France/Spain 2011 - Day 11, Part 2 - Lugo Cathedral

"I was going to have cosmetic surgery until I noticed that the doctor's office was full of portraits by Picasso." - Rita Rudner

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France/Spain 2011
Day 11 - 27th March - Lugo Cathedral (Part 2)

We didn't do a full round on top of the town walls, but we did check out the Cathedral of Lugo - just as the drizzle was starting.


The mossiest cathedral I'd seen so far, behind zinc. No doubt this was due to the incessant drizzle. No wonder so many people emigrated fromthis part of Spain.


Altar


Altar and priest


A side door




Chapel of St Miguel


Chapel of "Virxen da O"
Google Translate is unable to translate this (except as "Virxe gives O"), and there're only 990 Google results for it, so I assume it's in Galican.




I thought this was might give a clue as to the chapel's name, but "limosna para el culto de la santisima virgen de los ojos grandes" translates as "alms for the worship of the Blessed Virgin of the big eyes". Yes "big eyes". Go figure.


"In this church the Blessed Sacrament is permanently exposed"

Apparently it's a privilege to expose the Host 24 hours.
Photography was only forbidden during services, which was very reasonable.
The dress code seemed to involve a tie.


I was surprised by the number of services

There was a wonderful museum which opened from 11am-1pm and 4-6pm. The Rough Guide called it "wonderful", but I was thinking of another sense of the word (I was in the cathedral at about 12pm so I'm not sure why I didn't have a look - possibly because of time constraints).


Churros à la française


The lovely plazaview one café had


Besides offering glasses of "vine", this place charges a surcharge for sitting on the terrace, and there are "sheets of claim" on offer (receipts?)


There was a shop selling communion dresses


The same place sold lingerie also. Go figure. Perhaps the concept was to offer a girl everything she needed through her journey in life.


I don't know why I took this.

We then had lunch.


Slightly stale bread: it looks better than it tasted (must've been all the moisture in the air spoiling it)

Usually we'd have gotten a Menu del Dia (menu of the day) but this day we got the Menu of the End of the Week (18€ including coffee - usually there's just dessert, bread and wine/water; there was a beer option here too) and could choose from the à la carte.


Small Scallops


Prawns with garlic


Grilled King Prawns
They seemed about the same size

It seems langostino != langoustine. Faux ami !

The starters were very simple, but then Spanish food in general is simple.


Roast milk fed lamb


Grilled hake


Galican style cod. This seemed to have enough salt to last 2000 years.

The fish wasn't very good, though the other seafood was great. The best fish is still Italian.


The bar-restaurant was as noisy as a Chinese restaurant. And it wasn't even dinner time.


Flan


Diploma of the Friends of the Octopus


The Spanish like small but not toy dogs, and like to dress them.

Spanish fries seem to be cooked only once. Double cooking would improve them (to get the best of both worlds outside and in), and probably make them less greasy too.

More people spoke French in Spain than English.