scruffy1
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Holy Year from Pamplona 2010, SJPP 2011, Lisbon 2012, Le Puy 2013, Vezelay (partial watch this space!) 2014; 2015 Toulouse-Puenta la Reina (Arles)
I love the market in Santiago! Sitting between two churches overseeing the comings and goings (and once reminding the market place to be honest)and blessed with everything good! The Mercado de Abastos is the perfect place to pick up Tetilla cheese, chorizo, saffron, and smoked paprika, pimentón alhumado - dulce or picante as well as pimentón "de La Vera" for the less adventurous – wonderful souvenirs. However, here in Jerusalem, we have no sea. The Eastern Mediterranean washing our shores is not as bountiful as other parts of the sea and the very best which it offers, non-kosher sea creatures, are difficult to find. The Mercado de Abastos in SdC changes all that. I do so love all the creepy, crawly, spiny things scuttling about on the ocean floor or stuck to rocks – boiled, fried, grilled, or baked. All those crabs, the percebes (a favorite!), mussels, shrimp, and clams are an added incentive to mush on when the going on the Camino is rough. Many places to enjoy them in SdC, usually expensive, but in the market always fresh can be taken back to the auberge to be prepared or for a fee, they will cook them for you there in the mercado! Finish off with flaming Queimada and the world is right. However one should realize just how difficult collecting these creatures is, the dangers involved, and why they can be so expensive. This short video is encouraging my next assault on SdC and presents another side of life in Galicia, and explains all.