Early bird edition

The Streets of Ourense

I had the place to myself.

All photos in the story are by the author

Ourense, Spain is in the northwestern Galicia region, north of Portugal. Its ancient streets and hot springs (Burgas) date back to Roman times.

I love the quiet opportunities that an early morning walk gives you, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this deserted. It had rained hard earlier, which gave way to a pleasantly cool start to this late February day.

I wandered around this cemetery for a while. It was one of the first ones I visited in Europe, and I was fascinated by the elaborate crypts and monuments. They seem to put a lot of energy into storing people’s bones in stone.

Cemitério de San Francisco

Then I strolled around the narrow streets and plazas. Because this is Galicia, the Spanish is noticeably different (in a few small ways) from what you might expect. Especially if you learned Latin American Spanish.

The bars stay open late and everyone sleeps in.