Viveiro

We stay the night in Viveiro which reminds me a bit of Padstow, because the town is on both sides of a river. The old town is attractive and has a lot of good examples of pretty white painted enclosed balconies. As we stroll around we come across a Lourdes like shrine. A statue of the Virgin Mary is set in rock and underneath dangle what I can only describe as an assortment of plastic limbs. I'm not clear if these represent petitions for a miracle or are confirmation of one taking place, either way its hard not to think we are viewing an installation of a work of art by one of Damien Hirsts' cronies.

Our hotel, the Hotel Orfeo, is very comfortable. Our room has a balcony and great views of the river. In our bathroom the bidet tucks away under the sink as a space saving measure and swings out when needed, its really neat, I haven't seen one like that before. There is internet access in your room but it costs 3 Euros a day, being a total skinflint I opt to use their pc in the lounge for free. It is a tad disconcerting to see Blogger all in Spanish!

The following day we visit the most northerly tip of Spain, Punta de la Estaca de Bares. In the small hamlet before the lighthouse the potatoes are a lot further on than ours in the UK. As gardners we can sympathise with their bird scaring attempts and are familiar with similar controlled burning of gorse. We continue onto Santiago de Compostella.