Yet Another Year Abroad: Welcome to Madrid: Santiago de Compostela: Days 1 and 2

I know it might be bad form to post twice in one day, but now here's the up-to-date stuff. I'm currently in Santiago de Compostela, a town south of Ferrol by about an hour on bus. It's the final destination of the Camino de Santiago, or the Sain James Way, a thousand-year-old sacred pilgrimage with a network of routes, the most famous stretching across all of Norther Spain. Here's the Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James

Now on to Compostela. This city is amazing. I find it slightly ironic, yet perfectly appropriate that I'm beginning my journey abroad where thousands of people end their own every day.

I landed yesterday in Santiago de Compostela at 1:55 in the afternoon. Six in the morning California time. Riding the bus into town I felt right at home, as we passed woods and gardens with plants and trees quite similar to Northern California. The architecture is simple, and more reminiscent of Ireland than anything I’ve ever seen in Spain. Which makes sense, with the region’s Celtic past.

My hostel is the Albergue Meiga. It took me a while to find it, as I attempted to walk, but immediately got lost. When I finally conceded to asking a cab driver to drive me there, he couldn’t interpret my stilted pronunciation of the place, which I was calling the Hostal Meiga, until I gave him the address, and he asserted it was an albergue, not a hostal. I asked what the difference was, and he explained it quite clearly—that there was just a subtle difference, and had I mentioned the Albergue, he would have known immediately where to drop me. I was just grateful that his accent was understandable, and everyone speaks Castellano here. The signs are in the regional dialect, Galego, which is a cross between Portugues and Castellano (Spanish) as I understand it, and all the natives speak the dialect, but fortunately they’re not lazy about language, and everyone speaks perfect Spanish as well. The two women sharing my room are Americans, one is teaching abroad as well, and is from Sacramento, so it was nice to come so far to find someone from home! The hostal is so clean, friendly and safe I feel spoiled.

This city is incredible. The history seeps into every crack in the architecture, and the juxtaposition of modern and historic is astounding. I wandered around yesterday without a map, which is how I like to do it, and though I had set a few specific errands for myself, once I took off I knew I wasn’t going to get anything of consequence done. I ended up just walking as much as I could.

I didn't bring my camera, but I stumbled upon a random capilla and watched the sun set between the campanas (bell towers). I took this photo today of the place, so imagine this with the sun setting, and that was my first evening view in Spain.

I continued to walk, stumbled into a convent, which was gorgeous, but mass was in session, so didn’t actually feel courageous enough to go inside. I then walked the old quarter of town, following the winding cobblestone streets to the main (and very famous) Cathedral. It was easy to find. The towers are the tallest thing around, and there were increasingly frequent street musicians as I approached. Pilgrims, tourists and locals passed through the plaza in front of the Cathedral and I finished the sunset out on a ledge overlooking the hills to my west, with the Cathedral’s immense façade behind me.

Spent the rest of the walk listening to the explosive manner in which Spaniards communicate, and smelling the delicious and familiar scents of tapas, cigarettes, and centuries old stone that are only possible in Spain. It’s a world away from Granada, but still retains the wonderfully simple food and spirit of life that I remember. I love it here, and now I’ve been reminded why.

Thursday, September 23:

This morning we went to Church! My two American roomies and I went to noon Mass at the Cathedral today. THE Cathedral. We waited in a line that wrapped around the corner to get into the cathedral, to crowd into the back if the cathedral surrounded by Spaniards and extranjeros (foreigners) alike. The sermon was given in Latin and Castellano, and was pretty impressive. I haven't ever actually sat through a Catholic mass, so I was stoked to have my first experience in Spain. The incense burner was half the size of a person, and they had it hung from the ceiling, swinging it through the entire knave. Here's the video I took of the padres walking in:

Ok, need to go get a phone and do some errands, here are some other random wonderful photos of the city