Hotel Husa Santiago Apostol Santiago de Compostela

... 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.

... does the paying, and we couldn't have been more clear that we were expecting friends). We enter this club and find that he has reserved a VIP table in the corner with a velvet rope and all. A waiter comes and asks for our orders, and once we realize that this guy is paying for all our drinks, we order and sit there talking and drinking. I get one of the other girls to ask him his name, which turns out to be Doglas (DOE-glass). We sit there talking amongst ourselves ...

... traditional "veiera", or scallop shell, the symbol of St. James, attached to their bags. Given their clothing and backpacks, and their smell, it was pretty clear that they had literally just arrived in the city and walked straight into the cathedral. The "rules" of the pilgrimage say that to be a true pilgrim, you have to walk at least 100km or bike or horse-ride at least 200km, but there were people of all ages, shapes and sizes. The most interesting thing to me was how few ...

... night and not for the best reasons. I’m sorry for that. But I can’t help it: once again I had a fantastic show. And now it’s just waiting for the American shows…

Set list:
o Rianxeira
o Badlands
o Out In The Street
o Hungry Heart
o Outlaw Pete
o Spirit In The Night
o Working On A Dream
o Adam Raised A Cain
o Murder Incorporated
o Johnny 99
o Darkness On The Edge of Town
o Raise ...

... come to the end of their journey knowing they have reached their goal. Some are excited and smile for pictures, some just sit and gaze, and others weep at their accomplishment. Today, there are many people who complete the Camino for other than religious reasons. Many folks are experiencing transition in their lives and walk the Camino as a way to think through their options or find clarity.

... of Santiago. At noon we went to the special pilgrim mass. Everyday this mass is held and the priest reads a list of all the nationalities of people who reached Santiago the day before. Unfortunately he screwed ours up: only one American starting in Burgos was named. That jerk. We saw many of the people from the route: "Desperado" at al, the old ubiquitous guys ...

... to slow w a y d o w n . . . Santiago is beautiful, although I've hardly seen any of it. I am struck initially by the odd juxtaposition Spain poses (or at least Galicia, the province we're in...). There is so clearly a developed country here. Signs light up, hotels have wireless, water is drinkable. Still, Spain looks nothing like the states. So much is so old and cannot be destroyed that it ...

... converted to a hostel. It was amazing (and yes, we did re-enact scenes from Titanic...) Today Dev and I left Portugal and arrived in Spain. We are in a town in the North-west called Santiago de Compostela...it's very cute there...we walked through an amazing park this afternoon and we visited the Cathedral, which has the most ornate, busy (kind of gaudy) alter I've ever seen...pretty cool though. next up...Salamanca! we'll try and keep this updated... We miss you all!

I'm in a wonderfully beautiful city, Santiago de Compostella. It's a medieval carless town and the terminus of a (very popular) Catholic pilgrimage across the north of Spain-- Camino de Santiago.

The best part about this town is that it's still devoted to the people who live here. In many of these well-preserved towns, the locals don't go into the old-town because it's devoted to tourists.

So, I arrived and it turns out there's a festival, guess I'll be staying a little longer ...