Palas de Rey, Galicia, Spain and Canary Islands
Monday, July 13, 2015

After another hearty breakfast and goodbyes to our friends, we left the picturesque town of Portomarin. Our destination today was Palas de Rei. Most of our walk today was through shaded woods, country roads, small hamlets, stables and we passed several medieval churches. We stopped for lunch at Eirexe and I had a great ensalada and of course a tall glass of cold beer!! We arrived at Palas de Rei and went looking for our hotel – Casa Leopoldo. We located the street on our map and looked for something that looked like a hotel. We looked around and suddenly I noticed a sign right in front of me on a stone wall that said 'Casa Leopoldo'. The wooden front doors were shut tight, so we rang the doorbell. A cheerful woman opened the door and soon there was a lot of hustle and bustle as two more women joined her. We spoke in English mostly (besides the two or three Spanish words we knew) and they spoke in Spanish. But everyone seemed to know what was going on and what needed to be done. The place seemed cramped and small, but I observed the art on the walls and the antique furniture in the living room. We were in the family home of the three sisters. The traditional home had been restored and renovated to accommodate guests. We were taken upstairs to our room – which was very very small, but beautifully decorated and well appointed! I felt like we had checked into a museum. We somehow maneuvered ourselves around the room, got our shoes off and went downstairs to relax. The sisters were delighted to see us and served us some cold beer and snacks, which we enjoyed in the Spanish garden outside. They asked when we would like to be served dinner and we decided on 7:30. After our refreshing drinks, we went back to our rooms, showered, rested and came back down promptly at 7:30. The sisters had stepped out to attend mass at the church next door. Our hostess for the evening was Veronica. She was charming and gracious and delighted us with anecdotes about the Casa and its restoration. Our dinner was delicious – Spanish potato salad, potatoes and ham, cheese and quince for dessert. We went to bed with a feeling that we were in our own homes!