Santiago de Compostela day trip
Trip Start
Sep 23, 2010
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31
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Trip End
May 31, 2011
Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Monday, November 1, 2010
We were thinking about going to Ourense, but there wasn't really any available trains or buses, so that quickly put an end to that idea. Instead we went to Santiago de Compostela. The round trip train fare was only 10 euros, so it wasn't going to be breaking the bank. The train ride was about 60 minutes and wasn't a bad one at all. I didn't get motion sickness at all. I think I may be getting immune to it. I really doubt that actually and probably just jinxed myself for the next train ride. It seems like when I talk to people and don't pay attention to the fact that I am actually on a train then everything goes a lot faster and I don't get motion sick.
When we arrived to Santiago de Compostela we let Maria guide is to the center of town so she could then lead us to the Cathedral. We had to pull out our umbrellas because it started to rain. It wasn't a heavy rain, so it made things a little more interesting. Sometimes the rain really adds to the overall beauty of the town. It just depends on what kind of mood you are in. We walked through the streets of Santiago and came across a neat park. It had a small cathedral and some cool fountains. There was a statue and some really cool trees all throughout the park. It had some really cool medieval benches that looked like they would be great to sit on for a photo, but it was too wet to do that. The park happened to be right across the street from the old town of Santiago de Compostela which surrounds the cathedral. We were on our way.
We walked through the old town and stopped by some of the shops to look in the windows. We grabbed some Tarta de Santiago samples (Santiago cake samples) and also admired the huge portions of seafood in the windows. When we got to the front of the cathedral there was a huge stage being built up for the pope. It was huge. I can only imagine how crazy the crowd is going to be when he comes next weekend on Nov.6th. There will be all sorts of people there for the Pope and tons of people protesting him too. I think it would be a cool ceremony to watch. The atmosphere would be really intense. That is a type of thing that I would enjoy. I'm not into religion at all, but I am into interesting atmospheres and that would for sure be one. After checking out the giant stage for the pope I walked far back from the cathedral so I could fit the whole thing in my camera. The cathedral is massive. It's almost impossible to fit into my camera. I was able to walk on the steps of the cathedral too and check out the front door. It was really cool to be walking around on something that old. I really enjoy situations like that.
We walked even further around the cathedral to the backside. We decided to wait in line to try and get inside. It turns out the line was for hugging a statue of the apostle inside. Apparently a lot of the people that come to the cathedral are coming to hug the apostle. They are walking from all over the place on El Camino de Santiago (Walk of Santiago) and are coming to hug the apostle. It is supposed to absolve you of all of your sins. I didn't feel right hugging it, so I just touched it a little and kept on walking. It was made out of all of this gold and I bet it would cost a ton. The inside of the cathedral is massive. I haven't really ever seen a cathedral that massive before. There were tons of altars lining the outside of the walkways. There were tons of people inside it. If you haven't been inside a cathedral, then I highly recommend it. It's great to see how elaborate everything is on the inside. It's really impressive how those people did all of that back then. We also walked underneath the apostle and got to see a tomb of one of the saints. It was quite spooky considering it was the day before Halloween. The cathedral was closing soon, so we had to get out though. It started pouring down rain on our way out of the cathedral and we had to walk all the way back to the bus station. On the way back to the bus station the rain wasn't so bad, but my pants below my knees and my shoes got soaked.
The day trip was a really nice alternative to going out to Porto, Portugal. I really wish I could have went out there and seen everything, but it just didn't seem like it was going to be worth it/possible for me. I had to make that decision and I'm glad I made it because the day trip to Santiago was really fun. I enjoy walking around cities and seeing what they have to offer. Santiago de Compostela is an excellent city and I recommend anyone who is in Galicia to stop by there for a day to check out some of the old town and the large cathedral.
On the train ride home we talked about places to go for the next day. We really wanted to go to A Coruna because it was the second biggest city in Galicia and I had never been. It just didn't seem like it would be plausible to travel that far for a day and not be able to see any of the city due to weather. We decided to check the weather and train/bus times and how much everything would cost when we got home. We would make our decision on where to go for the next day then.
