Que Lindo O Pindo! (Pretty Pindo)

Years ago, when I had first arrived here, in one class I asked my students to name places in Galicia that I should visit. I am certain that I visited almost all of them within the first five years. But I remember one place in particular that I never got to. A Fervenza do Ézaro is a huge and famed waterfall. Being as it is, far from any ¨big city¨ as well as any beach town, it is not on bus routes. And that's mostly how I used to get around. Public transportation! Eight years later, now with my own car I was finally able to cross Ézaro off my To-See list. I weaseled it into the agenda of a long weekend getaway to the Costa da Morte that we took with another family. In summertime there isn't as much water running down, since it's dry season. I still found it fascinating the amount of different streams that came together to create one big waterfall. One big waterfall that leads right to the sea. Freshwater meets saltwater! The combination of size and seaside location makes Ézaro so well-known.

Ézaro Falls was only the first stop on our ride. The destination was the small village of O Pindo. The weather was not great-- so much rain that we were lucky to hit the beach only twice in our four and a half days there. The beach there was very deep, rather than long. The water felt tepid, probably because the outdoor temperature was cool for August. The backdrop, however, was the best part. In the back of the beach were a few colorful houses, in front of rocky hills. Just looking at it from the sea, I felt like I could be a guest in the early 1900s at an Alpine hotel promising fresh air and curative saltwater. Seriously, I'm sure that if this beach town with mountainous background existed in any other European region, it would be transformed into a flourishing resort town. But since it's Galicia-- specifically the mostly isolated Costa da Morte-- it has remained a sleepy vacation destination for few. Can't say I mind!

Pindo Scenery

Barnacles!

One key feature of these family trips to the coast is fresh seafood every day. I myself am not a huge seafood fan, but it's better than fish! Nearly every day the gang went to the local shellfish farm to see what was for sale that day. Everyone took turns preparing their own specialty shellfish dish. Except for me, who has no idea how to cook seafood. We ate rice with lobster plus different recipes featuring cockles, clams, mussels, crabs big and small, and barnacles. Barnacles for me were the most noteworthy. I know it's a delicacy here, and had seen a friend try them but had never actually tried myself. The kids and adults both offered me tips on how to eat them. You pinch off the rough outer layer and suck on the inner part, connected to the rock-hard ¨foot.¨ It was actually pretty tasty! Mostly tasted like saltwater though. 

I used one trip to buy seafood as an excuse to get a pit stop near an hórreo. The Hórreo of Lira is along with the Hórreo of nearby Carnota the purported biggest hórreo in Galicia. It's held up by 22 pairs of legs! They must have had literal tons of corn and grains to store! The tremendously long hórreo was part of the churchyard, so once again we are talking about really wealthy clergy. I say once again, because the other very long hórreo I've seen in Poio, near Pontevedra was the property of a monastery. (By the way, that one has 17 rows of legs, but is wider.)

Now that's an hórreo! Lira

Despite the uncooperative weather, I enjoyed myself in pretty O Pindo. I'm still not a converted beach bum, so it wasn't too disappointing to have so little time in the sand. Plus I got to see rocks--my favorite!--as well as a landmark that had been a long time coming. And finally I'm fully caught up with this summer's wanderings. Now I can give fall its due...