Saturday, October 25, 2008
Galicia - Opening and closing hours and the siesta
I wrongly thought that I had addressed all of the points listed back in early September, however it has been pointed out to me that I have not. So, continuing the theme, this post deals with the single most irritating and also pleasing aspect of Galicia and much of northern Spain – Opening hours.
Shops, banks, bars, you name them, open at various times between 9.00am and 10am. Many “non official” businesses are flexible within these hours and that means that one day they may open at 9.12am and the next at 9.28am. It depends which way the wind is blowing.
Closing times tend to be the same, both at lunch and at night, but this is where things become very different to the English speaking world.
At around 2.00pm everything except bars and some cafes close for 2 to 3 hours. These same establishments then start to come back to life at around 4.30pm, but that may stretch to 5.30pm and in some cases not at all.
I actually support this “siesta” as it represents a way of life that sees lunch as the main meal and time with the family during daylight hours (throughout the year) as important.
Where I do have a problem is in the effect of this prolonged lunch on tourist venues – Like everywhere else in the world they should be exempt and cater for their vsistors.
However, everything from museums to churches and castles to cathedrals close during the siesta and many never bother to reopen afterwards.
Great if you work there, but a nightmare if you are a visitor and a killer of the fledgling and desperately flagging tourist industry of Galicia and one that is headed by the appalling and disgraceful Turgalica.
Anyone wishing to do a management thesis on complete and utter mismanagement, reverse decision making etc, etc etc - take a look at Turgalicia, you will simply not believe how this Xunta funded quango are still in existence. But they genuinely would make a great case study in incompetence.
So why am I so scathing about tourism and Turgalicia?
Well its simple common sense. You are on holiday, you want to see the sights, but you also don’t intend to get up at 5.30 am. So say that you base yourself in Santiago de Compostela and take a late breakfast followed by a morning constitutional and then head off in the car to Pontevedra (not of course being familiar with the route).
By the time that you get there, find a parking space and search desperately for a tourist office it will be 1.30pm to 2.00pm. Everything worth seeing is now shut and the earliest that it is likely to reopen again is 5.00pm. But then again (and despite what the sign says) it may not open again that day. Your time is wasted, you are irritated and no one in Galician tourism gives a dam.
Try any other European zone, southern Spain, even much of neighbouring Asturias, and you will not encounter this difficulty, but in Galicia you are in the twilight zone.
Features site
Today my featured site covers the area of mattresses and in particular those of the orthopaedic variety. Mattresses and beds are critical to a body’s health and getting a descent night’s sleep, so buying a good mattress can certainly help. www.orthopaedicmattress.net describes the various mattress types and the different sleeping traits that they have. You will be able to read about products made from materials like visco-elastic memory foam and Latex and see how they compare with conventional mattresses.
Shops, banks, bars, you name them, open at various times between 9.00am and 10am. Many “non official” businesses are flexible within these hours and that means that one day they may open at 9.12am and the next at 9.28am. It depends which way the wind is blowing.
Closing times tend to be the same, both at lunch and at night, but this is where things become very different to the English speaking world.
At around 2.00pm everything except bars and some cafes close for 2 to 3 hours. These same establishments then start to come back to life at around 4.30pm, but that may stretch to 5.30pm and in some cases not at all.
I actually support this “siesta” as it represents a way of life that sees lunch as the main meal and time with the family during daylight hours (throughout the year) as important.
Where I do have a problem is in the effect of this prolonged lunch on tourist venues – Like everywhere else in the world they should be exempt and cater for their vsistors.
However, everything from museums to churches and castles to cathedrals close during the siesta and many never bother to reopen afterwards.
Great if you work there, but a nightmare if you are a visitor and a killer of the fledgling and desperately flagging tourist industry of Galicia and one that is headed by the appalling and disgraceful Turgalica.
Anyone wishing to do a management thesis on complete and utter mismanagement, reverse decision making etc, etc etc - take a look at Turgalicia, you will simply not believe how this Xunta funded quango are still in existence. But they genuinely would make a great case study in incompetence.
So why am I so scathing about tourism and Turgalicia?
Well its simple common sense. You are on holiday, you want to see the sights, but you also don’t intend to get up at 5.30 am. So say that you base yourself in Santiago de Compostela and take a late breakfast followed by a morning constitutional and then head off in the car to Pontevedra (not of course being familiar with the route).
By the time that you get there, find a parking space and search desperately for a tourist office it will be 1.30pm to 2.00pm. Everything worth seeing is now shut and the earliest that it is likely to reopen again is 5.00pm. But then again (and despite what the sign says) it may not open again that day. Your time is wasted, you are irritated and no one in Galician tourism gives a dam.
Try any other European zone, southern Spain, even much of neighbouring Asturias, and you will not encounter this difficulty, but in Galicia you are in the twilight zone.
Features site
Today my featured site covers the area of mattresses and in particular those of the orthopaedic variety. Mattresses and beds are critical to a body’s health and getting a descent night’s sleep, so buying a good mattress can certainly help. www.orthopaedicmattress.net describes the various mattress types and the different sleeping traits that they have. You will be able to read about products made from materials like visco-elastic memory foam and Latex and see how they compare with conventional mattresses.
Labels: beds, Galicia, mattresses, orthopaedic, siesta, tourism
