Los Tilos Santiago de Compostela

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!<br><br>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!<br><br>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.

... We literally see no one and hear nothing, and everything looks to be closed. We finally find one club that has someone in the door, and they tell us they don't open until 4am. DON'T OPEN UNTIL 4AM?! WHAT KIND OF PLACE IS THIS?! We run into 2 British kids on the street and go to some random dance place with them, were the DJ plays music from Grease, obviously causing a spontaneous dance party. Around 4:30, it is still empty, so we decide to just leave and go to bed. <br>

... and were able to walk all over the roof and take pictures. After the roof, they took us on a tour of the market of Santiago, where we saw a truly revolting aisle of seafood, mostly still alive, a vegetable aisle, and a cheese aisle. The cheese in Galicia is a special local cheese called "tetilla"-- boob cheese. It comes in the shape of, yes, boobs. The story goes that a bishop commissioned a famous Italian sculptor to make a statue of the Virgin Maria for the entrance to the ...

... love in the dirt&#8230; Oh2BeTheGirlWho&#8217;sFingerHeHeld. Wow! This is the footage I&#8217;ve found so far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjm3sMOl zEk .<br><br>Nils was stunning and running. I think he&#8217;s trying to ruin his new hips ASAP or something&#8230; Man, jumping and turning&#8230; and not missing a chord, AMAZING! Other real nice guitar play was the interaction between Bruce and Steve during Johnny 99. Can&#8217;t explain it, just watch ...

... their next concert, and those who play in the formal theaters and cathedrals are simply magnificent. While we find ourselves bummed that we missed out on some great concert at the end of the day, we have already seen tons in this first week. When the city hosts major singer or groups (such as the Ten Tenors) they are outdoor concerts that we can hear from our terrace in the dorms. Pretty neat!

On July 7th we were awakened by the cacophonous seagulls. The day was beautiful and lazy. Eventually we caught a bus back to Santiago. How did we spend two and half days? Well, there was much net-barring, reading, eating, sleeping, puzz-ing (a 1000 pieces from the Oriental Bazar...also were we bought very cheap speakers), and general hanging. Santiago is a ...

... in the morning), we went to a Irish bar that has Irish trivia. We got a beer there and just met a bunch of Amy´s friends. We met one of her friends who gave up English for Lent. So even though he was from Kansas, he was only speaking spanish. That was funny. I also met a guy from Brasil and we started talking futbol and about Ronaldo, who plays futbol in Spain but is from Brazil. Then around 4:30 in the morning, we went home. Amy had class at 9:30 after all.

... modern part of town, buy fruit and a drink at the supermarket. Jerry also gets some money to see why his card has different options to ours. DP back to rest, others to the cafe, but MP has lost his sun glasses, so retraces his movements without luck. We have a second meal at the cafe, then back to the Albergue for a better night's sleep (Dianne's due to a sleeping tablet), apart from the sound of rain on the roof close over MP's head. Not a good sound for a Peregrino. Walking 25kms on Camino (more in town)