Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is most famous for being the end of the road, that road being the eponymous Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage path or paths that run all the way from the southwest of France, along the northern coast of Spain and down to the Galician capital. 

After my winter trip, I made it a priority to see more of Spain, so during a puente in the middle of February, four friends and I hopped on an early morning train out of Chamartín, and cruised 6 hours to a part of Spain that bears more resemblance to Ireland or Scotland than Madrid or Andalucía. 

(a bag pipe player by the cathedral, the greenery isn't the only thing Galicia has in common with Ireland/Scotland)

Rainy and verdant, Galicia is also home to its own language gallego, more or less a mash-up of Spanish and Portuguese. Galicia sits like a hat on top of Portugal just to the south, and all the signs in Santiago de Compostela are in both languages.  Even when they are speaking Spanish, Galicians are famous for their musical accent, sounding oddly similar to Italian native speakers speaking Spanish.  In other words, although we were still in Spain, it felt a lot like being in a completely different country.

Galicia is renowned for having some of the best seafood on the planet.  With the Atlantic Ocean close by, the bounty of the deep is integral to their regional cuisine.  Pulpo a la gallega is one of the cornerstones of Spanish gastronomy, and, as its name suggests, is freshest and at its best in Galicia.  As a veritable pulpo fiend, this was enough to lure me into coming, and I was not disappointed. 

Besides octopus, you have a menagerie of shellfish, ranging from prawns to clams to mussels to scallops, and all kinds of other fish.  As I’ve discussed previously, the local tap water, i.e. Estrella Galicia, is the best of the basic Spanish beers, but they also boast incredibly good wine, specifically the white wine Albariño.  It doesn’t get any better than a chilled white with seafood.

We also lucked out with the best Air BnB I’ve ever stayed in. (I’ve looked for the ad itself to no avail, but it was around Ponte Sarela, right along the Sarela River and just north of Costa do Cano.  It’s a rural house, set on a beautiful piece of land, with the river just below, and the Camino itself runs right by the outside gate.  We woke up each morning to the sound of the river and roosters crowing.  That’s it.  When we arrived, our host, besides being ridiculously personable and informative, brought us a bizcocho (lemon cake) that his wife had just made that was STILL WARM out of the oven, and left us with eggs, coffee, milk, as well as a six pack of Estrella Galicia. 

(camellias are the flowers of Galica) 

The area around the house was gorgeous, as green as green could get, and we had all the privacy we could ever want.  Although slightly outside of the city, we were only a 20 minute or so walk from the Cathedral, which is right in the center of the old part of the city.  It was pretty far from the train station, so we had to take a cab, but whatever.  

The absolute best part of the whole deal was that there was a brown and white husky named Lupa who roamed freely on the property and who was absolutely one of the sweetest pups I’ve ever come across.  She never barked and was so well behaved that you couldn’t drag her into the house. 

In so far as sights go, the Cathedral is magnificent, and of all the cathedrals I’ve seen in Europe, it’s the most impressive.  Although the exterior façade was being restored, with scaffolding and the whole bit, the interior and the courtyard area were breathtaking.  I’m not normally one to be super into going inside cathedrals, but this was absolutely worth it.  

We saw several groups of peregrinos (pilgrims who have done the camino) outside the cathedral, waiting for mass, and it must be an indescribable experience to reach such a beautiful place after so much effort.  The camino is definitely on my bucketlist. 

There wasn’t much of a party scene per se, especially after being used to Madrid’s electric nights, and although we ended up being in the city during Carnival, celebration was fairly muted, probably due in large part to the unceasing rain.  Still, the tapas and food scene was next level, and we bar hopped quite happily around the old town, so much so that we forgot to pay at a restaurant and were followed (rather calmly to her credit) by a waiter for a block or so before we realized our mistake.

It was a very Spanish weekend, lots of tapas, lots of good wine, many cañas.  And to walk home by the cathedral and through the historic center, then hitting the winding road that led to the river and entering into the gate of our airbnb, being greeted by Lupa before going to sleep to the sound of the river, was an incredibly welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of Madrid. 

For more information, I highly recommend checking out a veritable auxiliar legend's blog, A Texan in Spain, run by a guy named Trevor who lived and worked in Santiago de Compostela for two years.  Santiago de Compostela and Galicia more generally should be a must visit for anyone spending time in Spain.  It's like nowhere else in the country.