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| Hotel A Quinta da Auga |
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| Our Breakfast Room |
Skies rapidly cleared this morning becoming sunny, cool, and breezy. After a delicious breakfast, recepción ordered a taxi for us as we didn't want to drive into the central maze of the old city of Santiago de Compostela. After winding around narrow streets, the taxi driver dropped us off nearly in front of the Cathedral, the twin granite towers of which, unfortunately, were covered in scaffolding and cloth. Just inside is the original facade built in 1168 with Santiago (St.James) himself seated below Jesus.
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| The Scaffolded Front of the Cathedral |
A column in front has five grooves worn in the stone by the millions of pilgrims who have touched it. These ancient buildings are in need constant repair, but to have the whole front inaccessible was disappointing. There were hundreds of pilgrims wandering about and masses of tour groups with color-coded badges and leaders waving flags marching here and there.
We got inside through a side entrance and walked around. There is a massive organ in the center that would be wonderful to hear. The sides of the church are lined with confessionals, most with priests inside and people confessing or chatting face to face with them. The main altar is a rather unbelievable mass of gold figures and decoration.
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| The Gold Altar |
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| St. James embraced by a Pilgrim |
A gold figure of St James sits in the middle and a long line of pilgrims/tourists were climbing steps up behind the altar and embracing the statue from behind one by one. After doing this and confessing, pilgrims are said to have finished their journey.
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| A Street in Santiago |
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| Couldn't Resist This Sign! |
We stepped into the cathedral shop to wait for mass, but weren't allowed back inside the church, so we left and walked around the winding and very hilly streets. We found a colorful market that the front desk lady at the hotel had recommended and it was worth it! There were many long granite buildings with stone floors, all with a stone trough down the middle for hosing down after the days sales. One had meat from snout to tail, another a fantastic display of seafood, one of fruits and vegetables - and all very clean and odor-free.
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| Market with Grooved Stone Floor |
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| A Fish Market Stall |
She had also suggested that we visit a smaller church down below the town. We walked a long ways through complicated streets and under a freeway before we finally found the eleventh century Colxiata (Collegiate Church) Santa María a Real do Sar, a lovely, plain building in Romanesque style with flying buttresses. There was no stained glass or gold, but the massive granite columns holding up the church inside were all tilted! We read various theories (earthquakes, etc), but there are no cracks and Bob thinks they must have been designed that way - a pretty amazing architectural feat way back then.
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| Colxiata Santa María |
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| The Tilting Columns of Santa María |
We walked back uphill to a taxi stand and got a ride back to our hotel. As it was 3 PM we decided it was a good chance to try the excellent hotel restaurant as it's open until 4 and not again until 9:30. We ordered the lobster risotto.
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| Goat Cheese Salad |
After a delicious salad of an aged goat cheese slab with beet green, plums, pineapple and pomegranate on top, contained in a savory wafer crust, the waiter wheeled up a side table and gave us tools! We were expecting rice with a few chunks of lobster, but he brought out a paella pan full of saffron risotto and a whole halved lobster.
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| Lobster Risotto! |
The shells were pretty well cracked, but still - we were messily covered in wonderful rice trying to get all the meat out! It was fabulous, and afterwards he brought two tureens containing lemon slices and a small white tablet over which he poured hot water. The tablet unfurled into a towel and we were able to clean up pretty well.
We split a hazelnut desert and went up for a nap.
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