Cultural Tips

Quick Facts:

La Coruña is very safe, yet like in any growing city, be at all times aware of your belongings and of your wallet in particular.

Banking: Retail banks are open Monday through Friday from 9am to 2pm . You are however better-off avoiding the banks and withdrawing money with an ATM Debit Card at any Bank ATM. Most banks have their ATM's linked to international networks (Cirrus, Star, or Plus). In January 2004, 1 Euro was equivalent to 1.28 Dollars. Credit Cards are accepted at most retail stores.

Cross the streets on the designated crosswalks only. Do not jay walk as cars drive fast.

Telephones: To dial outside of Spain , you must dial first dial 00 and then the country code followed by the number. When calling the US, remember it is 6 Hours behind Eastern Standard Time. For example to dial my apartment in NY from Spain you would dial 00-1-212-752-0395. To dial within La Coruña you must dial 981, the city code (as in NYC).

Phone Booths (Cabinas Telefonicas): Identifiable by the big-dotted “T” on the side. Few accept coins, and for those that do, the minimum is 25 cents Euro. You must purchase a phone card (tarjeta telefonica), available in 10 or 20 Euro denominations, from any Quiosk (estanco) or tobacconist shop.

Cell Phones: Provided you have a triband cell-phone, you may use it in Spain. There are 2 ways of doing this. Either before leaving, call your cell-phone provider in the US to enable your cell phone to be used while abroad (on your current cell-phone chip); or replace your current chip with one purchased in Spain from any cell-phone store.

Using your cell phone with a local chip: Go to any cell-phone store in La Coruna, purchase a local chip and ask them to install it for you, as well as for instructions on how to dial in Spain. (Again, you must have a triband or GSM phone to use it in Spain.)

Shopping: Shop opening times are from 9- 9:30am to 1:30pm they reopen from 4:30pm to around 8-8:30pm . Major shopping malls, department stores and large supermarkets stay open without a break from 10am to 9pm.

When paying by credit card the law requires that you present your id (i.e. driver's license or passport).

Smoking: Almost everyone in Spain smokes (or at least it seems that way) and they do it virtually everywhere! The non-smoking concept does not exist in restaurants (and bars, of course).

Tipping : Because a service charge is normally included in hotel and restaurant bills, tipping is not obligatory. However it is customary to leave a few meager coins (at the bar counter) and between 5%-7% on restaurant bills. Taxi drivers do not need to be tipped or you can leave them a few coins.

Speaking Spanish in Spain: two features distinguish Spanish spoken in Spain and Latin American Spanish. One is the lisp-heavy pronunciation of the letters C and Z. Thus in Spain , cerveza (beer) is pronounced thare-bay-tha. And the second is that Spaniards use the third-person vosotros (you) form, rather than the ustedes form commonly used throughout Latin America . So in Spain , “what are you doing?” becomes “Que haceis?” (kay ah-thace) rather than “Que hacen?” (kay ah-then).

Siesta: One thing to remember while traveling in Galicia in the summertime (and this is basically throughout Spain ): The lunch time hours between 2-5pm are sacred in La Coruña and the city virtually shuts down as most stores close as people go home for lunch and yes, even a siesta. If you arrive in one of the small towns (and in La Coruña proper) between these hours you might feel like the town is deserted. At around 5pm when the stores open up you start seeing people on the streets. By 7pm , the streets become crowded with people going out for a leisurely stroll or “paseo” with family or friends, a very important component of spanish social life. The paseo usually begins at 6-7pm with people strolling about the streets, meeting friends, drinking coffee or having some tapas. In La Coruña check out Paseo Maritimo, Plaza de Maria Pita and La Calle Real and you see what we mean.

Food in Galicia :

When to eat: it's a good idea to reset your stomach clock to the Spanish timetable unless you want to eat alone or with the tourists.

Breakfast is very light and might consist of café con leche (coffee with milk), a few tostadas (toast with jam) or bollo (a pastry).

Lunch (almuerzo or comida) is the main meal of the day and is usually eaten between 2pm-4pm . Most restaurants offer the “menu del dia” which consists of a three course meal including wine and coffee and can run approximately 10-15 euros. You can also choose a “plato combinado” (combined plate) which may consist of a steak with french fries or salad. Most restaurants are open for lunch at 1pm but you may not begin to see crowds until after 2pm .

Dinner (cena) Generally in Spain “la tarde” (afternoon) lasts until about 8pm so if you sit down for dinner at 6 or 7pm you would be eating in the afternoon, a most peculiar concept. People in Spain eat uncommonly late from 9 to 11pm and even midnight .

In between times: if you are hungry in between you can go to a cafeteria or bar and ask for a bocadillo (small heroes with ham and cheese or tuna) or to a jamoneria (a ham shop where you can taste different varieties of ham- Don't be afaid of the hams hanging from the ceiling). Try a bocadillo de tortilla española (the most typical spanish dish, tortilla española is made with eggs and potatoes and is similar to a fritatta).

Coffee talk:

A lot of coffee is drunk throughout the day; here are some definitions:

Café solo; comparable to Espresso.

Café cortado: same as above but with a shot of hot milk.

Café con leche: half a cup of strong coffee and half hot milk (sorry, no skim or lowfat only full fat milk).

Café con leche de desayuno: same as above but with in a larger cup.

Café Americano: weaker coffee that is diluted with water.

In most places you find the above versions in decaf. By the way there are no Starbucks in Galicia (at least not yet)…..thank God for that!

Galician specialties:

Throughout Galicia , seafood is plentiful and very fresh. Pulpo (octupos) is a staple and you must try it in a local tasca with a glass of Ribeiro or Albariño (local galician wines). Other types of seafood/shellfish include; berberechos (cockles), centollo (spider crab), chipirones (squid cooked in its own ink), gambas (prawns), mejillones (mussels), vieras (scallops) and percebes (a type of barnacle considered a great delicacy and very expensive).

Other galician food is empanada and pimientos de padron.

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