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Published: October 9th 2015
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Mon: 3-leg fight to Santiago The trip really started on Sunday morning at 1am when I woke up to beat jetlag. We made it on 4am shuttle to SFO no problem. Shuttle was surprisingly full. First leg to DC was a success with decent sleep. 2hr break with Au Bon Pain sandwich, a fruit cup and a pretzel. 7-hr second leg will be to Madrid, I caught up with a few movies (Wild and Cinderella) and I closed my eyes. Hola Madrid otra vez! We had good 3hrs until the third leg. I made it a point to stay hydrated but was still thirsty. It called for a reunion with a bottle Aquarius. Finally at 1pm, we arrived at Santiago airport. The line for a bus to the city center was really long but we made it. For 3E a pop, we were at plaza ... A short walk got us to our lodging for the next two days.
First thing first, we have to pay homage to the cathedral. I've seen it many times on tve. It's an important cathedral in Spain. When pope visits Spain, the royals meet him here. Praza do Obradoiro was a few minute
walk backtracing Camino de Fisterra. Praza wasn't too crowded. It was nice to see many people with big backpacks and walking poles taking refuge in the praza. Did they arrive today? Must have been a epic journey.
From Praza do Obradoiro, we continued on to A Tulla. Our Airbnb host was amazing! She gave us lots of recommendations that were spot on! A Tulla, we dove into pulpo a feira. That was at the top of my list! On the menu written in Gallego, I also spied licor de cafe. I wanted to knock that one out of my list too because I will have to refrain from too much alcohol tomorrow. And to drink, we asked for water because, after all, we're here to run. The waiter looked at us sideways. He said "with octopus, wine, red wine, Licor after, just saying." Haha, ok, we'll do it the Gallego way. He couldn't have been more right. Red wine went so well with super tender boiled octopus with drizzled olive oil. He said water fights with oil. Good point. More importantly, I didn't know octopus didn't have to be chewy!! A little olive oil and paprika...oh my. We were
beyond happy with the octopus, I told him we didn't need the licor. He said ok and came back with a bottle and a shot glass...?! He said it was homemade and gave me a shot on the house!! Gotta teach these clueless tourists, eh? 😉. I am so glad because it was super yummy, like a candy!!
Well, it had been a long day and we were in much need of a good rest. We grabbed empanadas de bacalau and tarta de Santiago from a bakery, ate them at the praza, picked up salad from the supermarket and called it a day.
Tue: Discovering Santiago Good morning! Surprisingly a great sleep! Conveniently, our lodging was around the corner from A Tertulia. We had coffee and rustic toast there. V's loaded jamon toast was amazing!! The cafe is right at the end of the old town along the way to Fisterra. Seeing pilgrims walk past the window brought the emotions high. After a satisfying breakfast, We followed suit to preview the path as it will be dark when we run by here tomorrow morning. 30 min in and back through lush green single path was
beautiful. I'm glad we saw it now because we wouldn't be seeing this in darkness tomorrow morning. Also, I'm glad we went over some turns because, although it is marked, signs aren't lit, of course.
Seeing all the pilgrims headed toward Fisterra made us weary of not having reserved a room for tomorrow. Especially because we'll be the late-arrivers. Much-raved Albergue do mar was unreacheable. But I managed to book the beds close by. By the time we finished, it was almost time for the pilgrim mass. Why not, check it out. Praza do Obradoiro was swarming with people; a huge transformation from yesterday. Mass was also crazy. People were flooding out of this jumbo cathedral. We scored a standing spot just behind the rope with a close view of the main stage. It went on for 1.5hrs of singing, Spanish sermon, bread and smoke. It's definitely worse a visit. I had a flashback few days later and realized that the ladies sitting in front of us at the foot of the pillar will be cheering us on tomorrow.
We left the mass starving and headed straight to Mercado de Abastos. Market was rather quiet and some corridors
were even empty. There weren't much eateries except pulpo de feira stand. Looked and smelled amazing but we didn't want to repeat so soon. Deeper into it, we saw people eating at a row of high table in the middle of the market isle. It read: bring items from the market and we'll cook for you for 4E. People were having oysters, clams, shrimps, lobsters, crabs etc. etc. and looked amazing! We didn't know what to expect but got a small bundle of string clam and fresh-looking prawns for ~5E ea. We're committed at this point because there is no taking back these seafood. The guy took the order at the window and told us the earliest will be 3p seating. Oh c'mon! We were so hungry! Looked like there were enough seats but I guess the tiny stall kitchen was backed up.
Fine. We had to tie ourselves over until 3p. Without wasting too much time searching, we landed a bocadillo with tortilla. It surprisingly went well in a sandwich! Of course, tarta de Santiago for me. 3p came quick. With refreshing Galician white wine, clams were super delish in garlic and prawns were meaty...so good. Wish we
Jamón!!!
A Tertulia bought more.
At 4p, it was time to focus on our biggest task here. We had to surrender our luggage to the storage tonight. We'll be living off of minimal things in our packs. By 7p, we got it done. Back in our pad, we made sandwich and turned out. So excited and anxious at the same time, I couldn't sleep at all but made my body stay shut...with hourly bell from the cathedral in the background.
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