Time to Say Goodbye

As you avid readers may have realised, I didn’t post last Saturday. As I had posted late the previous week, there wasn’t much to talk about last week so I decided to wait until I had left Spain to do a more lengthy post with all of my adventures with my family after they arrived on Saturday. After my last class with Primary last Tuesday, one of the teachers asked me to head to the Headteacher’s office where I was greeted by all the teachers I had worked with over the 8 months that I working in CPI Panxón. They thanked me for everything, I thanked them for everything and then they gave me an absolutely stunning ceramic necklace that is typical of Galicia. 

I left the school with a full heart and tears eyes. 

My last day passed very quickly as I only teach for two hours, both with the same class and then I was gone. I spent just over an hour in Panxón on the beach, watching the waves for the final time and eating some excellent ice cream. In the evening Katie and I decided to go for one final crepe-nesday and invited Leyre to join us. We all went for savoury and sweet crepe which were delightful before heading back to the flat where Katie packed for her trip to Barcelona. 

I spent Thursday and Friday doing some preliminary packing and cleaning but mostly just lay in bed watching more Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On Friday evening I met what was left of the group for drinks. It was great to see most of them before they left and I left just after 12 as they all headed down to Churruca to continue their drinks. 

I got up on Friday with the intention of meeting my parents at the airport. Their flight was delayed so I had a lot more time to sort myself out before heading for the bus. The first bus I had to take was late meaning I missed the bus into the airport. I waited for the next one and managed to make it with 5 minutes to spare – and after a quick catch up with Jennie who was meeting her boyfriend before setting off to do El Camino – my parents and Auntie Ailsa arrived. We picked up the hire car and drove back to the hotel where they checked in and we went out for some lunch. We then walked down to the port where we had a few drinks before walking back to the hotel for a nap before tea. 

We decided on a tapas tea with a few glasses of wine/beer before I walked back to the flat. 

We decided to drive up to Santiago on Sunday morning which turned out to be both a great and awful idea – it was heaving as there were tonnes of people there for Mass, a bike race and a fun run. We headed straight for the Cathedral but on entering realised that we had just walked into the beginning of a service so after staying for about 10 minutes we decided to leave, have a walk around and return when it was easier to have a wander around. We went for some coffees before walking to a park where I had hoped to go on the Ferris wheel but it wasn’t running. We then went for some lunch where we were treated to dinner entertainment from a group of drummers who were parading through the streets. After an ice cream we walked back to the Cathedral where we were able to walk around properly before we walked back to the car. 

We then drove on to Ezaro which is one of the endings for the Camino and we were treated to amazing views and it made me realise just how much I was going to miss Galicia. We drove back to Vigo along the coast and after a small rest headed to La Tagliatella for tea – more excellent pasta and prosecco sangria.

My school had asked me back to the school so on Monday we drove there for the final time. I took them on a tour of the school and we met the teachers and some of the students before walking down to the beach for coffee and churros. We then drove to Monteferro where we enjoyed the views over Baiona before driving there for a wander and lunch at the Parador. The lunch was expensive and not as nice as we would have hoped. We drove back to Vigo along the coast via Tui before my Mam and I packed up all of my stuff. As it was my Dad’s birthday on Monday I had booked a table at Casa Marco which is no.1 in Vigo on TripAdvisor. I was apprehensive about finding something I would want to eat but everything was incredible. We started with a pineapple soup with jamón pieces which was an absolute delight – and I don’t like pineapple. Mam and I then shared a chicken and apple salad that was scattered with nuts and covered in a honey and mustard dressing while Dad and Ailsa shared a filo pastry parcel that was full of beef and mushrooms in a bechamel sauce. I then had veal with apple and banana, Mam and Dad had veal with a cheese sauce and Ailsa had hake. After our mains I caught the attention of a waitress and asked them to surprise my Dad with a candle even if he didn’t want dessert. He ordered a cream cheese dessert which was accompanied by the entire restaurant singing happy birthday in Spanish – I had a mandarin sorbet with cava that was incredible. 

We also washed all this down with 2 bottles of Albariño and in the end the meal was only 1 Euro more expensive than our lunch in the Parador where nobody had had more than 2 courses, we hadn’t had any alcohol and the food was nowhere near as good. 

We got up quite early on Tuesday and after breakfast we drive to Praia de As Catedraias which is on the north coast of Galicia. Unfortunately I had totally forgotten to look up tide times so we arrived just as the tide was starting to rush in so after a quick walk along along the beach we walked back up and had some lunch in the cafe. As Dad had a nap to rest for the drive back to Vigo, we walked along the coastal walk for some better views of the cliffs and luckily it was an absolutely beautiful day. 

We drove back to the hotel where we all packed up as much as of our stuff as we could before heading out for tea. We had hoped to go for crepes but I hadn’t realised that Creperie Bretonne don’t open on an evening on Mondays and Tuesdays. Katie joined us and we headed out for more tapas and despite a minor chorizo incidents- fat spurting all over Mam’s white top – we had a lovely evening. Katie and I then walked to La Fondue where we met up with Sienna and Aisling before heading back to the flat to sleep. 

Katie joined us again for breakfast and after saying goodbye we were on our way to the airport for the end of my time in Vigo. I had an absolutely incredible time, met some amazing people – hopefully some will be friends for life – drank so much good wine – as well as some bad wine – and ate some excellent food. Ya te echo de menos Galicia.