Granero del burro

Self catering holidays in Galicia, Northern Spain

The nice thing about a self catering holiday in Galicia, Northern Spain, is that you can come here at any time during the year and find something to do. Take today for example. 15 degrees, beautiful sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and views to die for. Granero del burro is open all year round so you can take advantage of a self catering break whenever you want.

Ribadeo in the sunshine is a beautiful place and only 20 minutes from Granero del burro. It has a nice marina where you can walk or sit and watch the world go by, as well as great views across the estuary (riá de Eo) to Figueras and Castropol. Figueras is unique in that it has a ship building business located there. The shipyard is almost as big as the village!

Ribadeo town itself is split into two - the old part and the more modern part. The main square and the back streets down to the port are well worth a visit and have lots of old and beautiful buildings. The Town Hall (ayuntamiento) is also a nice old building and is next to the beautiful, but decaying, Torre de los Morenos. It is being restored at the moment.

Stop for a coffee in the square before having a wander round the streets and a look in the shops (there are plenty). You can have a drink in one of the 60 or so bars in the town and there are plenty of places for lunch or dinner. La botellería is a very nice place to try for lunch or dinner (closed on Mondays).

A few days ago on the 6th January it was Reyes Magos - the three kings. This is when people give each other their Christmas presents (traditionally) in Spain. On the evening before there are parades in towns and cities when the Three Kings are paraded through the streets on floats. People on the floats throw sweets into the street for the children. It is normally a mad frenzy of sweet hungry kids!! There was a nice parade in Ribadeo this year with music and decorated floats. You can take your holiday to coincide with this if you want.

Property for sale in Galicia

A fantastic property has just come on the market for the incredible bargain price of €18,500. It needs completely restoring, but the quality of the stone is remakably good. A very nice home could be created for around €100,000 depending on the quality of the specification required.

It has fantastic views from its elevated position and comes with 9,000 square metres of land. It has a very attractive horreo (grain store) and inside the house there is an old bread oven and a blacksmith's forge. For full details and more pictures click here.

Los Arándanos Restaurant - near Teixois, Asturias

Los Arándanos is a wonderful restaurant in the Asturian countryside near Taramundi. It is about a half hours drive from the self catering accommodation at Granero del burro. If you like remote restaurants with fantastic views then this is the place to go. From Taramundi take the road to Teixois, and then take a right up the hill before you get to Teixois. Climb up the hill for several kilometres and then take a left up a track to the top of the hill. The restaurant is as high as you can go! Click here for directions.

Los Arándanos means 'Blueberry' and as the name suggests the restaurant focuses very much on this. They have 10,000 square metres of land in which they grow five different varieties of Blueberry. They also manufacture their own products from Blueberry juice to jams and pickles. You can order online here.

The food is fantastic and needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Click here to read a review of the meal experienced a few weeks ago.

Los Arándanos is closed from the middle of December until Easter but will open for large parties.

 

Gastronomy month in Asturias

Between the 28th October and the 27th November, the 4th Oscos-Eo gastronomy festival took place. Over 5 weekends there were gastronomic events 5 different areas of the Oscos-Eo region. Restaurants put on special menus and offered competitive prices for fantastic food (and drink in some cases). La Cerca in Santa Eulalia de Oscos took part over the weekend of 5th, 6th and 7th November.

One of the restaurants taking part was El Pajar. This is a lovely restaurant which forms part of the Casa Cachón complex. It has wonderful views out over the 18th hole of the golf course and has a pleasant atmosphere. On the weekend of the 25th, 26th and 27th November they offered a menu for €25 including wine. The Mussels were fantastic!!! They also have an a la carte menu with 2 particularly notable dishes. One is the Squid Truffles (in their own ink) and the other is the Duck Liver, Goats Cheese and Quince dish. Both are worth a try.

The Hotel has 12 bedrooms which you can book here. There is also a 9 hole golf course and a swimming pool. Non residents can use both. There is also a small golf driving range. It costs €20 for a round of golf in Summer and €10 in Winter. It is in a small village called Tol which you can get directions to here. It is about 30 minutes from Granero del burro.

Santa Eulalia de Oscos

Santa Eulalia de Oscos is a beautiful village in the Asturian hills about 45 minutes away from Granero del burro. It is one of the 3 'Oscos' villages - San Martín de Oscos and Villanueva de Oscos are the other two. It is well worth a visit as there are many walks from there and the drive to get there passes through some spectacular countryside. In particular the views from La Garganta back to the coast are wonderful.

In Santa Eulalia itself you can park at the top of the hill and there is a wonderful bar on the left. In it there is a shop where you can get your daily supplies as well as buy some walking boots. Have a look at the typical tables that pull down from the wall on each side of the door as you go in.

