Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain

Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day

Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.   

- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain'*

Our Road Trip to Gouda

• Well, only 30 minutes after I'd written in praise of French service folk for their friendliness, we were treated to stereotypical desultory service in a café in Arromanche-Les-Bains. In truth, non-existent service, which prompted a walk-out not only from ourselves but also from a Belgian foursome who'd gone into the place ahead of us. After a few minutes trying to find another café open at 9am, we all ended up in the same one. Where the service was again friendly and efficient.
• And no one can say that the Normandy countryside isn't picturesque.
• Or that there aren't dozens of irritating French toll booths between Spain and Belgium.
• Rotterdam's port area - like Hamburg's - is booming. Once again, I had the feeling that Liverpool had been left way behind in these stakes. Though I guess it's easier to create attractive tourist venues where old facilities surround inlets, canals and pools, and are not stretched lineally for miles alongside a river that can get pretty rough.
• Rotterdam's impressive water taxis, for example, probably wouldn't be feasible on the Mersey. Shame.

Living La Vida Loca . . .

• Here are María's Days 33 and 34

English/Spanish

• Three more refranes:-

- Many hands make light work: El trabajo compartido es ma llevadero.

- Misfortunes always come in threes: No hay dos sin tres

- Money goes where money is: Dinero llama a dinero.

Spanish

• Cheveré: An interesting reader comment: I was told that cheveré is a corruption of chevrolet the american car known for being quality.

Finally . . . 

• Reader Scrooge delves once more into the murky world of grape varieties: Oh dear! identifying grapes is something of a minefield. I can make no claim to any expertise merely a passing interest. The well known (popular) ones are straightforward enough but the more obscure can be tricky. But The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is quiet explicit that Cabarnet Sauvignon is a cross between Cabarnet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. The National Grape Vine Registry agrees. Also interestingly VIVC lists Cayetano as a white grape without any references to red/black mutants. And classes it as a "table grape".  

* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.