Friday 21 October 2011

Isla De La Toja - part 2

Being a vegetarian is almost sin in Galicia. The place where the people around the world come to admire the sea food, and you say, i don't want a fish, is almost being rude. Well... with all these, we were hell bent  that we will only eat Asian vegetarian food. So begins the search of survival.

After a wandering for half an hour we  find out a place very close to see named a some "rice". We went into the grand place, to see only vegetarian option available in the menu is sandwich.  Well it doesn't hurt. We are used to that. A deliciously looking croissant arrives on my table only to discover the truth, that they have put in the salmon in that...hm. No option than eating the potato finger chips again.

So does the search continues, to the night. Food is such an important part of like, a good food is a simple source for joy.
 We found this amazing Italian place "Amalfi" in the north most corner of Spain. We reached the restaurant at 10.00pm and still there was a long waiting line.  We waited with much required patience, but the food.. its all worth it. Amazing food, we ate a plate of pasta, two pizzas and a plate of garlic bread. It was awesome. We visited the place couple of times and when it was time to leave, we have packed a pizza for us to dine at home. :)


Isla De La Toja

"Magic places exist. Sometimes they are only in our dreams. Some times in places far away. Some times and only some times, we have immense fortune to find them within our reach - Galicia"  written on a mineral water bottle of Mondariz.

This time, yes, we are just about 200km away from where I found it.  I am writing about a small island in Galicia called "A Toxa" or "La Toja".  An uncut beauty of the nature, well preserved by man.
 Since we moved to La Coruna for a long term stay, and being in the first time house wife role, I have been looking forward to travel around and explore the places. And Isla de La Toja was eagerly anticipated visit.

Well..need to wait for my hubby to get one..long weekend. And that happened on our forth anniversary.
So here we go, around 200 km away from La Coruna, in a luxury car just in 1.5 hours.
La Toja is very well connected  through express ways. There is public transport too.

You can either stay in O Grove or in La Toja depending on the allocated budget for stay. And I would say  both the places are equally good, if you don't  really care for the hotel name.

Fisher men community dominated these two small suburbs long time ago and I think even now. Isla de la Toja used to host a European Union official guest house a long time back. This also recognized place of importance. Many rich people have their houses here. They also fund for annual cleaning and maintenance of the whole place and the sea, which would be around 5 million euros. Not forget to mention that it is the entire island is very clean and neat.

Aquaculture and tourism are the main sources of revenue. However, I haven't seen any restaurants close to see are over priced or try to loot the tourists. It's hard to believe that these genuine places still exist, when you are visiting from a developing country.

Few photos of A Toxa