Casa Antiga Do Monte Santiago de Compostela

Salut Francis !

Pour cette année, c'est bien simple :

104K$ de revenus pour le 31 décembre 2009 ;

Un fouette qui a du bon sang pour la cuisine ;

Des ustensiles de cuisine en bois (mais PAS de cuillères svp !) - spatule, cuillers, ustensiles atypiques ;

Une bonne bouteille de Cognac espagnol ;

Un arosoir d'intérieur ayant un bec verseur à pluie ...

The other two tours in Madeira and Lanzzarrotte we planned well in advance, but the trip to Santiago de Compostela was a last minute decision based on the recommendation of the two couples who we had the pleasure of dining with on the cruise. I'm glad we decided to go. It was quite a long drive, but well worth the effort. We walked around the oldest part of the town where the ...

Ah, getting up at the crack of 9:30, showering, grabbing a wonderful cup of "cafe con leche" and that wonderful goat cheese with manchego for breakfast. This is the life.....I'll have to remember this when I most need it as I'm schlepping my butt from one end of the US to the other most of the year!

The hotel is pretty nice. Roomy, clean and kinda like a European version of a W Hotel without all that annoying music playing ...

... the city which contains all the old buildings and churches is pedestrianised and huddles round the grand cathedral. The Cathedral is vast and very ornate. The guide books say that is best seen in the rain so that all the lichens and mosses are highlighted. The weather duly obliged!

The car has decided to have a sick day and has gone to the Ford dealer to recuperate! We collect it tonight and move on to Portugal in the morning.

... Brazilian mafia-affiliated club, where he notices our hesitance and tries to convince us to just come in and have a drink at his table. At that exact moment, the other girls call, and I sprint up to the plaza and drag them down to the club, where Maureen and the guy are still standing. The presence of 6 other girls makes us feel much more safe, and now the guy has no choice but to take all of us in (In Spain, it is expected that the person who does the ...

... and mass was at noon, so when we got to Santiago, we walked straight through the historic district to the cathedral. The cathedral, honestly, looked like most other big Catholic cathedrals I've seen throughout Europe, maybe even a little smaller and less grand. The main difference was this one was absolutely, completely FULL of people!! There were obviously a lot of tourists, but mostly, the place was packed with pilgrims wearing their hiking backpacks and clothes and with ...

... je ne vais jamais me promener. Je ne suis pas un gars de bois, disais-je... Je vais certainement commencer a aller marcher dans ces parcs maintenant. Je planifiais m'arreter manger a Pedrouzo, a environ 21 km. Alors que je voyais la ville a ma gauche, le chemin m'a ramene dans la foret vers la droite. Je ne m'en suis pas fait car souvent le chemin nous entraine dans des sentiers qui rallongent la route mais qui finit par nous amener dans la ville. Mais ...

... The second tradition is banging your head against a statue (I didn't catch the meaning of this). The third is hugging St. James from behind, and the fourth is visiting his tomb. We did the last two, and also saw a side chapel with intricate carvings and an elaborate chandelier. Marguerina then took us outside to see the building where 38 nuns live and who have never left the building; she showed us part of the building that used to be a monastery and is ...

... French border along the "French route" to Santiago. One of the other celebrants said it was unusual to have a priest celebrating the mass in his hiking boots. Even though this was definitely liturgical, it had a very down-to-earth feel about it. By the end of the mass, it was time for lunch, so I wandered a little bit before finding a restaurant that looked good. I got their "menú del día" - don't confuse a "menu" in Spanish or German for a menu in English ...

... Quite a nice coastline, beaches and port. At Cee, scene of JL's emergencia, there was a problem with too many passengers, and a lot of phone calls were required to produce another bus. Those forced to wait seemed pretty relaxed, must be used to it. At no stage did anyone travel standing. Hard to imagine in the less "civilized" 3rd world! Lost most of the passengers at the changeover in Baio, and travelled on new road, sometimes motorways, sometimes through villages, to La Coruna.