The Home of the Octopus….

Galicia. The heartland of that famous Spanish delicacy: pulpo. A few months ago the prospect of eating octopus would have had me running, what with its tentacles tinged with that unmistakable vein-coloured purple. But then again, the idea of dining out on tripe and black pudding wouldn’t have got me too excited either. However, after living with a family of Spanish carnivores for the past three months, my former qualms concerning innards and tentacled creatures have all but vanished.

So armed with a hearty appetite for octopus, I left Leon for Galicia on a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon. I had been invited to stay with Erin and her host family in the Galician town of Ourense. In fact, I very almost ended up au pairing in the same city myself, as I had found a lovely sounding family there earlier this year. However, eventually I decided against taking up their offer. As it happens, this was a very lucky decision. Apparently the family I was going to stay with hired another au pair, who has since fled Spain after being treated as a full-time cleaner/slave by the parents. Que suerte.

I had been warned about the rain in Galicia:

“So, do you know the weather forecast for Ourense?”, I asked my host parents.

“Rain.” They promptly answered,

They didn’t even have to check the news. It’s just a fact, Galicia is as famous for its rain as it is for its caldo. So no surprise then, that we spent most of our weekend  battling with some pretty wet and windy weather.

Within an hour of stepping off my coach in Ourense, I was already in a bar, meeting all of Erin’s fellow au-pair friends. We ate pinchos and then moved on to the clubs. It wasn’t until 7am that we eventually fell into bed; feet tired, mind tired, body tired from a long night of dancing and drinking.

Feeling surprisingly chirpy, we awoke at 10am (pretty impressive if I do say so myself) and threw ourselves into the arduous duties of the au pair; namely making Christmas cards and singing carols with the kids. Then it was time for lunch. Time for, oh yes… octopus. Although the pulpo wasn’t the only thing on the menu. We also tried Galicia’s famous empanadas, as well as asparagus stuffed with ham and smothered in a blanket of cheese. Then for mains, that typically Spanish dish of lasagne followed by a slice of chocolate cake. By the end we could actually feel our arteries pulse under the strain of cheese. Yep, that was some mighty serious heartburn.

The rest of the afternoon was spent complaining about how full we were and then watching ‘The Holiday’ on Erin’s laptop whilst salivating over Jude Law. It was a good day.

Spain know how to do their Bank Holidays. Whoever decided to make both Monday the 6th December and Wednesday the 8th into National festivals was a genius, because as a result the Spanish say ‘hell to it’ and close the schools/take an extra day off work on Tuesday. This gives us a five day weekend. I’m not complaining.

So taking advantage of the holiday, Erin’s host family took us all on an excursion to Santiago de Compestela. Famous for its magnificent cathedral and for being the ultimate destination in the famous medieval pilgrimage, ‘The Way of St James’, Santiago is a very popular tourist destination. After fighting our way through  throngs of people and battling with our umbrellas which were intent on turning inside out, we sat down for lunch. It was a Galician feast consisting of: pimientos de padron

Caldo Gallego (Galician broth),

Tortilla Español (Spanish omelette), croquetes (deep fried mashed potato) and mejillones (mussels)

After our meal we headed north to A Coruña, a windy seaside town famous for its one thousand year old lighthouse. Luckily the rain steered off as we climbed to the top of the ancient tower where the views of the aquamarine sea were pretty incredible.

That evening, back in Ourense, we met a few of Erin’s friends for hot chocolate. It was lovely chatting to these au pairs from all over the world; Canada, Germany, America and even a few fellow Britons, so it was with a heavy heart that I said goodbye the next morning and left for Leon.

All in all I had a wonderful weekend, full of friends, fiestas and of course, food.