España Day 11: Porto de Quilmas

Just a couple days removed from that amazing El Camino Trek and we’re still basking in the afterglow. It was frenzied week on the trail, hiking and eating and downing more than a little wine, taking in the sights and connecting with the many friends made along the way. The pace was sometimes a little crazy and sleep came easy but was often shunned so as to not miss a thing. It’s not like we’ll ever have the chance to do it again so we made sure take it allin. Rarely did we sit still and we loved every single moment of it.

With the trail but a memory we slow do a bit, and along with our gracious hosts explore the Spanish Coast in the general area of our home base, the charming village of O Pindo. It’s pretty much a do nothing day, taking in this and that, none of it all that worthy of being shared. Except, we visited a little fishing village, just down the road, that we found so wonderful we think you should see it. Yes, we do. Loved it so much we visited it twice.

Now come share the experience and see this small corner of the world through our eyes. Lights, camera, action!

1) Some ancient keys, the little details seen in our rental house overlooking the beach in O Pindo. It’s listed as two star accommodations, Casa A Laxe, on travel websites. Odd. We must not fully understand the ratings. We’d live there permanent in a heartbeat. Way better than Casa BIGDoer, a run down hovel of a home which by the numbers would get a negative four stars on that scale. If we’re lucky.

2) On the afternoon run south, a stop in Porto de Quilmas the next village down the road. There’s a dozen or so houses here, a nice little beach, some cool abandonment, some old some recent and little else. But as we found out later, when we paid it a revisit later that evening, there’s a popup ice cream and beer stand here too. Now you’ve got our attention. That’s about two of the best things ever!

1) Old keys at Casa A Laxe, our home in O Pindo.

3) Looking out from an old ruin, all those fishing boats and in back Mount Pindo. It was all sunny this visit but later, when we came back for a second look, the weather would turn and take on a moody ambience.

4) O Pindo can be seen to the right in back, and further behind it’s Cabo or Cape Finisterre (in the local Galician language Cabo Fisterra) once thought to the be the very end of the world by ancient Romans. It’s the second most westerly spot in Spain, but only by a hair. We’ll pay it a visit the next day.

5) In our backyard and begging to picked, the juiciest lemons ever. And so tart.

6) Keeping the mouse and vermin population under control, this here fellow, not the least bit interested in socializing with humans. He made it clear he did not want to be friends. And we left dejected.

7) The little chapel in our town. We have a thing for historic churches and Spain sure had its share. You could say we were heaven.

8) Praia do Pindo or O Pindo Beach, all socked in with a fog that rolled in come early evening. We’re not beach people, but still paid the sands a visit once or twice while here.

9) Porto de Quilmas is only a couple/few clicks from our place, so we walk there. Maybe it’s just us, but in Spain it seemed there were flowers everywhere.

10) This cross marking the cemetery. Terrain here is quite rocky in nature.

11) We’re puzzled why the stop signs were in English. And here, we turn down and towards the ocean.

12) There’s only a few folks on the beach. We sampled the waters and it was more chilly than we expected.

13) A row of dwellings, all locked up and with no one about, and a mini-Stonehenge.

14) It’s Muscle Beach as the tide recedes.

15) No fishermen were seen this day. It’s not completely clear what they take from the ocean but pulpo/octopus, a local favourite, or maybe shell fish seems most likely. In any case they don’t go far in these little dingy type boats. You can see the swing moorings to which they tie in back.

16) The sky was dull but the boat’s bright blue colours popped. And in back, an old building made of stone (most structures in rural Spain seem to be made of this material). There’s nothing to indicate what it was used for once, but something connected to fishing seems likely. It seems too big to be a house.

17) Not going anywhere anytime soon.

18) What the caption said. Funny how the small things can mean so much.

19) We’ll be taking a look at that building in back soon. Not all that long ago there was a big property bubble in Spain, that on bursting, and rather spectacularly, resulted in a huge number of apartments blocks like these being abandoned after being partially built.

20) A most idyllic scene. Nuff said.

21) An overview of the ruins.

22 & 24) Wandering the windswept dunes that shelter the beach in Porto de Quilmas. Strong gusts had us making a quick retreat.

23) The coast, save for the odd bay or sheltered cove with a beach, is in many places quite rugged.

2) In nearby Porto de Quilmas.

25-26) A closer look at that old forgotten building. Seems like every structure in this part of rural Spain is made of stone. There’s some big thick blocks in there and unless disturbed it’ll likely last forever. We love this style of construction, but out Alberta way ones made in this material are super scarce, so here we got our fix.

27, 29 & 30) A closer look at that unfinished apartment block. In nearly every village, town and city we visited (a lot) there was at least one partly-completed building such as this, simply left behind and abandoned when the market collapsed. The Spanish Property Bubble, going back as far as the 1980s, popped about a decade ago and in its wake, it was finical ruin for developers, investors and home owners alike. Even today they’re still licking their wounds. They over built and over priced and with that came HUGE trouble.

28) Down by the beach.

31) Fisherman’s quarters perhaps? Or seasonal cabins for out-of-towners? Either way, it’s a quaint place and we’ve fallen in love. Spain had a hold on us that refused to let go and it was hard to leave.
Even today, over a year later, we look back on it warmly.

