Leon to Santiago de Compostella
Categories France and Spain 2015........a roadtrip with a boat cruiseSeptember 23rd
Had a nice breakfast at the Parador…quite a few tour groups so felt a bit like mornings when we were on the tour to China. Lots of newspapers, unfortunately all in Spanish, so the selection was left largely untouched.
In any event, off we went under clear skies and a rising temperature predicted to be in the mid 20’s.
The landscape changed quite rapidly from plains to highlands and we were struck by how green everything seemed. We are now in Galicia noted for its lushness but also for its rainfall. We arrived in Santiago by mid day, parked and went to the Cathedral. This is the destination to which all the pilgrims have expended so much energy in reaching, from all corners of Europe:
It was interesting to see some of the reactions, ranging from seeming relief, subdued happiness to exuberant rounds of selfies….one group of Italian cyclists holding their bikes overhead for their photo opp’s.
We toured the Cathedral which is in a state of restoration so lots of scaffolding on the outside and some restricted zones inside….in any event, it is quite imposing:
Walked around the streets surrounding the cathedral………
….and found the office where each pilgrim registers to have their Camino de Santiago “passport” validated…quite a crowd:
…then a quick tapas lunch….my sardines were fresh and lovely:
and on our way…time passes quickly! Our trusty Miss Charm led us to our next overnite but we were not sure as we wound our way on tiny roads through the countryside eventually leading to a narrow roadway where she declared “you have arrived at your destination”. Nothing there, so 10 minutes further along onto an even narrower road passing through a eucalyptus and chestnut forest, we arrive at Casa Grande …..what a neat place!
……a bit of a challenge finding someone to check in, but were pleasantly surprised to find a young lady quite fluent in English who proceeded to advise us that we had been upgraded to a suite …how sweet is that! Not knowing what to expect we turned the key, and voila:
…relaxed a bit on the deck Annie taking in some sun and I had a relaxing conversation with Gentlemen Jack…..bourbon in Spain, YES!!!!
….then dinner time…….today it started at 9PM so we were ready at the stroke of 9PM. Forgot the memory card in the room so no photos, but the dinner was really nice, local dishes prepared by a young chef eager to please, poured us a recommended white Galician wine….then came around and pronounced it off, brought a second bottle poured, looked, shook his head and declared the whole case as being off, 3rd bottle different brand, excellent and on the house…very nice touch, deserts as if we needed them, were YUMMY!!
Walked back in the starlite and declared this to be an A+ day.