Celebrate

When we left the city of Laredo, in Cantabria (no longer País Vasco – the Basque Country), we took a small ferry to the city of Santoña before beginning the day’s walk to Noja. (I know, it’s a lot of names. Don’t worry. They go by in a blur for us some days, too.) We missed one ferry, but another came pretty quickly and that helped us figure out what money we’d need and where to to stand on the beach (no dock) to board the next little boat.

As it approached the (actual) dock in Santoña, we noticed people in robes and regalia. Jerry suggested maybe there was some kind of graduation happening. My friend Annie’s son was graduating that same weekend from Northeastern (go Zach!), so I took some photos of the proceedings to show her.

On shore a musical trio was playing and loads of people were gathered around, but none seemed to be student-aged, exactly. Hmm.

“Maybe it’s more of a festival,” I suggested.

“A spring festival?” Jerry said. We nodded together. Maybe a spring festival.

As we walked toward the town, I couldn’t help myself. (I rarely can…) I asked one of the bystanders – an older gentleman around my age 🙄 – if this was a spring festival or a graduation…? But he said, “No, no. Es día de La Anchoa.”

I thanked him, dying to return to Jerry’s side and tell him what I had learned. When I got there, he looked at me expectantly.

“It’s the day of the anchovy.”

He blinked.

Ok, so we were greatly amused and enjoyed this information for at least two blocks before cooler heads prevailed. The truth is, the night before, we’d ordered the (ridiculously expensive) anchovy appetizer in a restaurant after the sweet 20-ish-year-old waiter had explained at length the importance of the anchovy to their region and the extraordinary flavor of local anchovies. (They were delicious, indeed! Though they came to the table in the can. And with a certificate of authenticity… Which was different.)

I don’t think I can do much with language that the photos of Santoña won’t do to explain what we found as we walked through the town on our way to our day’s destination. Just know: it was amazing and not to be mocked. Much.

FYI, THE beer was nonalcoholic. We had walking to do.

S.