Have you ever been to Galicia, Spain?

Day 6

For the month of August, I’ve accepted David McIlroy’s 30 days of writing challenge ✍🏻

---

The Inner Traveler is a digital cafe where chairs are pulled up, warm beverages are poured, gorgeous pastries are on the bar, and baskets of warm blankets tucked into corners. It’s a humble invitation into my inner world.

This publication is reader-supported and croissant-fueled. If you’d like to show your appreciation, buy me a croissant. It pairs wonderfully with coffee...and life in general.

---

I have, and it’s not the Spain that gets trotted out by social media influencers or with Rick Steves Europe. This Spain has green rolling hills, misty rain, sudden storms that sweep in from the Atlantic Ocean. And so. many. cows.

Galicia is tucked way up in the northeast corner part of Spain, sitting right above Portugal. It has its own language, Galego, which if you’re at a bar listening to the locals chatter, not paying attention, might sound like Spanish. But it’s not. Even my friend from Madrid said to me “I have no idea what they’re saying”.

*Here is where I pause and admit: I love languages. I do silly things like watch YouTube videos on the origins of Catalan. Or the Occitan language, and how closely related Occitan is to Catalan. And that Catalan is not Spanish. Nerds unite.

Galicia also feels like one of my spiritual homes in the world. I’ve walked the Camino de Santiago three times and usually by the time I arrive in Galicia, I’ve been walking about 30 days, wrapped up in a protective bubble, in a state of high attunement.

There’s something about this land that makes me feel like I’ve been here lifetime after lifetime. Perhaps Galicia’s Celtic roots make me homesick for a motherland from whence my ancestors came?

Everything is rustic here. The food, the wine, the bread. One rainy day I stopped into a bar, and displayed on the counter was a round of local soft Galician cheese. The bartender sat me down, went back and sliced off a portion, drizzled it with honey, and served it with bread.

It was absolutely fantastic. The milky and mild cheese held up to the sweet honey, and was the perfect snack to keep me walking.

Short and sweet today…I’ll leave you with a pastoral video of Galician cows grazing in sunshine, their gentle clanging cowbells echoing in the valley.

---