We´re back from an incredible 8 day, 3500km trip to the north of Spain. We drove west from Malaga then north through Portugal, stopping off briefly in Porto then to our first base of Sanxenxo in the Rias Baixas in Galicia. After three days in Galicia we headed east and based ourselves for four days in Ribadesella in Asturias and then finally headed back south, stopping off in León and then staying the night in beautiful Salamanca. Our final leg of the journey home allowed for two quick stops in Caseres and Mérida….phew, what a trip!
I thought I´d do a few posts on this trip over the next few weeks, and share some of the experiences we had…food, drink, sights. I do hope you enjoy them.
Galicia is very famous for its Pulpo a la Gallega, so we enjoyed this several times. A particularly good one was eaten in the beautiful town of O Grove.
We took a boat trip, which was fun despite the rain, to look at the Rias (which are estuaries) and to see where the oysters, mussels and scallops are cultivated. We were fed freshly caught mussels, steamed open and served with a young, local white wine. Perfect.
In Santiago De Compostela, which is the destination for pilgrims and walkers on the Camino De Santiago (a mediaeval pilgrimage route), we admired the incredible cathedral and enjoyed a slice of their local cake (made with almonds and adorned with the symbol of Santiago – or Saint James – the Patron Saint of Spain).
We also enjoyed several empanadas during our time in Galicia – which are made with both meat and fish. Very tasty snacks indeed.
In a very pretty fishing village called Cudillero, where the houses appear to be stacked one on top of another, we ate our first Fabas. Galicia and Asturias have a great culture of soup type dishes made with their local white beans and served in different ways. Another tradition is to put a huge tureen of the dish on the table and you just keep serving yourself until you can´t eat any more. What a fabulous idea!
These were served with local clams, which are bigger than the ones we typically see in Andalucía and the dish is called Fabas con Almejas.
One day we went to Covadonga, which is a beautiful mountain top Sanctuary and took a picnic to eat further up at the lakes. The weather was so bad that when we got there we could only see fog so we drove back down to the River (the Sella) and enjoyed our Bollos Preñaos (which translates literally as pregnant rolls!) and Empanadas by the river.
The delicious rolls are made with bread wrapped round chorizo and baked as a ready made snack.
Dinner one evening was a delicious salad made with mushrooms and bacon and served with a delicious rosé wine.
Alongside this we tried a variety of local Asturian cheeses. The most famous is Cabrales, a pungent blue cheese which we really enjoyed. Our car was a bit stinky when we got home as we bought some back!
We also ate an amazing rice and lobster dish, Asturian Pote (a vegetable stew with pulses), beautiful beef and ribs….but we were obviously hungry or greedy and never got to take photos of these.
A beautiful mediaeval town in Cantabria is Santillana Del Mar, and we found an amazing bar that did a huge selection of Pinxos (like larger sized tapas).
We managed to work our way through a few of them with no problems. Well…it was raining and we were waiting for the downpour to stop!
Our final night in Ribadesella we ate a wonderful Hake and Prawn casserole – but only remembered to snap it as we had almost finished.
Near Leon we ate another incredible bean dish. This one was made with what they called “Cinnamon Beans” (because of their beautiful colour) and was cooked with smoked pancetta.
And finally, our last night in a very lively Salamanca was spent wandering around the city by night looking at the beautiful buildings and enjoying a variety of tapas. These were Callos (tripe with chick peas) and Albóndigas (pork and jamon meatballs).
So, it´s back to reality for us, but with happy memories, full stomachs and lots of ideas for new recipes in the months to come. Hope you enjoyed sharing a little of our holiday with us. Of course, it wasn´t all eating and drinking….next time I´ll show you some of the beautiful sights. ¡Hasta luego for now!
Chica Andaluza 
I’m jealous – I’m going to Barcelona next month and can’t stop thinking about food and the Boqueria…
Great pix and it looks like you had a fab holiday 😉
Oh you´ll have such a wonderful time buying and eating food in Barcelona!
Looks like an amazing trip! I can not wait to see the rest of the pictures!!
