We woke to another day of rainy overcloudedness so dreary that we booked in to the suite for an extra night. Since (according to every single weather site online, the tv and locals) the whole of Spain is covered with a big squat raincloud, there didn't seem to be any point in getting soaked making a desperate escape to another (sunnier) part of the country. Apparently the weather will perk up on Sunday.
We spent the day getting wet trouser bottoms checking the town out. Most things (shops, museums) were shut for the holidays but there were a lot of people out and about. As far as we could tell they were just walking about without much purpose just for the sake of walking. Although a lot of them were still partying this morning at 7am, the bars were all heaving by late morning, as were the churches. We went into a popular tent on the square where there were crucifixion statues on their pedestals and carts ready to be carried or pulled through the streets. We visited the basilico to listen to the singing and a service was going on, but the members of the congregation kept getting up and coming and going during the service which was kind of weird. The same was going on in the praying area of the beautifully stained-glass-windowed cathedral (indicated in german as "nur für betten" lol). Religion is obviously a huge part of everyday life and culture but the approach to out today seemed a bit pick n mix.
Having been put off by some of the menus on offer in more standard establishments (see pic), we had an lunchtime snack of a kebab which contained the first veg we've had since the boat (how bad does THAT sound?!) and 3 hours before my self-imposed alcohol-free deadline had the first drink of the day. To be fair I thought I was getting lemonade. Every bar advertises that they "hay limonada", which seems an odd thing to bother promoting so I ordered one and it appears to be something like sangria. Weird. In the pic you can see the glass size - this is also what they serve beers up in which may explain how they can drink for such a long time.
After a little siesta in our vast suite (writing the blog for me, dozing for p), we ventured forth again to watch the good friday procession which pissed by right near the hotel. The crucifixion status we saw this morning were all taking part, being dragged or carried in an appropriate order to tell the sort of the events of good Friday. Many photos were taken (it looks a bit like we've been on a religious pilgrimage) and I purchased a fridge magnet of one of the pointy hatted characters.
Having frozen half to death we returned to our favourite bar from yesterday. The barman tried to get us to drink bierzo (local red wine) but we tried it and found it wanting and ordered rioja instead, which we enjoyed with our free salami and ham snackettes. We had a proper sit down meal for the first time, like tapas you get in england except they bring the dishes one by one. We had green beans (with ham of course), pulpo (octopus), croquettes (disappointing) and chorizo in white wine. Still not vast quantities of veg. At what point will we stop functioning on this diet? The spanish seem ok although as p pointed out they are very short.
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