Trip to Galicia (part 2)
A Coruña is a cosmopolite city surrounded by sea and with lots of beautifull early 20th century buildings.
"No one is a foreigner at A Coruña" is the city's motem, undoubtly inheridted from it's tradition as one of the most important european harbours... in fact people are quite friendly there; I'll never forget how nice a taxi driver named Paco was, who offered us many tips , a city map and a touristic guide, on our first night there while we where totally lost. Offering him a few extra euros was an insult to him and I just wish I could enjoy his company at a dinner or something... really a great guy (I suspect him to be a BOTL, heheh).
after a very nice meal
After spending three nights there we headed back south, stopping at Santiago de Compostela, a gorgeous medieval town, famous for it's cathedral and a major pilgrimage place, where the remains of St. James are held. I'm not a religious guy but I recognize that these holly places you can find all over europe really have a special atmosphere... Santiago de Compostela is a very quiet place, inviting you to reflexion and contemplation. Although there are many tourists, it is a perfect place to relax, so we decided to spend an extra night there... if visiting Galicia again, Santiago will be the place to stay, for sure.
at Plaza del Obradoiro - Santiago's cathedral
While in Spain I kept smoking Dunhill's Standard Mixture and Early Morning Pipe, to evaluate how much I like them.
My preferences on pipe tobacco can be divided in three categories: balkan, straight english, and straight virginias...
EMP is a delicious balkan blend. Not as spicy as Erinmore Balkan Mixture (one of my favorites) and not as tangy as Squadron Leader (another favorite). A 5 stars balkan, although not superior to those other...
Standard Mixture Medium is... well, it's standard and medium! A perfect all day smoke english blend. Not overwhelming in latakia, with an excellent virginia base, perfect for a afternoon smoke (maybe to bland for a late night english smoke, though).
Glad to smoke those Dunhill's blends, a second visit to the store at Tui was a priority, so... I stopped there again, on my way back home, and bought another 5 tins of EMP and 5 more of Standard Mixture.
Until the end of the year I plan to go back there and buy, at least, 100 tins of various blends (a little over €500). One trip per year would be enough to keep my cellar growing while saving an equal amount of money comparing to what I would spend from buying all that baccy from England or Germany... just the budget I need for a few new pipes
my baccy from Spain
