You get what you give…

Day 23 - The Spanish seem to go out of their way to be miserably unhelpful. 

Pulpo á Feira: The most iconic dish. Fresh octopus is boiled (traditionally dipped three times into boiling water to curl the tentacles), sliced onto a wooden platter, and drenched in high-quality olive oil, coarse sea salt, and smoky Spanish paprika (pimentón).

Last night, in Vigo, a strait laced woman read out the menu, parrot fashion. She owned the only copy, cribbed in a little notebook, she didn’t care whether I understood or not, and went through the entire thing, despite a glazed/bemused expression from me…

I heard her read out the same thing at least 6 times around the restaurant and all I heard was…

Thinkos

Unos

Thekos 

Thientos 

Interos 

Plantos 

Pescados

Sardinos 

Ramos 

Ballie…

They have such fantastic, tasty produce and culinary skills a plenty, but no time for foreigners wanting to embrace a taste or god forbid experience Galician food, and never seem prepared to help or advise…I had done my homework and ordered the octopus, it’s the local thing, ‘pulpo a Feira’ , it was a signature plate, a local specialty and what I wanted, it was fantastically simple as it was all about the source, and as I had predicted, came with not a smile, an acknowledgement, no appreciation of participating and enjoying the local cuisine or suggestion of a wine to accompany … I stopped myself asking if it was local or had been caught in Scottish waters..Annoyingly, these buggers really have a lot to learn about honest hospitality and I find this so surprising.

Anyhow, not too much to report today, apart from an early start with a belly full of sloppy octopus and Rioja. 

Down to the beach today for a swim at ‘Praia de Patos’.

Not sure how planning permission was granted for this…?

And then a local albergue for the night at Saians, overlooking the coast…not a bad spot to end the day.

I’m slowly, slowing down as I head towards Portugal.🇵🇹 

‘You get what you give’ is my sentiment, and that of the New Rads from back in th’day.