There is good news and bad news here in Galicia as Christmas approaches. The good news is, firstly, that the world didn’t end on Friday as predicted in the Mayan Calendar, and then secondly the local seafood prices have remained more stable this year. The latter is actually quite important news in Galicia as seafood forms an important part of the traditional Christmas menu for us. Under normal circumstances supply and demand would push prices through the roof at this time of year, but possibly, owing to the the deep recession that we have, the demand this Christmas has been somewhat subdued. In previous years some of the most sought after seafood has achieved quite astronomical levels – percebes (sea barnacles) for example, were changing hands at around 200 Euros per kilo! This year however, whilst the market has softened a little, it is still possible to pay between 100-150 Euros for percebes in some local towns. Fresh camarónes (shrimp) are still commanding prices of around the 100 Euro/kg mark, cigalas (crayfish) can be found at around 80 Euros, and nécoras (crab) are between 50-60 Euros/kg. 

The bad news is that our Christmas holidays have been, and will probably continue to be, extremely wet – perhaps not quite as wet as other parts of Europe, but we have still experienced some significant rainfall. For the first two weeks of this month it rained almost non-stop, producing more than double the volume for the entire month of December last year. Only last week we suffered torrential, horizontal rain, driven by winds of over 90kph (56mph), but having said that the poor people of New York and the U.S. east coast will probably dismiss that as insignificant.

I should finish by saying that the vineyard in the newspaper picture is not ours – our soil is pretty wet, but I’m happy to say that we are not flooded.

There is good news and bad news here in Galicia as Christmas approaches. The good news is, firstly, that the world didn’t end on Friday as predicted in the Mayan Calendar, and then secondly the local seafood prices have remained more stable this year. The latter is actually quite important news in Galicia as seafood forms an important part of the traditional Christmas menu for us. Under normal circumstances supply and demand would push prices through the roof at this time of year, but possibly, owing to the the deep recession that we have, the demand this Christmas has been somewhat subdued. In previous years some of the most sought after seafood has achieved quite astronomical levels – percebes (sea barnacles) for example, were changing hands at around 200 Euros per kilo! This year however, whilst the market has softened a little, it is still possible to pay between 100-150 Euros for percebes in some local towns. Fresh camarónes (shrimp) are still commanding prices of around the 100 Euro/kg mark, cigalas (crayfish) can be found at around 80 Euros, and nécoras (crab) are between 50-60 Euros/kg. 

The bad news is that our Christmas holidays have been, and will probably continue to be, extremely wet – perhaps not quite as wet as other parts of Europe, but we have still experienced some significant rainfall. For the first two weeks of this month it rained almost non-stop, producing more than double the volume for the entire month of December last year. Only last week we suffered torrential, horizontal rain, driven by winds of over 90kph (56mph), but having said that the poor people of New York and the U.S. east coast will probably dismiss that as insignificant.

I should finish by saying that the vineyard in the newspaper picture is not ours – our soil is pretty wet, but I’m happy to say that we are not flooded.