Santiago de Compostela

Walking the Camino de Santiago and visiting Santiago de Compostela has long been at the top of my travel bucket list. I haven't managed to walk the Camino yet, but a few weekends ago I finally made it to the top city I wanted to visit in Spain: Santiago de Compostela. Back in October I knew I wanted to go someplace new as a birthday trip. As luck would have it, Ryanair had a sale that day from Madrid to Santiago for just €10, so I took that as a sign and booked the flight! (I still had to take the bus to Madrid, but it was overall still cheaper, and flying would allow me more time in Santiago).

Bright and early on Friday morning I took the bus to the Madrid airport and caught my flight to Santiago. I landed at around 8am then took the bus into the city. I couldn't check into my hostel yet so I stopped by a café and had a typical Spanish breakfast: coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, and toast with jamón & tomato spread.

Breakfast

Afterwards, I checked into my hostel and spent the day exploring the city. Perhaps the most famous thing about Santiago de Compostela is that it's the end of the Camino de Santiago. The Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James) is a pilgrimage taken to the shrine of the apostle St. James in Santiago de Compostela. There are many different routes you can take, but the most popular one is called the Camino Francés (the French route) which starts in a small village in France 20 km away from the border, crosses over, then runs 780km along northern Spain. While the Camino de Santiago was traditionally done for spiritual or religious reasons, many people walk it for their own personal reasons nowadays. The city is teeming with pilgrims, and all over you'll see vendors selling souvenirs such as bastions with a shell (concha), which is the symbol of the Camino.

bastions with the concha (shell)

The Cathedral itself is probably the main attraction of Santiago de Compostela. It is a Romanesque one with Gothic and Baroque additions, and is the supposed burial place of Saint James. Unfortunately for me, the popular West façade (facing the Praça de Obradoiro) was under reconstruction, but that didn't stop me from admiring it. It's also here that you'll find many pilgrims at the end of their pilgrimage staring up at the façade. In Galicia by the way the speak gallego, which I found quite similar to Portuguese. Going back, the Praça de Obradoiro was named such because when the cathedral was being built, the obradorios or workshops were set up along that square.

The West façade

After admiring what I could of the façade, it was time to visit the interior. I was surprised by how "small" it was (it wasn't really small per se, but looked so much bigger from the outside). Behind the West façade, inside the Cathedral is the Pórtico de Gloria, which is supposed to be a very beautiful portal, but was unfortunately under reconstruction. Nevertheless, the rest of the Cathedral was still beautiful to visit.

The nave and the main altar

It's not very visible in the photo, but behind the altar, there's a statue of the apostle. You can climb the stairs at the back, and you're supposed to hug the apostle. I didn't know that, so when I went up there, the priest was gesturing at me to hug the apostle, and his gesture was almost like a wave, so I cluelessly waved back. Also not very visible but hanging from the ceiling is the botafumeiro, a huge censer (it's the largest one of the world). It is only used in special masses, and it swings have reportedly reached speeds of 80 km/h.

After walking around the interior and hearing mass, I went around the outside of the cathedral. Below is the South façade facing the Praça das Praterías - each of the façades have a plaza or square that it faces. This façade is the only Romanesque façade that was preserved in the cathedral. The praça gets its name from the silversmith's guild (praterías) that were once stationed along that square. On the right you can see the Clock Tower which is at the corner of the South and East façades.

South façade with the Clock tower

Here is the East façade overlooking the Praça da Quintana, a huge empty square. This praça takes it name from the square which used to be a burial ground or quintana. The cemetery has since been moved to outside the old town, thus it's now huge and empty. This façade has two gates: The Porta Real (royal gate) and the Porta Santa (holy gate). The Porta Santa is usually closed and is opened in Jubilee Years, which are years when St. James Day (July 25) falls on a Sunday.

East façade

Finally, the North façade facing the Praça da Inmaculada. It's along this side that pilgrims walking the camino francés usually pass, and they enter through the doors of the North façade.

