June 27—Santiago de Compostela, Day 2

Dear Family and Friends,

Day 44, June 27, the feeling settled in that it was our last day in Spain for a while—and we carried that sentiment with us throughout the day. As we prepared to depart our beloved second homeland, we hoped to hold onto our admiration of this country’s offerings, our love of the language and culture here, for the rest of our adventures. We awoke to the grinding of the rotisserie below us once again and headed up to find the local post office and to explore more elements of the small city, specifically the cultural museum that highlighted the Galicia way of life and perhaps the contemporary art museum.

Our flight out of Santiago was scheduled for the next day on RyanAir, a budget airline that had a restriction on the weight of luggage checked on the plane, so we decided to mail some of our papers from different exhibits in Madrid and beyond, as well as a few gifts for folks. It took us quite a while to find the local Correo post office, even though we had passed it the day before, and finally Dani asked some locals (identified by their keys in the door of an apartment building) and we found our way. Twenty-six euro later, we had paid for about two kilograms of schtuff to be delivered to Martha’s parents, which was a painful expense, but still brought our total flight-related costs to less than $100 for the two of us! So, it was ‘worth it’ not to carry additional baggage for the next five months, and we satiated our frugal minds and tried to forget the extra expense with a nice cup of café con leche at a local coffee shop.

The day was passing quickly with all the wandering (yes, we were lost, but in the good way that showed us back streets of the town). We wanted to find a late lunch and a gift to take to Markus’ parents since we had been invited to stay with them for part of our time in Germany. We back-tracked up and down the city a number of times, doing a lot of window shopping and trying to hunt down a certain restaurant with a 10 euro menu del dia that we had seen the day before, with many choices and many locals enjoying the cuisine. We decided to pick up some local cheese (that would travel well for four to five days, according to one of the local cheese matrons) and chorizo for Markus’ parents, found our restaurant-destination packed, and headed on to find a different option. We were looking for some paella and calamari specifically, and eventually found a little restaurant where we could enjoy a taste of each and another local bottle of table wine taboot.

We spent most of the day in the Museo do Pobo Galego (photos starting with the columns above, left)—the local cultural museum showcasing the culture and traditions of the Galicia region—housed largely in the remains of an old convent and its church. It was fascinating, covering much of the region’s history from linguistic politics to maintaining its Celtic roots to basket weaving, instrument development, and local customs and dress. Dani was particularly taken with the section showing how lace is created, with interwoven spools of white thread wrapped around needles. Martha loved the large fisherman’s area, with a couple of real-life vessels, descriptions of styles of fishing techniques for specific sealife, and even a model of a fishing town. Oh, the models were neat, showing town layouts, old building structures, and 3-D presentations of how the villagers decided to develop their homesteads. Shoe making, plowing, metal work, an awesome staircase of three levels that interwove like lace, video, old photos, model classrooms, stories of superstition and fertility ceremonies, paintings by local artists, the political struggles of the gentleman who created the museum, and more occupied us for several hours. We highly recommend this stop to anyone who is interested in learning about the people in the NW of Spain as it was really a spectacular and educational way to spend most of the day—and it was free to enter!

Next, we wandered down to check out the contemporary art museum, decided that the entry fee was too high for us for such a risky topic as modern art, did some more shopping from there, and before we knew it, the evening was closing in on us; the time was pleasantly passed trying the Estrella Galicia regional cerveza and another taste of wine. Back to the Catedral, we found the plaza had been sectioned off for some wrestling exhibition in the evening. We then entered the sacred space for some quiet time and the 7:30 PM service.

The service did not last long, and we were again taken with the rigidness of the mass, which is performed three times a day in this pilgrimage town and may have lost its freshness for the priests delivering the Good News. Back on the streets with hours before bedtime, Dani ran up the hill to buy the cheese and chorizo at its ‘freshest possible’ while Martha ran back to the hostel quickly. We met up again by the cathedral, returned to the hostel to drop off our day bags, and took the long-way back into the city to hunt for dinner. Our first attempt at a recommended tapas-place was too busy to get a seat, but we were very pleased with our final-choice destination, where we sat before some very fresh seafood in silver trays. The day's shellfish were still moving and squirming and sticking out their feet and feelers to check out the other tasty morsels in the tray. Hours of enjoyment. (We took video that we’ll post to YouTube as soon as we have more reliable Internet connection.) First, we were served mussels with diced onions and peppers; next, local cheese with our beverages; finally, ordering some more calamari for Dani and little green, grilled pimiento de Padron for Martha. Back past the glorious Catedral one last time, we arrived at the hostel, not too late tonight because the next day’s travel began early. We packed, showered, and headed to sleep.

Much love,

Martha and Dani