaware of our car trip. I'll try to remedy that in the next few blogs.
Tom doesn't usually troll through the internet, but about 2 weeks ago he did, and he found a female Galician piper he really liked. According to Tom, "she looks like a model", which I think means he found her very attractive. Or maybe just curiously different from the current administration. Regardless, he got very excited when he found that she was playing at the Festo do Queixo in Arzúa, Galicia the following weekend. [note: my Spanish hasn't deteriorated, this means Cheese Festival in Galician]. Here's where Arzúa is located:
http://www.worldandcitymaps.com/europe/spain/galicia/arzua/
A cheap (100 euros!) car rental later, we were on the road.
We first stopped in Santander to visit my friend Mary's sister, Bernadette. Santander is a surprisingly large city with several lovely beaches. I can imagine how busy it gets in the summer. Bernie was grand and showed us around a bit.

 

We had a long drive to Arzúa though, so after lunch we hit the road, arriving in the dark, with some difficulty. This is rural Spain, with few posted roads and generated some anxious moments for the navigator who always likes her courses to run smoothly. 

But what a special place! I would highly recommend Casa Brandariz in Dombodán, outside of Arzúa to anyone who values history and charm above luxury. It was very comfortable, with some of the kindest and most generous hosts, Eduardo and Carmen, that I've ever met. Imagine, when we told Carmen how much we liked the wine, she told us that the 2011 vintage had won an award at a big wine festival in Brussels and offered to try to find us a bottle of the 2011 to buy. Mr Brandariz, Eduardo's father, made us a gift of a bottle! He wouldn't even let us pay for it.

church next to Casa Brandariz

Parts of the house are over 500 years old. The yogurt, honey and meat we ate came from the farm.
The festo itself was a unique cultural experience. There were 50-odd booths of commercial cheese producers, mostly local (1 French and 1 Italian); about 25 small producers were represented. Cow, sheep and goat milk cheeses were available, but for some reason there were no mixed milk cheeses. All styles of cheese, but a soft tangy style seems to be a regional specialty. Some of the small producers were selling local honey too. Everyone was handing out samples of cheese and, if there was honey available, samples of that too.

The wildest thing were the other attendees at the fair. There were 10 or 12 huge buses filled with little old Galicians. I could look them directly in the eye-must be a reflection of our common Celtic ancestry!-and they packed the hall and the food tents. They were fierce too. They weren't about to let any cheese samples get away from them and they elbowed and pushed their way through the ever growing crowds in an exemplary way.
Ah, the food!! What would a fair be without food? In a uniquely Galician way there were vendors of prepared foods:

And foods that needed more prep:

are these ears? the ones on the left are pig tails

yes, this is a dried pig face

And then the food tents, where those fierce, small people gathered to eat octopus, drink thick wine, and smile at the strange 'mericans:

we opted for the ribs; they were yummy

Tom didn't come for the food though, he came for the piper, remember? Before the piper came other traditional music, and very entertaining it was. You can hear a sample of Galician music here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzF35iRocJA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4ZlFky4Imc

The piper was quite a... well... experience? Full of energy and a cross between traditional and rock. She also plays piano and tours with Yoyo Ma, so Cristina Pato is an amazing musician. She had a fantastic singer with her, who sang several songs the whole crowd (excepting Tom and Ellen, that is) knew, and they all sang along

Hope you enjoy this bit of her music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teauoWFZgGg
next blog: Portugal