A bit of culture, of one kind and another.

Spotted on a menu yesterday:-

 Croca de vaca a la plancha  - Grilled “croca” (rump beff)

 Natillas de chocolate “sin” -  Chocolate custard “whitout”

On their printed menu the English translation has been checked and corrected but this was one of those big plastic poster affairs that some companies specialise in producing for you to hang on walls and fences. So I suspect this was a case of typos by the company and lack of proofreading. Still, rather a shame when a lot of effort has gone into making something look as professional as possible. 

And this last one, not a typo this time, just amused me because of the Spanish terminology:- Hamburguesa de vaca vieja Beef hamburger Literally it translates as “old cow hamburger”. Curious!

We had planned to have lunch with our friend Colin but by the time the chess tournament and prize giving was over and done with it was far too late for lunch.

Here, by the way, is a picture of Phil receiving his “best veteran” award. A similar photo was sent to a younger chess playing friend, and incidentally a very successful ex-chess student of Phil’s, by the family he stayed with while doing his stay in Spain as part of his Modern Languages Degree from Durham University. The family hosted him for sixth months free of charge, in exchange for English conversation and a bit of chess coaching for their children. Such is the generosity of the people here. I am unsure of how successful his English coaching for the children was as the photo sent to him was accompanied with the message : “Phil win Best Old prize in tournament”.

After the prize-giving we got a lift down into Pontevedra with a chess playing family - another example of the impressive kindness and helpfulness of the people here - instead of waiting for the tournament bus. Then we had a quick snack and a refresco at the typos cafe, discovered that we could not access their wifi and went on for coffee at another place where we knew the wifi was reasonably reliable.

Having missed our lunch with Colin we had rearranged things so that we would meet for a dinner in the evening. With some time to kill, we went for a look around Pontevedra’s museum and art gallery. They have a good collection of modern Spanish but mostly Galician art and in particular an impressive section devoted to the work of Castelao. He is one of my favourite Spanish artists. His prolific work ranges from very simple line drawings, almost caricatures where a few strokes create a telling image, to extremely detailed works. There are some huge paintings as well. Some of the most heart-rending are his social commentary drawings, scenes from the civil war and scenes of loss and suffering on the part of fishing families. Pictures of Galician life abound. And some of the nicest are small, brightly coloured painting of stylised Galician dancers and musicians. I would happily decorate a small child’s bedroom with those.

What the museum and art gallery lacks is a museum shop. In the UK you cannot exit a museum or art gallery or, for that matter, a cathedral without going through the shop. I would happily have bought a set of postcards of the Castelao works, especially the dancers and musicians. A retail opportunity lost!

After our dose of culture we went for dinner at the Pitillo restaurant, easily the best tapas bar anywhere. We were early diners and had no problem getting a table. By the time we left there was a queue trailing up the street and round the corner.

It’s the early bird who gets the gambas al ajillo!