Well, it finally stopped raining for an hour or two today. So, here's a foto of the new slabs in the little Plaza of Santa María in Pontevedra.


And of the lovely Portuguese-style house on the edge of it.


Incidentally, when they started re-paving this area – with less appealing granite slabs – they stumbled on a humongous ditch (fossa) beneath the square. This has now been roofed by these higher-quality paving-stones but underneath there will be a new museum. Which is excellent. Here’s a bit about the ditch. And about the dastardly English who used to lob large spherical stone objects over the wall where the houses now stand.


The house pictured above is now the HQ of the Rias Baixas Tourist Board. As is the way of things here in Galicia, this competes with the Turismo office in town and the HQ of the Pontevedra Tourist Board, which is housed in the restored building (Casa da Luz) which – you will recall – was going to open last September. But didn’t.

Talking of counter productive competition, I see that some local bigwig has said that Santiago deserves and needs an airport worthy of it as the capital of the region/nation. Which is surely true but not going to happen so long as the three small facilities in Santiago, La Coruña and Vigo slug it out to the death.

I moaned yesterday about my new electricity supplier - Gas Natural - but at least they didn't send me the bill for 180,000 euros that they calculated for a flat dweller here in Galicia. I did suggest they might need new calculators.

Finally . . . If you have any interest in the age-old pilgrimage (Camino) to Santiago, here’s my friend and fellow-blogger, Anthea, on the subject. With an emphasis on the Xacobeo aspect.