A gourmet basket
Have the traditional specialities you tasted in the restaurants left you with a taste of too little? Certainly, some local products will be difficult to bring back in your suitcases, but nothing obliges you to skip all the flavours that you have discovered. In Castilla y León, renowned for its delicious Iberian sausages, you will have the opportunity to fill up on hams, chorizos, morcilla de Burgos and cecina de León. There are also the famous embutidos in Galicia, lacón gallego, a cured ham made from the shoulders or front legs of the pig; in Asturias, chosco de Tineo, a half-cooked, half-raw, cold-smoked sausage; and in Cantabria, chorizo de Potes, spicy and smoked with oak wood. As for cheese, don't forget to bring back Tetilla, the traditional Galician cheese with its suggestive shapes. And don't forget the Asturian Cabrales, matured in the caves of Asturias, and the Quesucos de Liébana, with a generally lighter taste. And of course, good cheeses require good wines. You should therefore think about bringing back from Galicia wines from the Rías Baixas, red or white, they will be perfect. Or the characterful red wines of the Ribera del Duero, which you will find in Castilla y León. In Asturias, you can't forget the bottles of cider, for the taste and also for their shape, which is rarer in France. And in Cantabria, liqueur lovers will save a little room for a bottle of orujo, a brandy produced from grape marc. And to spice things up, there's a little corner for chillies... from Padrón, in Galicia. You should introduce them to your friends and family, as well as the anchovies from Santoña, in Cantabria. If you have a sweet tooth, the yemas of Santa Teresa, these egg yolk-based sweets found in Ávila, will make you succumb to the sweet tooth! In Cantabria, let yourself be tempted by the sobao, a soft pastry, typical of the comarca of Valles Pasiegos.
The lace of Camariñas, a skillful art
Camariñas, a small town on the Costa de la Muerte in Galicia, is the Mecca of bobbin lace made by the palilleras, lacemakers with nimble hands. Although the art of lace-making was already present in Galicia in the 15th century, it reached its peak a little later, between the 16th and 18th centuries. It is said that the Galician fighters who went to Flanders with Count Fernando de Andrade brought back lace models that seduced the Galician women. At that time, linen threads were used, which were abundant in the region. Today, this tradition has fortunately not been lost and in the streets of this coastal town you can still hear the harmonious sound of the bolillos de boj, the small boxwood spindles. It is a truly technical work, to which new and younger adepts are now trained at the spindle school. To make this fine lace by hand, the craftswomen hold on their knees, a bag filled with straw and held on the sides by two sticks, which is called thealmoada. On it is fixed a pattern on which pins are pricked with linen or cotton thread at the end of which hang the spindles. These bolillos are then swung from left to right to execute the pattern. In Camariñas you will find everything from the simplest designs, such as handkerchiefs, to pretty blouses and table decorations, in the specialist shops. However, you can also find lace in the shops or markets of Santiago, for example.
Ceramics, a Galician speciality
The town of Oleiros, 10 km from A Coruña, is an important place in the northern part of the province. It is the capital of the ceramics industry, which produces the famous "olas" with their round shape and light yellow colour, as well as a whole range of kitchen objects. The name of the city comes from this activity, as oleiro means "pottery" in the local dialect. You can buy them directly from the producers or go and admire them in the Museum, which is dedicated to them in Oleiros. Sargadelos porcelain is a Galician institution whose origins date back to 1806 with the creation of an earthenware factory in Cervo, in the province of Lugo. Decorating coffee pots, candle holders or even plates, the motifs, often brush drawings, are particularly minimalist. They are therefore suitable for all homes. The brand also offers very pretty and original jewellery and key rings. The parish of Buño in the town of Malpica is one of the main traditional pottery centres in north-western Spain, where this art has been passed down from generation to generation. You can visit the different workshops and find original pieces. Asturias is also famous for its black ceramics, which can be found in Gijón, Cudillero and Llamas del Mouro, among other towns.
Other notable objects
In addition to the local specialities, lace and pottery, you will find other singular handicrafts that are worth mentioning along your journey. First of all, jewels and amulets made of jet, typical of Galician and Asturian craftsmanship. This gem, called azabache, is in fact fossilized charcoal, extracted in Asturias and then worked and polished in the workshops of Santiago. In the holy city or in Oviedo, you will see very beautiful examples in the jewellers' windows. In the region of Taramundi, in Asturias, there is a craft centre where you can appreciate the work of all kinds of craftsmen, such as weavers, ironworkers and cutlers. This will be an opportunity to find beautiful, quality objects. In the same concept, we can also mention the craft centre of Portillo, in Castilla y León, known for its pottery, among other things. In the valley of Saja-Besaya, in Cantabria, and also in the villages of the Picos de Europa National Park, many craftsmen still work with wood (chestnut, hazelnut and beech) in a traditional way. There are beautiful decorated wooden clogs(abarcas), milk containers (jermosos) and bowls (cocinas).
