We will be sad to leave Galicia, but ready for a new adventure. Goodbye Galicia!
From the parador we could look down over the city of Monforte de Lemos and the surrounding countryside. After a hardy breakfast, we packed up the car and headed down the hill.
Headed to the old section of town, we weaved down some very narrow streets. Then lo and behold, in front of us was one of the things we came to see, The Old Roman Bridge. We were shocked that we would be driving across it. It was very narrow and one way traffic only. Once across the bridge, we experienced something that we had not seen since being in Spain… a parking spot! Thank you, Fredericksburg, Virginia for keeping our parallel parking skills active.
We walked to the tourist office to get a map and some info only to find it was also the home of the Ribeira Sacra wine route with an amazing wine store next door. The tourist office was extremely helpful and gave us a few recommendations.
Check in time in Leon was not until 4 pm so we had lots of time to kill. We narrowed it down to two choices for us to consider on how the day would play out. A) We could leave the car parked where it was with all our worldly possessions and wander the city, or B) backtrack back to the river Sil and check out a winery. Option B) won! However, now armed with a great map from the tourist office, hopefully adventures down dirt roads will be avoided.
Throughout our entire trip we have been paralleling or crossing the Camino de Santiago. We will continue to do so throughout the trip, albeit we are going in the opposite direction. We decided we are taking the Food and Wine pilgrimage to the Basque Country. We just have to follow the markers backwards.
Just a few kilometers south of Monforte de Lemos we pulled into Bodegas Regina Viabum, sitting high on a hill overlooking the Sil.
Surrounding the museum were all sorts of displays that told the story of wine making in this region. There was a mini vineyard of all the preferred and authorized grape varieties in Ribeira Sacra with information on each grape.
We checked to see if there was an opening on a tour. There was, but it would be in Spanish. We opted out and decided to continue wandering the displays and vineyards. Probably more than any one thing that brought economic growth to the Ribeira Sacra was the train. These special cars with rounded roofs and a dedicated brakeman were designed to carry foudres (the large 600-liter barrels) to Madrid, Bilbao, and points beyond.
However, the most fascinating thing to see is are the vineyards themselves. How people work these vineyards, I just do not know. This vineyard is nice because it has steps going down to the river. However, it is a 60-degree angle at some parts. The actual rows are approximately 30 inches wide. Here is a better view of the little incline used to get the grapes up to the winery.
I think heroic viticulture is understating what is being done on these slopes.
Saying goodbye to this amazing landscape, we took one last look knowing that the River Sil, the vineyards, and the drive will be etched in our memories forever.
Backtracking again, we could see the Parador Monforte de Lemos off in the distance. We headed east towards Castilla y León and the city of León.
We will be officially leaving what is known as Green Spain, which is made up of four autonomous communities: Galicia, Cantabria, Asturias, and País Vasco which hug the sea and are much more temperate and greener than the rest of Spain. One of sub-regions of Castilla y León is Bierzo, which is much more like Galicia than Castilla y León. Remember Bierzo, we will see it again.
The sun popped out and we had a wonderful drive on almost empty roads the whole way we as crossed over the Sil and other tributaries. Driving in Spain is very easy. There are tolls and people do follow the rules. If sit says 100 km on the speed sign, people are going 100 km in the far-right lane. The left land is for passing ONLY. Lesson learned was a handful of change on the ready came in very handy as toll and parking machines had to be fed on our journey.
Parking on the other hand is not so easy. There is little to no parking on the street, but there is a ton of public parking. The issue with public parking is it is almost always underground and there are extremely tight turns and very very small places. Janet FREAKED every time we had to park. Leon was probably the toughest. The Airbnb had private parking, underground, and if you did know how to say a Hail Mary when you started down, it was flowing out of your mouth in quick repetition by the time you reached the spot. Three stories underground, 5 turns with less than a ½ inch on either side of the car and a spot against a wall made this quite an ordeal. The car safely in position, it was time for a glass of wine.
Check-in to the Airbnb went well and the place was well stocked. It had a nice balcony that was good to watch the comings and goings of the city. We had a grocery store, wine shop, and an organic vegetable store all within 100 feet from our door.
We made dinner in the apartment and stood out on our balcony as another great day in Spain came to an end.
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