On Saturday some friends and I went down to Baiona for the Festa da Arribada. You may remember from my previous post about Baiona that Baiona was where the caravel "Pinta" made landfall after discovering the New World (according to Wikipedia, the Pinta got separated from the Niña and Santa María in a storm, and happened to be the first ship to land in Europe; the other two ships sailed to Lisbon). Arribada is the festival that celebrates that arrival (both Arribada and our word arrive come from Latin ad ripam, "to the shore"). There are banners in the street that read "Bayona 1493," and lots of people dress up in period costume. There are people playing on drums and bagpipes. There are even events like jousting. The narrow streets of the old part of town are crammed with people, kiosks, food stands, grills. You can smell all sorts of meat grilling-- chorizos and other sausages, ribs, etc. There are tables full of empanadas and sweets. Everywhere you can buy small clay bowls of wine called cuncas. Everything is very cheap, unlike the food at festivals in the US.
The replica of the caravel
These are Galician empanadas. The little pastries that are often called empanadas in the US are called "empanadillas" here (using the diminutive). Empanadas can be filled with flavored meat, tuna, squid, codfish, and even octopus. On the left you can see piled-up cuncas.
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