Monday in Santiago

By now you are wondering if we are ever going to leave this place. We are having great fun but the weather is warming up so it's going to be too hot here for us very soon. We walked downtown in the morning in time to check out if we could get onto an English rooftop tour of the cathedral before Wendy's appointment at the post office at 11am. Nope, none today, come back tomorrow morning to see. Really? Like we are staying right outside this office just waiting for them to decide. 

I left Wendy at the post office where she had been asked to come in and discuss how they (the post office or Correos in Spanish) might be able to help the pilgrim have a better experience on the Camino. First they took her on a tour of the main building and then concentrated on the facilities for the pilgrims: left luggage and luggage transfer, the room where all the suitcases and boxes that pilgrims send on to themselves from across the country end up until they arrive to claim them, clothes that they won't use until later etc. This post office is trying to find ways to stay viable even when fewer Spanish are using their services for letters. 

She even had a visit to their rooftop terrace which is not open to the public but has a fabulous view.

While she did that I checked out a bunch of shops and wandered the streets of the old town. Tried to take a picture of the food in the window at one of the restaurant/bars. A little glare but some pulpo (octopus) ready to be chopped up for lunch and served with a sprinkling of olive oil and paprika and eaten with toothpicks. 

We did not eat lunch there but had a good galette from Normandy.

Mine was filled with cooked ham, mushrooms and emmental cheese and Wendy's with seafood and cheese both served with a nice glass of local white wine.

We headed home for an afternoon siesta then back out to the 7:30pm mass because a little birdie told us the botafumeiro would be swung at that service. This theatrical event only happens when someone, often a tour group, pays a fee for it to be done. It is not advertised because the church wants all the services attended and not just the ones when this event is scheduled. But we know a special elf who let us know in advance. Yeh! So we walked down to the cathedral 30 minutes ahead of the service and were able to get seats in the transept. No singing nun tonight, maybe she just does the earlier services. Instead a fellow (monk, brother, priest???) sang. It's too bad we were not able to understand most of the sermon because it sounded like it was all about pilgrims and probably very interesting. But because the cathedral is still open to the throngs who wander around at the same time as the service, it's a bit distracting. Watching the swinging of this huge incense burner is really cool though, even after seeing it a number of times.

After the service at 8:20 we met up with Paula and went down for supper to a place outdoors along the road where the pilgrim office is. Paula eats there regularly and the food is inexpensive but good. When we arrived there were about 5 tables set up outside but the only empty table had a sign on it.

 

The owner/server said it was reserved for some people in 40 minutes but said we could eat there until they arrived. So we did, they never arrived, and he kept taking down the tables until we were the only table left so I guess you can say we shut the place down, at 10pm. Great dinner and lots of wine, we had such a good time.

Wendy's 1st course (premier plato) was Padron pimientos and they are delicious. Only just coming into season now.

Paula and I closing the place down.

We went up to the plaza Obradoiro to listen to the Tuna band again. So full of energy and such fun. Love this music.

We started home, by now dark and after 11 so all the tourists are in bed. We found the pilgrim ghost on one of Cathedral outer walls. And managed to get his picture. What a great day we had today.

Wendy and Marion

Sunday in Santiago

We had our breakfast with Clinete and then the three of us walked down to the old town to visit the Museum of the Galician People. I was the only one of the three of us who had not been before but we all enjoyed it. A bonus was that it is free on Sunday morning. It is in an old building San Domingo de Boneval, that was at one time a monestery/convent, and was mostly built in the 13th century. 

The most fun part of the museum is the triple spiral staircase which is actually 3 staircases going up, each to different floors and doors. (Well - they do come back down also!!)

From the bottom looking up

From the top of one staircase looking down. 

Clinete and Wendy on different staircases. Can you find Wendy?

The ceiling dome in the deconsecrated church.

And a staircase going nowhere, used to go to the pulpit which has been removed.

I love old doors.

After we left there we just had time for a cafe con leche in a plaza before going to the 1pm mass (in Spanish) to hear Scot John Rafferty (aka Johnny Walker) play the organ. The recessional he played was Oh Canada which was great fun for us, I'm sure no one else in the church knew what it was. Right after the service we met another Brit, Steven who at one time was a RC priest and now works in London but spends half his time in Spain. Also an American couple from Denver who had been in touch with John through his web site when they were here 4 years ago and their packs were stolen from what they had assumed was a secure spot at their hotel. Steven and John had eventually found them at the police station with just about all their possessions intact. Steven then had everything cleaned and packaged up and sent back to the USA to them.  This was the first time all 4 of them had met. 

