We left Friday night, and it was my first overnight train experience. We had two tiny cabins of four bunks. When we were all in our cabin it was very crowded. I was worried I wouldn't get any sleep, but I had a lot of wine in the cafeteria car, so that problem resolved itself. We met a cute couple of newlyweds from New York who were backpacking through Europe for their honeymoon. The program director also informed me at this time that she is looking for a boyfriend for me...
When we were awakened by a rapping on the cabin door, we were thrown out into the cold morning in Santiago de Compostela, our base for the trip. Our hotel rooms were not ready so we had a nice breakfast (can one ever have too many cafés con leche? I think not) and went for a stroll. Santiago somehow is "St. James." The cathedral is exquisite and I remember learning about it in Page's class. Santiago de Compostela is a major pilgrimage site, even today, the third most significant in the Catholic world behind Jerusalem and the Vatican. I ducked into mass for a few minutes but the cathedral was overcrowded.
In the afternoon, we went on a tour that climbed up on the roof of the cathedral, which was incredible...I wasn't even scared. We then went to the Museum of the Gallegan People, or Museo do Pobo Galego. We shared tapas for dinner.
Sunday we had a chartered bus. Our first stop was Padrón, home of pimientos de Padrón, a common tapas dish in Spain. We went to the museum-house of Rosalia de Castro, the most significant Gallegan author who of course none of us had ever heard of, although now I notice her name everywhere. We then went to a mercadillo, where we strolled and bought little things and ate churros and fresh pulpo (octopus).
Our next stop was O'Grove, where we went on a boat ride of the fjords (I had no idea Spain had fjords...). Our group had the boat to ourselves, which was really nice. We had all the mejillones (mussels) we could eat (out of the water only three hours) as well as all of the ribeiro (Gallegan white wine) and shots of homeade alcohol we could drink, so we were all very happy by the end of the ride. I fed a mussel to a seagull, and its talons or whatnot were so sharp that it cut my finger when it grabbed the food.
We then decided to walk in the oppressively hot midday sun to La Toja, an exclusive resort island, so we could see the chapel covered in shells we had seen from the boat.
After that walk, we went to Combarro, where we had lunch and explored the town in search of the brujas.
Back in Santiago, we had Thai food for dinner.
The next morning we checked out, planning to leave our bags in lockers at the train station so we could take a local train to La Coruña. Problem: the lockers were removed from the train station after the 11-M attacks. Ryan, Edmundo, and I had to take a taxi to carry everyone's luggage back to the hotel. Fun times.
La Coruña has a San Francisco-like vibe, as it is on the coast and has streetcars. Our first stop was the Tower of Hercules, a lighthouse. We then took the streetcar to the center of town and had tapas for lunch (everyone should be proud of me because I am so far from being the pickiest eater on the trip that it's ridiculous). La Coruña is the home of the first Zara store.
In the afternoon we walked to the beach and then went to the aquarium before heading back to the train station. When I got back from Madrid on Tuesday morning I was so worn out (and I think someone gave me their cold or something which is no fun). Classes start tomorrow but I'm planning a Monday-Tuesday schedule, so I've got the week off.
I've been in Madrid almost three weeks, but I feel like I've hardly gotten to know it, especially since we've gone on trips to other very different parts of Spain the past two weekends. I'm looking forward to spending some time here and getting to know more Spaniards.
The cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the background:
View from the roof of the cathedral:
Pulpo:
View of the sea from Combarro:
They change this landscape daily in La Coru~na (note the gallego):
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