At the bottom of the hill is a fantastic restaurant called La Cerca. It a parilla (grill) and serves fantastic food in wonderful surroundings. The Caldo Gallego is typical food of the area (despite its origins in Galicia).

San Lucas fiesta in Mondoñedo - October 2011

This annual fiesta takes place from Saturday until Thursday of the 3rd week in October. It is a very traditional fiesta and is based around a horse fair. The horses and brought to Mondoñedo from all over Galicia, including off the mountains. This year on the Sunday there was a demonstration of horses doing 'tricks'.The main horse fair is on Tuesday and includes competitions and horse racing.

In addition to the horse fair the streets of Mondoñedo are packed with stalls selling everything from Octopus scissors to horse saddles and tractors. It is truly an event that has to be seen to be believed. As always there is music and food and the Octopus that you can eat in the 'restaurants' is famed for its quality. Try the Churrasco too (grilled Pork ribs).

The full Mondoñedo programme can be seen here.

Mondoñedo is about 20 minutes from Granero del Burro.

 

Interesting birdlife in Asturias

October is always a good time to get out and about to see what birdlife there might be. The Autumn migration can always turn up a few surprises. A couple of recent days out provided very fruitful. A walk around the Eo estuary between Figueras and Castropol at high tide was very productive. There were a pair of Kingfishers flying up and down the shoreline and perching on the rocks. It is always unusual to see Kingfishers doing this as in the UK they are normally just seen on freshwater rivers and lakes. There were also Bar Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Greenshank, Curlew, Dunlin, Common Sandpiper, Little Egret, Mediterranean Gull and Peregrine Falcon.

Another day out around Penarronda beach proved to be very rewarding as well. In the fields above the beach there was a Crested Lark as well as plenty of Spotless Starlings. These are joined in the Winter by normal Starlings and this is a good place to see them together and check out the difference. There were also 3 Wrynecks in an adjacent field, all sitting on fence posts and looking great in the Autumn sunshine. The Zitting Cisticolas were very much in evidence - they are always much easier to see in the Autumn. There was also a Cett's Warbler calling.

Both of these places are less than half an hour from Granero del Burro.

The most important fiesta of the year in Galicia - Vidal

On the 20th August, it was the Vidal fiesta. Vidal is in the parish of Trabada and the fiesta takes place next to the church. It is also the village where Granero del Burro is. It is the only time in the year that you can easily walk to a bar and some entertainment!! It is only a tiny fiesta but is well worth going to. A real mixture of ages, from elder people whose families have lived in the area for generations to the children who go to the fiesta with their parents and grandparents.

This year, the orchestra from Ribadeo music college played at lunchtime. It was a baking hot day so everyone gathered under the trees in the churchyard to listen to them. Before they played there was the usual mass and parading of the statues from inside the church. The bar was open and people came for the 'hora de vinos' (hour of the wine!).

After the orchestra had finished playing, the group - American Star played a few songs so people could have a dance. In the evening they started again about 11 o'clock and played well into the early hours so there was plenty of opportunity to dance, have a drink and enjoy yourself. And you can walk back to the barn!!

Fiestas in Asturias

In August in Spain you can go to a fiesta almost every day of the week. Asturias is no exception to this. There are however a couple of them that are worth going to that are a bit different. The first is San Lourenzo which took place on the 10th August on the cliffs above Penarronda beach. The setting is idyllic with wonderful views out to sea and over the beach. It is only a very tiny fiesta but well worth going to.

The second fiesta worth visiting took place on the 20th August in Barres. Barres is less than half an hour from Granero del Burro. This fiesta is inside a huge marquee and cost €10 each this year. For this you get a good helping of churrasco (pork ribs) and criollo (tasty pork sausage). The difference here is that the churrasco is cooked in a very traditional way. It is not cooked on a grill, it is cooked slowly around an open fire on upright spits. Very very tasty.

The sausages are cooked in the same way. This year, there was a huge thunderstorm with torrential rain at about 4.00pm - just when the fires and cooking were getting going. In true Spanish style though, no-one panicked and everything went fine in the end.

Tapia de Casariego

Tapia de Casariego is a very nice little port about half an hour away from Granero del Burro. It is just inside Asturias and is well worth a visit for a look around and lunch. There is an upper part to the town with a nice square and some interesting architecture. The lower part of the town takes in the port with its attractive bars and restaurants serving lots of local produce. Have a look at the interesting way the fishermen get out to their boats in the harbour!!

There is an international surfing competition every Easter during which thousands of people flock to Tapia. It is also famous for its beach which is huge when the tide is out. In Spring the banks leading down to it are covered in beautiful flowers.

There is also a salt water (natural) swimming pool which has recently been restored with a new access and decking around it. Well worth a visit to have a look (and maybe a swim!!).