It was such fun – we did lots but also took it easy. And took way too many photos, so more to come!
wow, this is our type of holiday for sure! Welcome home 🙂
Thanks Tandy – it was am amazing trip but it´s also nice to be home. I can relive it now through all the gorgeous food we bought back with us 🙂
Food scrumptiousness overload! Fantastic Tanya – you guys certainly feasted on some incredible dishes! Can’t wait for the next instalment.
Have a happy week.
🙂 Mandy
PS. It must have taken ages to put all the links in on this post!
Hi Mandy – it was a gastronic delight! And yes…took ages to put all the links in, but I thought….just in case people want to know more about where we went I´d do it 🙂 Have a lovely week too.
Wow! I’m exhausted, jejejeje. Nice trip Tanya, it looks like you had a great time. The pics make me hungry… yummy. Just have to add one thing, you must try the tarta de Santiago that I made for his day. Look it up, I think is on July 25, then tell me what you think 😉
We had an amazing time and now I´m going to look up your recipe as we have almonds to pick this week and I´d love to try your Tarta!
Wow, wow, wow. That food looks amazing, the soup is calling my name. Seriously, it said eat me Greg. Those mussels, that charcuterie, the cheese. I love stinky blue!
I thought I heard the soup talking, but I wasn´t sure if it was the wine! We love stinky blue too…..:)
Pure heaven. Seriously, you’ve covered almost all my favorite Spanish dishes! I’m obsessed with cuisine from the north. My other favorite dish from Asturias: arroz con leche. YUM.
Glad you liked it! Forgot the arroz con leche (probably forgot a few other dishes too) which we had and they bruleed the topping. Had never eaten it that way before (here they serve it with cinnamon) and it was wonderful!
Wow…just amazing. I’m now desperatly hungry – for nothing in my pantry! Once again, welcome home!
Thank you – it´s nice to be home!
Sounds like a wonderful 8 days of touring and eating!! I love these travel posts to all the places I could only dream of going! The picnic by the lake was a lovely idea to step outside and enjoy nature. I’d be so like you and more wanting one of EVERYTHING!!
It was a wonderful trip and we loved our picnic. I´ll post some pictures later but it´s a river where they do lots of kayaking, so we spent all our time waving to people going by..great fun!
Tonya, oh my… what a beautiful post and the pictures speak a thousand or more words. I must be getting better your pictures have made me hungry. What a trip you two were on and I cannot wait to see more of your holiday, to learn more and of course I wonder what you will be cooking? I love stinky cheese too, the stinkier the better! Tell Big Man welcome home and I know by the pictures you both had a good time! ….RaeDi
Thank you so much RaeDi. It really was a trip that lived up to and exceeded expectations and we had such fun together really relaxing as well as running around. It was good to spend time together…I think there are a good few stinky cheese fans out here from the comments!
Sounds like a really lovely trip. I’m looking forward to hearing more about it.
It was amazing – and there are more posts to come!
So glad you had such a wonderful time! I know virtually nothing about Spain, but through your eyes I am starting to see an amazing country – thank you!! Looking forward to all the other posts…
And likewise – I know so little about SA – the joys of bloging are thgat we can see things “virtually”!
Great photos and descriptions of some wonderful gastronomic delights. My son shares a flat in London with someone from Galicia and tells me of the delicious food they share – in fact, I’ve just spoken to him this evening. and he was looking forward to eating cocido
Thank you so much. Your lucky son – Big Man´s favouritie dishes are all “platos a la cuchara” like codio and olla. Perfect for the London weather too!
Everything looks so yummy…I just tried to take a bite out of my laptop. I feel an urgent need to go to Spain!
Hee hee! If you ever get the chance to visit Spain, I´m sure you´d have a wonderful time…thanks for visiting 🙂
What a great trip! Sounds like we share the same approach to touring. Spend the day seeing the sights and the evenings sampling the cuisine. (“Sampling” sounds so much better than “gorging”.) I’m looking forward to the next installment of your travel log. Did you get any recipes along the way?
I agree, sampling is much more “refined”! And yes, I kept cross questioning waiters and chefs as to how they did this, and what they put into that…and everyone was so kind and happy to explain! Only problem is that it was mostly after a couple of glasses of wine…hic!
Looks like you had a fabulous trip. I’m very jealous of all the amazing food you got to eat! I’m sure the cheese was divine.
It was an incredible trip – and the cheese was indeed divine. So pleased we bought some back!
