You forget how very, very long those long haul flights from Australia to Europe are! 

We drove from Barcelona to Pontevedra (Galicia) with an overnight stop at Calahorra (La Rioja). In the first few hours of driving we knew we were back in Spain when you see the Osborne bull sign and a crumbling castle, monastery or mansion on the top of every few rocky outcrops along the way. 

On our second day of driving we are reminded of how vastly different all of the regions of Spain are. Between Logrona (La Rioja) and Burgos (Castile and León) we came across our first signs of the heavy snowfall that has been reported over the Northern regions of Spain.

We arrived early in the evening in Pontevedra very tired but happy and met our lovely host. We stayed in Pontevedra for 2 weeks and we loved this city which has a large pedestrian only zone in the historic centre. It’s such an easy city to walk around with lots of wonderful bars and cafes.

Looking for the best place to get free tapas or pinchos with your drink in Spain? Come to Galicia. Everytime we had a coffee which was a lot because – it’s cold here, we need to sit somewhere to look up where/what to do next, or need a toilet etc. they give us something sweet to have with it. Sometimes a small croissant to one place which gave us a small slice of cake and a little cup of (we think) mousse of some sort. If we ordered beer or vermouth, we might get a small slice of empanada or tortilla, or tiny bowls of stew or soup. 

It’s so good to be back. The Spanish are such lovely, friendly people.

We expected lots of rainy days for this time of the year in Galicia (it’s green for a reason) but we have been so lucky to have clear blue skies the whole time which is amazing for this time of year. However it is very very very cold (from all that snow in the interior). 

Next stop was Vilagarcia which is on our list of possible places to live and after visiting we decided it was more our pace. Much smaller and right on the coast of Ria de Arousa.