Day 19, April 23: Faro to Viveiro

View from the great windows in our third story room in Viveiro Urban Hotel.

Post by Wynette: We walked a whopping 4.5 miles today. Wanted to stay in Viveiro from having read an article in the Telegraph promoting it to British tourists. They said Viveiro is a good place to use as home base and visit wonderful nearby towns and beaches. We can attest there are many of those. Turns out most of the Viveiro hotels, etc. are out of town, for people with cars. The only place near the center was Viveiro Urban Hotel so we made a reservation. We didn’t realize at the time it was a four star hotel. Cost was 77. We prefer to pay 40 or 50, but didn’t have a lot of choice if we wanted to be in town (i.e., not walk 1 or 2 miles for a meal). It certainly is fun to stay in such a nice hotel. Rooms in VUH in high season are 150. Now that Holy Week is over we are back in low season where we always seem to be the only ones in the hotel. Tomorrow night we plan to be in a much smaller town and have a place reserved for 30 euros.

We checked into VUH about noon, rested a bit, then went to a nearby bar/restaurante for a menú del día. It was great. Photo of menu below. We have been remembering lately to ask for ensalada (salad) instead of the fried potatoes that nearly always come with the menús. They always seem happy to do that. The salads have been simple lettuce, tomatoes, and onions with oil and vinegar, but very fresh good lettuce. Often good tomatoes as well.

Translation:
1st course choices: lentil stew, fried mushrooms with cheese sauce, potato salad.
2nd course choices: chorizo with egg and potatoes, ham and cheese breaded and fried, hake (fish) in sauce.
We had natillas (creamy egg and milk pudding) for postre (dessert).
They threw in two huge cafés con leche for no extra charge.
Natillas (one of our favorite desserts)