North façade

Going around the cathedral worked up my appetite, so for lunch, I headed to a tapas bar and tried the region's most famous dish: pulpo á feira. It's made of boiled octopus and is garnished with olive oil, salt and smoked paprika, and sometimes boiled potatoes (as mine was below). I surprisingly liked it (as I'm not a huge fan of seafood). I thought the texture would be rubbery, but it was quite good, though it's not something I'd eat often.

Pulo á feira & white wine

Then, it was more exploring the old city. Cathedral aside, Santiago de Compostela is a simple but beautiful city,  and a World Heritage Site. I loved the paved stone walkways and its architecture. Galicia is stereotypically famous for its rain, (it did rain on both days I was there), and there was something beautiful about the rain on the paved stone.

Streets in the old city

Streets in the old city

Some other buildings to look out for in the old city: the Pazo de Raxoi (Raxoi Palace) which is today the Casa do Concello or the town hall in Praça do Obradeiro.

Pazo de Raxoi with some pilgrims in front

The Casa do Cabido (which used to be a chapter house) in the Praça das Praterías, across the South façade. It has a beautiful Baroque façade, and can be visited when it houses an exhibition. When I visited there was an exhibit on vintage postcards of Santiago de Compostela (so pretty!) by the photographer Uxío de la Riva.

Casa do Cabido

I forgot which building this one was as well (whoops), but it was pretty and I managed to snap a photo.

Aside from buildings, Santiago has its fair share of green spaces. One of the most popular one is the Parque Alameda, a huge park on the east of the city. At the entrance of the park is a statue of As Marías (the Marias), who were two sisters who used to walk in the park every day at 2:00pm.

As Marías

The park is very nice and relaxing, and from there you get beautiful views of the city. Below is the view from Paseo da Ferradura.

View from Parque da Alameda

I also visited the Fundación Eugenio Granell, which is just €2 (€1 reduced price). While it's dedicated to the life and works of the surrealist artist Eugenio Granell who is from Galicia, it also houses several works by other Spanish surrealists. I'm not a huge fan of surrealist art, but I really enjoyed this museum. It wasn't overwhelming at all.

The next morning I had breakfast before meeting with a friend. I tried another Galician delicacy: tarta de Santiago. This tarta is a simple pie/cake made of ground almonds, sugar, and eggs, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It was delicious and had just the right amount of sweetness to it.

Café con leche & tarta de Santiago

Then, I met up with Sarah, an auxiliar I had met in Granada, and who was currently working in Galicia. She brought along another friend, Caitlin, and we spent Saturday together. I didn't take much pictures; it was a day of good company and good conversation.

We had lunch at this cute restaurant that Sarah recommended. We had caldo gallego, which is a traditional Galician soup. I really loved it because it tasted very similar to a Filipino dish called nilaga. After lunch, we visited the Cathedral again, and I properly hugged the apostle ;). Later on, we visited the CGAC, the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea (Galician Center of Contemporary Art). The CGAC is free to visit, and has no permanent collections. When we visited the temporary collection was one by Javier Vallhonrat. It was a series of photos and videos in an arctic trip. It was quite interesting at first, but after a while, it was almost like staring at the same thing. The concept was cool though, and I loved these pictures he took of the northern lights.

The Northern Lights

We ended the evening at the Hostal dos Reis Católicos, which is Santiago's parador. Paradors are luxury state run hotels. They are usually in historical buildings, in this case, it was already a hotel of some sort. When Fernando and Isabel, the Catholic Kings, came to Santiago in 1492, they were shocked at the conditions of the facilities for the pilgrims who had just finished the Camino. So they mandated the construction of a building which became a hostel, hospital, and church. Nowadays, it is a state run hotel, and its said that the first ten pilgrims of the day to arrive at the hotel can claim a free breakfast (you have to show your compostela or certificate that states that you've completed the camino). We just hung out and had some coffee; I tried mine with a hint of orujo, a liquor from northern Spain, most popular in Galicia.

I spent most all of Sunday traveling back to Valladolid, as it was an eight hour train ride back home. It was a short but lovely visit to Santiago de Compostela. I really do love the north of Spain, even just walking around the old city and looking at its architecture was such a lovely way to pass time. Next up would be actually walking the Camino de Santiago.