A Santiago voy!

On Wednesday, whose name should really be changed to Wetnessday because so much rain fell, I went to Santiago de Compostela. I wanted to show it to a friend who is visiting and Santiago is one of those places which can still look splendid and monumental even in the rain. Granted it looks much better set against a clear blue sky but it impresses even on a rainy day. And it is a place where it can rain when there is sunshine in the rest of the region. 

   

So we went off in the fast train from Vigo, about 40 minutes instead of an hour. The journey is less picturesque, however, as you spend a lot of time hurtling through tunnels. In some ways it's not unlike going from the UK to France through the Channel Tunnel: nothing to see at all. A fellow teacher and I did once persuade some students that if they looked carefully they could see fish in the Channel. Their belief lasted for several minutes before the penny drooped. It's amazing how gullible even sixteen-year-olds can be! 

And just after midday we were in Galicia's capital city and heading up the hill to the old quarter in a taxi, saving my friend's rather arthritic legs for sight-seeing walking. After we had walked for a while, donning our raincoats as the rain started, admiring the covered archways and the statue of Cervantes on his little column in his own square, eventually "la tromba" - the heavy Galician downpour - caught us and we took refuge in a cafe for hot chocolate, for my semi-frozen friend, and green tea, for me. 

After more tramping, and a bit of sheltering in the archway leading to the huge obradoiro square in front of the catedral, which we shared with a young lady gaita player and lots of other soggy tourists and pilgrims, we made it to the cathedral itself. The front entrance is all blocked off because they are working on restoring the grand old portico. So we had to walk round into the square called Platería in Castilian Spanish and Pratería in Galician. Presumably silversmiths had their workshops there in the past. A few shops selling expensive stuff made of silver still remain. 

I never fail to be impressed by Santiago's cathedral - so much ornate stuff, so much gold, so many side chapels. And then there is the silver casket/coffin supposedly holding the remains of Saint James the apostle himself. He must have been quite a small chap, judging by the size of the casket. 

I was struck by the nonchalant disregard of some of the visitors for the notices in some sections of the cathedral, the ones that remind us that these areas are for people who want to pray and request us to be quiet and please not to take photos. Click, click! Chatter, chatter! So it goes! 

Cathedraled out, we went in search of lunch. It was getting a little late but we found a crèperie where we shared a small mixed salad (heaven knows how big a large one would have been) and a Popeye savoury pancake, so named because it contained spinach! Very good and with a glass of wine each the total bill was under €20. Not bad at all for a place close to the cathedral. 

As the sun had come out briefly we thought we might walk around the alameda. No chance! Two minutes in, the rain began again so we took refuge in a cafe before going down tot he station and back to Vigo. 

There are worse ways to spend a rainy Wetnessday!