We all went for lunch at John's usual spot for Sunday lunch. Also at lunch was an American gal who is on sabbatical from the University of William and Mary and is doing research on families walking the Camino. We were very pleased to be invited to share this meal with these interesting people where we got to talk Camino for 2 1/2 hours. And the lunch was delicious starting with Caldo soup (cabbage), a fabulous goat cheese salad (the best I have had), the next course was merluzco, (a white fish) then dessert which was a nummy Creme caramel. 

The goat cheese salad.

After saying our goodbyes we headed home, stopping once again to enquire about a rooftop tour of the cathedral. Nope, don't know, maybe tomorrow, come in again in the morning, no they don't take lists and only run an English tour if there is a demand. So we are not sure how they know the demand if they don't keep a list.

We headed back home and had some seriously needed downtime until the family arrived back home and then we had a great time chatting with Victor and Lanzada over bread, cheese and wine until bedtime.

A manaña

Marion and Wendy 

Back to Santiago

We caught the bus just down the main road from our hotel to take us back to Santiago. The first bus went by packed to the gills so we felt fortunate that they had put another bus on for the leftovers. Only a few of us but then we did the milk run and picked up and dropped off in all the villages between Finisterre and Santiago. It's a lovely drive and we made sure we sat on the ocean side this time. Every town and village seems to have their own stretch of beautiful sandy beaches. Unlike British Columbia there is no driftwood on these beaches but lots of shells. The trip took just over 3 hours to the autobus station in Santiago, and then we walked the 10 minutes back to Lanzada and Victor's house. The family has gone off for the weekend but another pilgrim from Brazil is staying here too. It's a revolving door in this house. Lots of guests. Lanzada likes it so her kids can hear different languages. Martin is starting to speak more English now. The Brazilian guest is Clinete and she was one of the two reps for her country at the conference Wendy was at last November so they have met before.

Once we got ourselves organized and threw a wash in, we headed out to the public market that is on Saturdays from 10 to 4. We arrived at 1:45 and many of the shop owners were already packing up. But we were able to buy some apples, bread, cheese and wine, the staples of life, for our dinner tonight.

We found a place for lunch and a cafe con leche at an outdoor cafe. It was less than interesting so no pic. There are so many people roaming the streets today it's amazing. We did have a treat as we wandered down one side street when a little band assembled outside a bar and played local Galician music. 

We got a kick out of the gal standing in the doorway dancing to the music with her dog.

Lots of outdoor bars in the plazas.

We wander the streets. Most of the stores are closed on Saturday afternoons except the tourist ticky tack shops.

We had another amazing coincidence in the evening, when we both received a text with no name attached but a Manitoba phone number and a "where are you guys" kind of message. After a bit of back and forth we discovered that an old guiding friend of ours from Flin Flon was actually in Santiago on a bus tour, leaving the next morning. She had just read our blog for the first time and realized we might be somewhere in the vicinity. We will overlap in Barcelona for 2 days so will look for a chance to get together for lunch. We have not had a chance to catch up with Cathy for a few years. Imagine. 

Buenas noches 

Marion and Wendy

 

Cape Finisterre

Today is our day to head out to the cape or Faro in the local language of Galego. We had planned to take a taxi the 3km into town then begin the walk but no taxis were available.  There is a call box right in the Centre of town and the drivers get the messages from there, but no one answered when the hotel gal tried for us. Then she said she would just drive us herself, threw the booster seat over so we could both get into her car and drove us right to the spot where we wanted to start. And that is so typical of the way the Spanish people have been with us this trip, just so warm and willing to help out in any way. 

Along the route

Lighthouse and hotel in the distance

The hike took us just over an hour, it's a gentle uphill all the way to the end of the point, and all on a gravel path beside the paved road to the lighthouse. We got there before any of the tour busses arrived so it was not busy but after we had had coffee they arrived. 4 buses full.

The actual lighthouse. There is also a hotel and a coffee shop.

There is a superstition about burning your hiking clothes when you get to the lighthouse, and there was a fellow sitting there doing just that. The idea is that you now start a new life without all your old issues. But for most hikers/pilgrims now a days, the technical hiking clothes are too expensive to burn, and besides what would we wear home, as we only brought two sets of clothes each, one to wear, one extra.

There is a little fire burning in the rock just to the right of him. Even though this sign is a few feet away. 

Hiking boot statue.

We had coffee on a terrace overlooking the Atlantic right at the "end of the world".