32) Beer stop! And who’d have thought it, but it goes so well with ice cream. Estrella Galicia is the local brew, quite tasty and refreshing. Interestingly, in this little backwater village down some dead end road, there was a steady stream of customers dropping by. We chatted up a few, us in broken Spanish, them in broken English and made it work. One asked if we knew his cousin in Toronto. We told him we think so.

33) Lots of prickly things about including cacti such as this. Going off trail meant being poked.

34) Given the difficult terrain it’s easier to bury folks in above-ground mausoleums like this than below. These “apartment blocks for the dead” are grouped by family name. Together in life, together in death.

35) Add fog and the mood changes. Think forlorn, quiet, gloomy and introspective.

36) While this cemetery is no where close to the El Camino Trail that we travelled earlier, there’s this here shell on the gate that’s a symbol of the trek. I guess. Not sure if it has multiple meanings or if it’s more broadly applied to the region and not just of the trail alone. Or maybe because we’re on the Atlantic Ocean here. Or who knows. But it shone in the subdued light and we liked it.

37) Every house seemed to have a flower garden. Spain, where we went at least, was not only tidy, well kept and orderly, buy also smelled awesome account lots of blooms like what we see here.

38) They have a rural bus network that can take you nearly anywhere (for cheap I understand). Here along the highway, a spotless bus stop. We saw in particular that the old timers used this service a lot to get around from town to town.

39) On the walk home we saw many folks touring on motorcycle. The roads here on the coast are winding and narrow which on two wheels can be nothing but fun.

40) Next to the O Pindo Church, this place for sale. A disproportionate number of properties in this part of the country seem to be empty and on the market. With the rural population being elderly, perhaps the former residences have simply passed on. And we understand some of these places can be had for cheap.

41) The south side of O Pindo by the beach and just below our place, off frame to the right. What a a colourful and picturesque little community.

3) Looking out from an old ruin.

42) A place for meats that never seemed to be open. Many businesses in the area were similarly closed more often than not. Except for the bars – we confirmed that while conducting official field work.

43) The view from our place. Around here no one has big yards and the houses are laid out in a rather random fashion influenced by the terrain.

44) And lastly a shot similar to what we shared before in a previous post, our Hórreo Granary (Cabazo in local Galician). We saw littertally hundreds of these while exploring Northwest Spain. They’re everywhere! They were designed for the storage of corn (mainly). Those mushroom shaped legs help keep vermin out with the slats above providing ventilation and cooling. Pretty clever. Most are made of stone, but brick and wood are sometimes used or a mix of the two or three. And they can be quite old. We saw what we thought was a date (from the 1800s) carved into this one.

It’s now coming up on eleven o’clock. Down the street we hear a party – the fun doesn’t happen till late out this way. We toy with the idea of dropping by – we got invited last time – but even us with our super hero abilities to just keep going and going have to admit it’s time to answer the call of sleep. Perhaps the rest of the trip is catching up with us. Eyes shut…now. Tomorrow Cape Finisterre calls.

They’re saying…

”You are so talented and love your work. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.”Jeme Deviny.

More Spain…
Off The Beaten Path en España – touching down in Spain.
España Day 1 – Wandering Madrid – getting to know the city.
España Day 2 – Toledo Cathedral – the most impressive yet.
España Day 3 – Hello Astorga – the last stop before the El Camino.
España Day 4 – Scruffy Peregrino – feet in motion.
España Day 5: Up & Over – lovin’ Spain.
España Day 6: Buen Camino – the “Good Way”.
España Day 7: Lost & Loving It – as though in a dream.
España Day 8: Walking the Cows – a magical day.
España Day 9-10: Santiago! – one things ends, another soon to begin.
España Day 10: Evening in O Pindo – our base for a few days.
España Day 12: Cabo Finisterre/Fisterra – the end of the world.
España Day 13: A Taste of Portugal – one final day.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date of Adventure: June, 2018.
Location: Porto de Quilmas & O Pindo, Galicia Region, A Coruña Province, Spain.
Article references and thanks: Katrina & Grant LaRocque.

4) In the far distance Cape Finisterre.

5) When life gives you lemons…

6) The local mouser.

7) Igrexa do Pindo, just below our crashpad.

8) Praia do Pindo and the fog rolls in.

9) Exploring it local.

10) Marking the cemetery, which we’ll visit later.

11) En el nombre del amor…

12) Praia de Quilmas is almost all ours.

13) Thoughts of Stonehenge.

14) As the tide recedes.

15) Peaceful is the day.

16) A splash of colour and things old and forgotten.

17) In retirement.

18) Little details, big memories.

19) Over there a product of the Spanish Property Bubble.

20) Look in the dictionary under picturesque.

21) We asked about these ruins and came up empty.

22) On the dunes.

23) The coast is otherwise rocky here.

24) Taking this trail and that.

25) One hundred years old, maybe two?

26) Exploring these stone walls.

27) Construction halted part way in.

28) Meanwhile Connie’s view.

29) They just stopped work one day.

30) There’s places like this all over Spain.

31) I think we’re falling in love.

32) Beer (& ice cream) at Chiringuito O’bilintxo.

33) Things that make you go “ouch”.

34) Apartments for the dead.

35) Moody is the fog.

36) Reminding us of the El Camino.

37) Flowers everywhere.

38) At the bus stop

39) Strolling back to O Pindo.

40) Yours for a song I suspect.

41) Fog was the order of the day.

42) They got the meats.

43) The view from our place.

44) Our own Hórreo late at night.