Day Two... Much Better

So I set out this morning determined to have a better day. I woke up, got ready, and set out for a walk around town. I had two goals, finding food, and doing some sight seeing. I only accomplished one of these. But I had a good reason for not finding food on my first outing.


I got lost. By the time I was found my feet hurt so I'm back at the hostel right now changing shoes, and charging my electronics. Around 4ish I'll meet up with others who are also here early and hopefully we'll get food together as well as visit the famous cathedral. Which I did manage to find after being lost, and that's how I managed to find my way back to my hostel.

So I set out this morning in search of the Cathedral, of which I have a great view of from my window. You wouldn't think it would be hard to find given that its the largest and most recognizable building in town, but once you get down in the old cobble stone streets things get a bit tricky. I aimed for the dome with the cross on top, not realizing that a lot of the big buildings here have domes and crosses. And that's how I ended up at this first picture. I am somewhere near the Museum of the People of Galacia. I'd wandered into this park with a big impressive entrance thinking that it looked promising. There was no one around but me, making me slightly worried that I shouldn't be there. But this building was cool, and I was lost so I wandered through. This is some sort of religious structure (almost everything old here is) but its either not in use, or simple not open. I only saw one open window that looked like someone might live there. There are a lot of nuns and priests around so my other guess is that this might be housing for them.

 This is from that same place. The gardens were lovely filled with old stone structures and bright flowers. Galacia is very green, warm during the day, and chilly at night. The garden was criss-crossed with stone walls and a few stone ruins.

 Finally! Here is the cathedral, its absolutely huge, but I won't bore you with too much description. Just pick up any old travel book, or read anything on Santiago de Compestela and this is the first thing mentioned. There were pilgrims every where in the square, and bagpipe music filled the air from someone playing in a tunnel near by.

 Is there someone dead in there? I certainly hope so. There is also a coffin in the basement, and they say is holds the bones of Saint James. Whether or not their James', I don't know.

Santiago has street pipers. I saw two in my walk this morning. Yeah, you wish you were somewhere that had street pipers. According to the guy who runs the dig (who is also from here), bagpipes are the instrument of Galacia. Don't ask anyone to flamenco dance, they don't do that here. Nor do they bull fight. Galacia is a very un-Spanish part of Spain. They apparently have more in common with Ireland and Scotland, than the rest of Spain, and everyone in Santiago is proud of it.

Over all I find my morning trek fruitful, still need to go find some food. But doctoring up my poor feet was more important. I love my chacos, but they do not love me. More to come while I'm in Santiago, but keep in mind I've no idea the state of the internet when I'm on the dig. Cheers!