Sounds like you had a great trip. Looking forward to hearing all about it.
Regards Florence x
…and you will!!
Wow. This trip looks and sounds fantastic. I’m incredibly jealous as I haven’t been over to Europe in a few years now…need to find the funds to get back and enjoy all the goodness I see above. 🙂
Cheers!
Spain is still not too expensive, but it´s amazing how that money can trickle through your fingers when you´re having fun 😉
Oh thank you for sharing your trip! Great photos, and oh am I hungry! 🙂 Mmmm!!!
Glad you enjoyed “sharing” my trip!
Wow, that’s a serious culinary adventure! I love travelling and sampling different kinds of food.
And look at all that seafood! Sounds delicious. I probably would have gained 15 pounds eating all that good food.
It was definitely a holiday focused on food! Luckily we were walking around a lot so we were burning off the calories too 🙂
So mean showing pictures of these yummy foods when I’m on student budget… beans on toast for me! Hope you enjoyed your hols!
love your Fairy God-daughter 🙂 xxx
Hey Fairy God Daughter – will have to send you a food parcel…and nothing wrong with beans on toast when times are tough! Big hug from your Fairy God Mother xx
I have never been to this part of Spain so I am glad you shared this beautiful experience with us!!! You brillinatly showed us a different regional culture in Spain (just as in Italy every Region is like a different country!!). I totally loved the beans and clams soup..what a great combination of flavors…The cheeses OMG…and the fact that they eat empanadas! This explains why so many Latin American countries have “adopted” empanadas from la Madre Tierra ! Top post Chica!!
It was my first trip to this area and I had wanted to go for such a long time. I hadn´t realised how popular empanadas are in these areas…but was very pleased about it as I love them!
The food looks amazing! I’m dying to visit… the pulpo and fabas look incredible. As always, great pictures! It’s only 7:00 and I’m hungry again…
Hey nothing wrong with pulpo and fabas at 7am or 7pm… 🙂
Looks like you had a wonderfull time. After seeing all this wonderfull food, Danny is panicing. Done the boat trip with the mussels and white wine, fantastic. See you soon. D&S
We did indeed have a fantastic time…so looking forward to seeing you soon. Bread, cheese, wine and friends are the best ingredients for a get together in my opinion!
Delicioso, delicioso, delicioso!!!! If my siblings come visit me next summer, we’ll go on a road trip to Northern Spain, and hopefully we’ll finally get to see Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and/or Santander! (Still debating on the Camino de Santiago). Such wonderful food pictures! Mmmmmmmm…. I love your posts.
Thank you so much – it was a wonderful trip! If you´re serious about the camino, i can put you in touch with my neighbours (she´s Californian and he´s British) who have done some of the walk. It wasn´t for us – especially when I saw all those poor souls laden down with back packs in the rain 😦 We didn´t make it to Santander…another time I hope as I hear it´s gorgeous.
SOOO many gorgeous delicious things to eat! Especially anything with pork and those mussels and clams! Yum! Also impressed with your sewing skills. I have a machine and the want but so for it has just been bags nothing very form fitting so great job! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Yours has that lovely garden!
Thank you for all your kind words – do hope I inspire you to cook/sew/garden even in the tiniest way!
Ok, you have done it. We keep talking about going to Spain on our next trip to Europe. After living in Miami, Florida, where most of the Spanish restaurants that we loved were from the areas you visited…it seems that we must consider Spain. I can’t tell you how much of what you have written about as far as food are all of our favorites. I wouldn’t mind a sticky car for some Cabrales cheese…one of my favorites.
Yay! It´s always good to inspire others. Can highly recommend it, but it´s a big country (not as big as yours obviously!) and there is so much to see. The north differs hugely from the south in many things – landscape, temperature, culture and food…so it makes everything very exciting and different. Do hope you eventually get to make the trip (stinky car included!).
I’m putting weight on just looking at all that amazing food (with the exception of the faceless and multiple legged seafood which, no matter how hard I try I can’t get myself to like).
Must. Make. Bean. Stew!
Ahh – made me chuckle! I have friends too who just couldn´t face the octopus 🙂 Can highly recommend the bean stew (with or without shellfish). Delicious and cheap! Thanks so much for visiting and commenting.