Along the Streets of Ferrol

As I mentioned before, early December this year came with an incredibly long 5-day-weekend. So as not to go stir crazy at home, we took a quick trip to Ferrol. 

Out of Galicia's seven cities, it's fair to say that Ferrol is the most underappreciated. A Coruña and Vigo are the biggest cities and on the seaside to boot. That combination alone makes them quite cosmopolitan. Santiago de Compostela, in addition to being the capital, is a hub of pilgrims trekking the Camiño de Santiago. Lugo has its free tapas and UNESCO-recognized Roman Wall. Ourense attracts visitors with its abundant thermal springs. Pontevedra may not have much compared to Vigo less than 20 miles away, but it does boast a charming (and pedestrian only!) old town. 

So that leaves us with Ferrol. It's a port town, but unlike Vigo or A Coruña, it has such a low population that it doesn't enjoy as many useful amenities. Add that to the fact that the city is Franco's hometown and holds a naval arsenal, and Ferrol looks less appealing by the minute.

Casa Pereira I

One thing that Ferrol does have going on for it, however, are streets lined with glass-enclosed balconies. Art Noveau architecture with its intricate details and lines is also characteristic of Ferrol's Old Town. There is even a street tour organized around the architect Rodolfo Ucha's modernismo work around town. Unfortunately, it was not available during low season. So we explored on our own. It doesn't take an art/architecture degree to appreciate some pretty buildings! Plus when we went, we were expecting rain the entire time, but actually lucked out and barely needed the umbrella. According to the plaque, Casa Pereira I was commissioned by a sailor. Perhaps that's why the architect made the lower balcony windows on the second floor look like fish tails. How fun!

Pretty building from 1914

Flower Menina

Another more recent addition to Ferrol's art/architecture scene are the Meninas de Canido. ¨Las Meninas¨ is a famous painting by Velázquez portraying a princess and her ladies in waiting, all wearing hoop skirts typical at the time. The connection between the painting and Ferrol is lost on me. But in 2008, an artist began making street art of the Meninas in the shabby neighborhood of Canido. It caught on and now there are hundreds of Meninas painted all along the (abandoned) houses. Each year they have a festival where more and more artists come to leave their Menina mark. The idea was to liven up this dilapidated area. The art is nice, but the buildings are still mostly falling apart. Aside from being a tourist attraction to Ferrol, I don't really see the project injecting change into the neighborhood's economy. But we walked around this outdoor art museum in the morning-- maybe there are new cafés/bars open in the afternoon.

To round out our visit, we stopped by the Castle of San Felipe just outside of Ferrol (although certainly not walking distance). More than a castle, I would call it a fortress. This large naval complex is centuries old, and went through several changes and additions over the years. From the castle to a smaller fort across the river, there was a chain used to stop enemies from getting into the harbor, a little further inland. The Castle was also crucial in protecting Ferrol from an attempted English invasion in 1800. The citizens of Brión nearby were also key at defeating the Brits, who apparently didn't expect a fight. That story is told very well with interesting infographics in the Castle's museum. By the way, the castle was free to get in; had a small museum recounting the English attack of 1800; included a map; and had bathrooms stocked with toilet paper and soap. In my book, a homerun! I couldn't help but compare it to our experience in Athens, visiting the outstanding Acropolis for an entrance fee and not even getting a little map. I understand that the two tourist attractions are lightyears apart in terms of size, importance, and popularity. It just stuck out to me. 

Family Foliada

This week in the teaching sector of Galicia, everyone's looking forward to that mega-long weekend. Since December 6th and 8th are public holidays in Spain, this year Galicia took the 7th as its yearly bonus day off, to create a superpuente. Two day work week! 

This time of year, I am reminded of the long December weekend right before the pandemic when I went to the Foliada da Fonsagrada. A foliada is any gathering to play and dance to Galician folk music. In the village of Fonsagrada, their annual dayslong celebration attracts tons of people from all around Galicia. Won't be going back this year, but this past weekend we went to a little family foliada. It was a surprise birthday party hosted in a stone structure, now used as a cellar, but 100 years ago was likely the house. The five-person band strode in playing, dressed in their Galician garb. The group included bagpipers, drummers, and an accordionist. For hours, they sang and played melodies for the musical guests to sing songs that the band didn't even recognize. In addition to lots of enthusiastic clapping, there was also dancing: with partners or in circles. The whole time I kept thinking how enxebre the evening was. Enxebre is a Galician way of saying typical, authentic, something pure (Galician).

Adding to my delight, I found out that one of the guests went to high school where I was first assigned as an auxiliar de conversación. Obviously, because she was around my age, I knew we hadn't been there at the same time. But it turns out, her brother had been in one of my first classes! I couldn't get over it. It's a small world after all! Then suddenly it dawned on her-- she had heard of me way back when, either from her brother or one of their neighbors. I felt proud. Almost famous.