Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Have you ever heard of the 500 mile pilgrimage in Spain? There was a movie called “The Way” about it several years ago. The pilgrimage ends in Santiago de Compostela. (There are other routes as well, this is the most popular ending spot)
This town in far Western Spain was never on our radar to visit. But since our good friends were walking the Camino de Santiago for the 3rd time, we thought it would be great to meet them at the end and see what this town was all about. We took a high-speed train from Madrid, which took just about 3 hours.
Santiago de Compostela is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town has narrow cobblestone streets, charming shops and restaurants throughout the historic section. Santiago is the capital of Galicia, a recognized “autonomous community” inside of Spain.
I don’t often write about our hotels, but the hotel in Santiago de Compostela was special. It is a former convent called the “Oblatas Convent.” Marriott bought the property a number of years ago and created a 5-star Autograph Collection hotel. (thank goodness for points) What’s special about the hotel is that it maintains the minimalistic antique décor you would expect for a historic hotel. It’s also a 10 minute walk from the center of town so it’s very quiet.
We arrived in the late afternoon. After getting settled, we headed into town. We had an 8:00PM dinner reservation. Note that in Spain 8PM is like senior hour in the US. Much of this country, like much of Europe, eats dinner after 9PM and as late as 11PM. We didn’t care about the time, we were hungry!
We went to a restaurant called Meson 42. The website can be found: HERE. I’d made a reservation. It was so good! We had the Mixto de churrasco (mixed meats). It came with salad and fries. Perfect! We could not finish all the meat, as hard as we tried. Here’s the best part…the entire meal, with a bottle of wine was the equivalent of $37 USD! It would have been 5x that in the US. We were glad we tried this great traditional Galician restaurant.
The next morning the time had come for the whole reason we were here; to meet our friends at the end of their 500 mile trek. So many of the pilgrimage trails end right here at the Catedral Basilica de Santiago de Compostela (Cathedral Basilica de Santiago de Compostela.) The church as it stands today, completed construction in the thirteenth century. However, as early as the 9th century a smaller chapel was built when it was discovered that the tomb of Saint James the Great was on the site. That’s in Saint James one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. Pretty cool!
The moment had arrived. Our friends were arriving after walking almost 500 miles over 4 weeks. This tunnel is the traditional location where the Camino ends. There is a bagpipe player that stands in the tunnel much of the day as the pilgrims end their journey. I have not been able to find out exactly why.
Look for the bright orange poncho for our friends completing their journey. We were not the only ones waiting on this day. It was raining but we did not care.
And here we are, almost 6,000 miles from home, in the rain, meeting up in a tunnel. The moment brought tears to ALL of our eyes.
The traditional picture at the end of the pilgrimage in front of the cathedral.
We have been friends for almost 20 years. This marked the beginning of our 4th trip to Europe together (this one postponed from 2020) and fulfilled a promise I made in 2015 that we’d meet them here.
Now that we’d reconnected, the first order of business was to EAT. (After all this blog is much about food and cooking) We’d had reservations for lunch for weeks at a restaurant called, Dos Rios Parador Santiago de Compostela (Two Rivers Inn) also a hotel. The hotel is an old hospital built in 1499. It claims to be the oldest hotel in the world with many fine works of art and it’s own museum. It’s right in the plaza next to the Cathedral.
Inside was equally impressive, as we were downstairs inside a beautiful cave. We had great wine, traditional scallops and an overall delicious meal. Check out the suckling lamb shoulder with the baked peppers. It was delicious! We have found that lunch is a great option for fine dining, much more reasonably priced!
On our walk back to the hotel we passed through a park. We looked back at this view of the Cathedral. Despite the clouds that continued to hang around, it still was an incredible sight.
On our final day in Santiago de Compostela we had two things in mind, seeing the inside of the beautiful cathedral and visiting the local “market” for lunch.
Remember this cathedral has the remains of one of the 12 apostles. We first stepped into the “nave'“ or center of the cathedral. One unique feature about this cathedral is the thurible, the large incense vessel, suspended from the ceiling. It is the largest thurible in the world, and is swung back and forth only during certain religious holidays. It was a sight to see.
From there, we went down to the crypt under the cathedral. This is where the remains of Saint James as well as Saint Theodorus and Saint Athanasius are. This was discovered in the 9th century and has remained since. Saint James was said to be the original “pilgrim” and all who follow “the way” on their own spiritual journey eventually end in this significant location. It was something to see for sure.
A shot of the beautiful alter. Mass was getting ready to start so we had to leave. It was a spectacular Cathedral to visit, of significant historical features and deep spiritual meaning to so many.
After our cathedral visit, it was time to eat again, so we headed for the outdoor market called, Mercado de Abastos de Santiago de Compostela.
This great indoor/outdoor market sells everything from produce to flowers to seafood and meat. And, they have a whole hall of food stalls where we eventually stopped for lunch. Even though this is a food hall, the sommelier had to help us pick our lunch wine. Only in Europe! We selected a nice Albarino, a great white found all over Spain.
Before we could figure out what we wanted for lunch we were served these delicious steamed mussels, “on the house.”
Of course, the first thing we had to order was the traditional scallops. They were delicious.
Since we were in Galicia, we had to order octopus, a specialty in this region. We are not big fans of octopus, generally, but we were promised, it would be the best we’ve ever had. It was! Not chewy and full of butter and garlic, served on top of potatoes. It was a very different lunch from the Parador, as it was not formal but the food was every bit as good. I would highly recommend a stop to Mercado de Abastos de Santiago de Compostela!
After a great lunch we noted that we were among the few left on the streets of Santiago, as it was siesta time!
One final shot, heading back down the hill to our hotel. The sun was finally beginning to shine on this beautiful, historic town.
We celebrated our last night drinking a bottle of champagne in the gardens of our hotel. It was great to reconnect with our friends and learn a bit about this great town in Spain. Santiago de Compostela is a wonderful spot for a Spanish adventure!
