Miño (not the River)

Recently I learned that half of Lugo capital heads to the beach in Miño in summer, while the other half heads to Foz (in Lugo province's coastal region A Mariña). That's why some people jokingly call Miño ¨Lugo's beach,¨ despite it being in the province of A Coruña. Since I've already been to Foz a few times, now was my turn to check out Miño--the town, not to be confused with the Miño River which separates Galicia from Portugal.

After a straight-shot hourlong highway drive, we arrived in Miño early Friday afternoon. We quickly settled into the apartment --with views of the Ría on one side!-- and headed straight for the beach. At that time there weren't many people around, perhaps because at 4 PM people were still having their dessert, coffee, and post-lunch chats, or perhaps because it was kind of cloudy and barely 80º F. Nonetheless, I decided to test the waters. And it was actually bearable!  Compared to the dozens of afternoons spent at numerous beaches of the Rías Baixas (Galician's southern sea inlets) with people who are used to the water temperature and consistently tell you ¨Está boa¨ (it's nice!) even though it's so cold you can barely get in past your waist, the water in Miño was so warm! During our 48-hour stay I got in all the way 6 or 7 times. That's unheard of for me! I probably got in as many times during two years at Rías Baixas beaches. Logic would say that the further south, the warmer the water. So why are the Rías Baixas in the south colder than the Rías Altas in the north? Something to do with currents. I don't have all the answers

Friday evening we stayed around the beach to see the sunset and a folk-punk concert. We dined with a friend at a food truck serving up American treats. I thought the apartment buildings, and handful of bars/restaurants near the beach were all there is to Miño. But Saturday morning I discovered that the town is bigger than I thought. There are around 6,000 year-round inhabitants, and what I thought was the town was actually just the beach district. Miño has a city center with multiple bakeries, butchers, and banks. You know a town is ¨big¨ here when it has two or more banks. First we strolled around the port where a smattering of people were fishing. Then we passed Miño's second beach, less appreciated because once you get in it's swampy rather than sandy. Once in the city center, there wasn't much to see, but there were plenty of people enjoying a lovely, warm day on the terrazas.

 In addition to it being a Saturday, it was also Galicia's national holiday, the day of Santiago the Apostle. That would explain why the beach got quite crowded early on: daytrippers from Lugo and A Coruña. The beach is long though, and there was still enough room to maintain a 2-meter distance in between towel groups. I was also happy to see most people abiding by the mask rule-- wear it when walking around the beach, but not necessarily when swimming or sitting on your socially-distant towel.

For dinner we ate out with some more friends, once again on a terraza. Hopefully any potential viruses wafted away in the fresh air. I never was a huge fan of seafood or fish, but when in Rome! Now I'm starting to actually enjoy typical dishes here such as clams (almeixas), mussels (mexillóns), (there's a difference in English--who knew?!), and fried big and small calamari (in Galician/Spanish they have two different words-- chipirón and calamar-- but apparently the only difference is size). On the other hand, in spite of numerous Galicians' attempts to convert me to fish, I still only like tuna and smoked salmon.