Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña

Buenas noches y buenos dias a todos!

This weekend, we found ourselves trekking through parts of Spain that we hadn't even read about in the travel books. It was fulfilling to tackle Santiago de Compostela and A Coruña without the use of tour buses, travel guides and yelp. We stumbled upon centuries old cathedrals, a Roman lighthouse that dates back almost two millennia, and tapas made from coagulated pig's blood...(one of these things is not like the other). 

To give you an idea of the timeline of our trip, we left Barcelona for Santiago de Compostela on Thursday afternoon, and on Saturday we headed for a day trip to A Coruña. Yes - that's like a vacation within a vacation within a vacation - like Inception but with vacations. We got out of the bus in a dilapidated, lackluster part of Santiago and thought to ourselves, "is this it?" Luckily, it wasn't. As we walked to our hostel, "Roots and Boots," we passed through the Casco Viejo. This is the old part of the city that draws the most tourism for its centuries old buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, and famous Cathedral in the center of old town. We had fun the first day exploring the Casco Viejo and finding a good tapas restaurant to eat at night. We told the waitress to recommend something strange for us to try, and she recommended Octopus. No big deal. What we didn't realize is that we had already ordered ourselves something called Chorizo de Sangre which is literally sausage made of coagulated pig's blood and rice. It was good until Megan asked the waitress - "this isn't made of meat is it?" and the waitress lamented the gross truth to us. It was still good though - just a little savage. 

First Ryanair discount flight exprience - satisfied!

Cathedral of Santiago. 

The narrow streets of Santiago in Old Town. 

The beach of the Peninsula. 

Chocolate with churros...won't be forgetting this any time soon. 

Saturday was a fun day of exploration. We headed from Santiago to the coastal city of A Coruña by train. We walked all around the peninsula in the cold sun, discovered the promenade full of shops and candy stores, and saw "El Discurso del Rey" - also known as The King's Speech when not dubbed over in Spanish. The coolest part of the day was walking around the ruins and Torre de Hercules on the far end of the Peninsula. I must admit, however, that the mock-Roman ruins were disappointingly not Roman and much more recently made than the cool, 2nd century AD tower that they share the coast with. The pictures, complete with green grass and turquoise water, can do most of the talking here!

Mock-ruins!

Looks kind of like St. Andrews? Are these OB posts? nope...

More mock ruins. 

Green grass, blue water and a tower. 

Ok, didn't notice my pocket was open. Don't fall out, train tickets!

Tower of Hercules

Cool surf fountain!

We ended the trip this morning by attending mass in the 1000 year old cathedral of St. James. The inside was ornate and unlike anything I had seen before. The priest was just as old as the Cathedral itself, so if I'm honest I'll say that I spent most of the time gawking at the interior instead of listening to his quiet Spanish. It was awesome to attend a service in a place that has represented spiritual commitment and sacrifice for hundreds of years, so far away from home. There were a handful of "Pilgrims" (complete with huge backpacks and walking sticks) that had braved the way along the 800 km road to Santiago and ended their journey in the Cathedral with us. Maybe one day I'll come back to Santiago after completing the trek, because it's definitely a place I'll want to revisit when I'm older! Videos to come soon. 

Inside of the Cathedral. 

In front of the altar. 

View from the Cathedral out on the Plaza. 

Until next time!