The city is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations for Catholic pilgrims, and they say that the church here is the second most holy church in the world after the Vatican. It's the final point of the the Camino de Santiago, or the way of St. James (the same one as my elementary school/church at home!) and people walk hundreds of kilometers from Lourdes, France (or other areas in Spain and Portugal. You can read up on the walk here, since I'm not an expert: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James). They say that the remains of St.James are buried in this church, and you can actually see where they are in the church in this beautiful silver box under the altar. Then on top of the altar they have this statue of St.James that's good luck if you hug it and touch your forehead to it. Needless to say, I did it since I need luck.
Catedral de Santiago de Compostela
After seeing the church, Ashlee showed me around town like a local, which was great because I saw more than I probably would have seen if I were on my own. Went to this beautiful park with great views of the old city and cathedral, even into a mall that had butcher shops (different from at home!) and yes, McDonalds (not so different from home...). Went into a grocery store, where they have mass amounts of ham and tuna and delicious bread and milk, eggs, and produce that aren't in refrigerated areas. It was interesting, but definitely cool!
Santiago de Compostela
Unfortunately, I was way too tired to stay up for tapas, so I headed back to the hostel and slept for what ended up being a good 13 hours. Much needed after staying up most of the night in the airport (as fun as that was!). Woke up and explored the city myself in the morning. I knew that I had to find pulpo, which is a traditional Galician dish (octopus!!). I love seafood but I did have my reservations about trying it...I mean, calamari is good, but I've never had anything with the suction cups on it or anything like that. But aside from being a little too salty for my taste, it was REALLY delicious, and everyone should definitely come to Spain and try some.
Pulpo...so good!
That was the end of my time up in Santiago. Boarded a bus for 15 hours (yikes!) to Seville. It was, well, unpleasant. I could have flown, but I saved the money on a night's accommodations by taking the bus overnight. Even with the sleeping pill, sleep just didn't happen too much. We stopped a few times along the way for 20 minute breaks at little restaurants to go to the bathroom and eat so that was good...was definitely worried about a 15 hour bus ride with no bathroom. But now I am in beautiful Seville and I am in love. It's beautiful...very typical Spain. I'm going to go out and explore now... ¡Nos vemos!
urgh those palm trees! <3 looks so beautiful!!
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