Thank you Annsherrod! What an amazing wedding! I love Northern Spain, from Galicia to Basque country. My grandparents were from Asturias.

The Galician’s have also "stolen" tapas; it is not a native dish here in Galicia.
You usually find it in the more touristy areas of Galicia. Shame really as we have a lot of our own cuisine.

Thanks cruisluv.

ribeirasacra - that is interesting. I did not know that. I loved the cuisine there and we always tried to make sure we visit non-touristy areas.too.

Clara writes:
they brought us a gigantic trough of garbanzo beens, stewed together with chunks of pork fat..

Didn't you also have a dish with the "has beens?"

The dish you are describing could have been cocido which is not gallego but a national dish.

Ribe

Would you agree caldo and fiollas are gallego?

Hi Annsherrod, I enjoyed learning about the North. I too wish you to find the restaurant list aa my husband and I are just formulating our month sojourn to Spain 24 May until 22June..we have no opinion about where to drive, train, or stay starting in Madrid and flying out from there too. We are asking everyone for input as to their favorite destinations, sleeping, and eating places. We are food lovers and not fancy enough to need super star abodes. We favor OUT OF the WAY spots. Ideas? Villages and tiny towns .. A favorite since we can stay for several days and get to know the region and the people. We have done that throughout France many times as well as Italy and remain Skype friends.

Curious, you may want to take a look at my blogs as a local on the Basque Country, www.blogseitb.us/basquetourism or www.mugalari.wordpress.com. You will find lots of interesting ideas and places to visit, and off the beaten track many of them. The Basque Country is not yet much visited, free of tourist traps, but a beautiful area.

Curiousaboutit
After reading through this posting of yours I am curious....
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...may-242011.cfm
Are you now wanting to also to go to The North as well as Andalusia?
But where to you want to go in the North? So called Green Spain runs from the Basque country right though to where I live in Galicia. There are obviously a lot of places to recommend between the two areas.

Hi, please be understanding of my "jumping" about region to region. We have yet to get our bearings for our start-drive or train- route. We are just beginning to garnering from all of your experiences what would make for a stellar 35th anniversary sojourn. True the Northern route is expansive yet a swath meandering East might be charming as you described. I am off to the Spanish tourist bureau. I am eager for all info. Thanks

Please don’t get me wrong. I am a bit concern that you are jumping around a lot. Here are some facts for you to consider

Spain is 195,364 sq miles, which is twice the size of Michigan (96,716) and slight less than Texas (268,820)
The population is @46,030,109. is far more then any other US state ( Michigan has 9,969,727 and Texas has 24,782,302)
Hopefully when you see these facts you may understand that darting around the place is not so easy as it looks on paper.

I agree with you talk to the tourist information centre. Ask some questions but to test their knowledge ask them about Galicia or the Basque country. I bet they will know all about the flamenco and bull fighting of Andalusia.
All points of the compass in Spain you will discover a different culture. It is not easy to decide, but that you will have to do :-)

curious, I just had two guests from Atlanta celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in the BAsque Country, including the wine region. They were absolutely amazed at the things they´ve experienced. And for one week, that is, covering a very small area. We drove for 1000 miles!! Plenty of things to do, see, food, Rioja wines,...(take a look at my blog for some pics, if you may)

Thanks Ann for this report. We explored the same areas a few years ago and hope to return. Did you have any emapanadas in Galicia?

these pictures may help you to decide, it´s the Basque Country

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikelmug...gl=true&pli=1#

HsppyTrvlr - Yes - I had them once at one of little Pintxos places! Ahhh, the memories!

mikelg - I love your photos!

Thank you annesherrod, it was a pleasure taking them!!

Mikelg, ribeirasacra , and annesherrod, thank you for your pictures and info about size and distance. whew, we have lots of reading homework before any choices can be made.

You´re welcome, but it´s much easier than it seems, don´t put too much effort on it!!