Santiago de Compostela

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The Atlantic coast in winter - with the wrong roll of the dice it could be death by precipitation...



...We'll that roll of the dice went completely against me. After a scenic route from Palermo, via Milan and Madrid, the descent into a huge hailstorm in Santiago was something of shock: The rest of the journey had been through cloudless skies, chasing a drawn out sunset across the south of France, the horizon dividing the dark blue of the sea and the lighter blue sky with a band slowly melting from yellow to purple - then finally sealing together in a seamless blue. Taxis were not much in evidence on arrival (at midnight) but eventually one came before I succumbed completely to hypothermia.

That my first purchase in Spain was a brolly says it all; rain, gales, thunder that made the shutters rattle - and when the weather thought it wasn't getting enough of a rise out of me it decided to throw in some gravel sized hail... Still, this was seeing the city in the weather it was built for - the sheltered arcades along most of the streets and the galerias, the glassed in balconies peculiar to the area - perfect for such a damp climate. And even in the gloom (or perhaps because of it) the Cathedral was an imposing sight - almost semi-orgarnic in appearance with lichen, moss and even the odd bit of shrubbery nestling amongst the innumerable carvings and statues - like a piece of Angkor Wat dropped in to NW Spain. It's hardly surprising it could draw people from across medieval Europe on pilgrimage, despite the possibility of being caught up (and possibly carved up) in the intermittent skirmishes of the Reconquista.

The next day brought even more rain but finally the sun started to break through. The brolly was embattled but unbowed - sustaining a small tear and a few inversions, it wasn't quite symmetrical anymore - however it had fared better than most, every shady or sheltered corner littered with the mangled remains of umbrellas that didnt make it.

I spent most of the day in the sun, taking in the city views from the hill opposite and looking at the strange seafood on offer in restuarant windows - I couldn't quite bring myself to try the Galician speciality Pulpos - boiled octopus, as presented in the window tentacles with all the suckers outermost just didn't appeal (though garlic prawns are nice...). The modern art gallery was my last stop, something of a bizarre exhibition themed around movement and wind power with a plastic bag blowing round in a huge bowl and the childishly entertaining video of a radio control helicopter bouncing off the walls of a very small room as it slowly disintegrates...

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Photos

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Cathedral Spires

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Santiago Cathedral Greenery (and rain...)

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Santiago Cathedral - Romanesque (?)

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Through the trees...

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Santiago - the old city