San Vicente 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 ...

We travelled through thick fog over and through the mountains on typically heroic Spanish roads. They cut through mountains and build viaducts over the valleys. We drove through and around weary looking Pilgrims to our campsite which was on the Camino de Santiago. It was closed. After some interesting encounters with some locals, one old man practically ran away when asked for directions, we found this camp site.<br><br>The centre ...

... kids asleep except Dami who is a night owl) after midnight. Oops the campground closes (and is locked) at 11. A tour of town found a parking lot by the beach. We joined a pair of vw busses and bedded down for the night. Classy. We ARE trailer trash.<br><br>              <br>

... sunrise yoga. We later planned to go into a caruna for a day trip but thought better of it when we learned of the "end of summer" fiesta being held at the campground from 10-3am. And when I say, held at the campground I mean, held directly in front of our camper ...

Our day went very much according to plan. Nice!! A morning enjoying Sao Joao de P. with pastries and coffee and strolling the tiny streets. An on time depature had us in Santiago de Compostela by 3:30 after enjoying the amazing country side. A quick tour of the amazing ...

... We waited. We sat, stood up, waited, sat et cetera, et cetera... From the moment the gate opened at 8.20 pm until we found our position, it was a somewhat scary experience. We were first on a steep grass field going down hill (luckily it hadn&#8217;t rained!) which basically led to an &#8216;run as fast as you can&#8217; experience. After that we were forced into a sort of tunnel, &#8216;security check&#8217; and ticket control. Pure luck my Bruce ...

... it up on its pendulum and swing it over all the gaping pilgims who were attending mass. (We read that the rope that hold it up has only broken twice in the last 200 years.) We also got our certificates of completion, which could have gotten us a cheap flight to Madrid, but we decided that we would rather spend our last few days in Spain in the Basque region. So we´re going back to our idylic beach in Zumaia again. We´ll spend the next three days ...

... We sampled 10 different portugese wines, i guess the hostel wasnt full of conaseurs because there was no spit bucket, and salted crackers to neutralise the taste in your mouth. The following day we went across town to this famous bakery that his been open since 1830, and their portugese tarts were phenominal, my mom would probably boycot her prized portugese store if she tried these. Then I split with my american freind and headed ...

... stop. I took a few goofy turns getting there but ended up in the right spot eventually. I took a metro to the Barcelona station then a bus to the airport. Check-in and everything went fine so I headed to my gate. I had a flight from Barcelona to Munich, Germany on Lufthansa. It was a couple hour flight, and they do have free drinks. So it was two ham sandwiches and two free german beers for me...excellent. At some point on that part of the trip I saw ...

... He had always wanted to do the camino, but his doctor advised against, so he was driving backup for a group. Very relaxing last 10 km down the steep descent into Triacastela. A bit of a shame we weren't walking, as the views over the valley were very nice, better than along the top. Our lift dropped us outside the private hostel we'd been booked in to, and we saw Sharon walking up the street. Signed in, woke Jerry from his PM sleep, changed into sandals and ...