The last distance marker for the Camino

But the funny thing that happened before we started back: we used the washroom and guess what?  - they charge for the toilet paper! Never seen that before. And we had not brought our biffy bag with us.

.20 for a meter which shoots out into your hand. 

We walked back, downhill with some gorgeous views as we were coming in towards Finisterre.

And this lovely old church. 

When we got back to our hotel we went for a wander down to the fabulous beach in front of the hotel. 

And I got to dip my toes in the Atlantic again.

Tomorrow we will take the bus back to Santiago. 

Wendy and Marion 

Finisterre

Plan B which we had to come up with after arriving in Santiago had us taking the bus to Finisterre instead of hiking as per Plan A, unfortunate because we had both been looking forward to this 4 or 5 day walk since we planned this trip. We walked down to the autobus station from Lanzada's house, only a 15 minute walk. 

View of countryside near Lanzada's house.

Lots of other pilgrims had the same idea and it was a full double decker bus load making the nearly 3 hour journey. Lots of great scenery especially as the last half of the trip follows the rocky seashore. We arrived at the town of Finisterre and found that the hotel Wendy had booked was about 4 km from the town centre. We went for a cafe con leche and discussed the knee issue and decided it would be better to just "bite the bullet" and take a taxi back and forth. The hotel itself is one that was suggested by our friends Carla and Paul, and it's very nice and very close to a fabulous beach. 

We spent the afternoon exploring the town of Finisterre, lots of little streets to wander up and down. There are many other pilgrims here as well as tourists who have arrived with bus tour groups and by private car. It's easy to see that during the summer season this place is hopping because of the number of restaurants along the front street by the water. 

Marion by a very nice house on a little street.

We had supper at a restaurant right down on the water front. All the restaurants serve every kind of fish  you can think of and many you have never heard of.  Wendy had a very good paella. 

I had a huge salad with tuna fish which is what I needed today. Very hard to get our daily quota of fruit and veggies in Spain so I order this whenever I can.

Tomorrow we will walk out to the tip of the cape and see the lighthouse.

Hasta luego - 

Wendy and Marion 

Wednesday in Santiago

Today is a holiday here to celebrate the Galego language. This means many offices and stores are closed today. But in the old town some stores are open. I went into a little shop that sells fruit, bottles of water, some wine and odd bits, to buy a couple of oranges and bottled water for me. I don't drink tap water when we travel, Wendy does as she doesn't seem to have any trouble with it. The shop keeper said she is open every day of the year, if she is closed she cannot make any money. Pretty straight forward. 

We had breakfast again at "our" bar then went over to the Correos (post office). One section was open for receiving packs and packages to move forward or mail for pilgrims who are not carrying their packs. We chatted with the gal behind the counter and I was able to buy some stamps for post cards from her. Then checked out a few shops before heading back to pack and check out of the Mapoula Hostal before noon. We got that done and then down to another coffee shop right on the main street outside of the old town so we could meet Victor who was to pick us up at 1pm. We had just started our coffee con leche when the police started arriving in numbers to that very corner. All the traffic was stopped and a huge parade of Spanish folks, kids and adults, marched past for nearly 40 minutes carrying flags in support of the Galician language.  There were drums beating and Uilleann pipes (Gallic bagpipes) and lots of shouting and singing.

Great fun to watch but we had to let Victor know that we could not meet him until 1:30 when it was over. Lots of messages back and forth until we finally met him and got our stuff loaded into his car.

It wouldn't be Europe without one or two manifestations (protests) each visit. We always seem to have a front row seat for this kind of thing. But this one was very happy and well behaved.

Victor, Lanzada's husband, drove us to their house just in time for a wonderful family lunch with their kids. This will be our 'home base' until we leave Santiago. Lunch was what we would call dinner, a hot meal, delicious, with wine and dessert, cookies made by Lola who is 12 and her friend who was visiting for the day. We sat at the table and talked until nearly 5. Then upstairs to our guest room on the top floor to get ourselves organized for our trip our to Finisterre tomorrow. We are just taking my pack with stuff for both of us and we will leave the rest of our stuff here. 

Supper was at 9:30; fresh bread, cold meats, pate and lots of cheese and wine of course. Chocolate for dessert. The kids, Martin who is 14 and a budding soccer player, and Lola, 12, head off to bed right after dinner. We talked on at the table until nearly midnight. We covered schools and education in Spain, politics, raising teenagers, the Camino, Lanzada's work. Victor is on sabbatical this year from the university of Santiago where he is a professor of German literature. 

Tomorrow we are off to Finisterre by bus.

Wendy and Marion