This morning our breakfast was provided by the backpackers! What luxury to wake up and not needing to look for breakfast.
It is really all just simple food, toast, mini croissant and muffins. But terrific all the same.
We got to meet a few other fellow backpackers as well as exchange a few friendly greetings with the staff, he actually remembered my name! He very politely offered to make everyone coffee which was very good of him.
Heading out after a relaxing breakfast our first stop is the markets, I've seen this place recommended by the travel author Rick Steve and it was really worth the trip.
The mercado is a large stone structure separated by sections, meat, seafood, vegetables, dry goods etc.
I really like it because it had a sense of antiquity remaining by it's structure mixed with modern trading.
Look at these live scampy! 21 euros per kilo!
Here is a milk vending machine, Martin joked that there is a live cow inside!
Next we visited the convent of Saint Paio de Antealtares.
This is a convent for cloistered nuns, so we don't actually get to meet them, but we did see a side window where there is a door bell, we saw a lady go there to buy freshly made pastas from the sisters there! Pretty cool!
They also have a small museum for a cheap entry fee of 1.5 euros which displays artifacts of there convents historical founding. Very interesting, best part was most of the major descriptions had English translations.
Photos of the chapel which they do open to the public.
A gorgeous little dog at the side steps of the cathedral. He was very insistence on playing fetch. Reminds me of our girl Bobo back home.
Now this second dog, well.. If you have ever seen those YouTube videos of dogs that refuses to walk, here he is!
The owner had to pick this little one up in the end!
I didn't mention in my previous blog of the music street performers all around the cathedral. Mostly playing traditional Galician music, the sounds of the instrument reminds me of cheery irish bag pipes. Probably doesn't do it justice, but that is the best description I can come up with.
Imagine being a pilgrim and finishing the massive long walk that could have taken months, to be welcomed into the square by these lively happy sounds.
This is Church of San Miguel. Martin's first comment was this is the same name as the beer!!
Some beautiful wall motifs.
I thought this Mary of the Rosary very beautiful, like the Mary of Lourdes.
We later visited the Museum of Pilgrims. It is free entry and I think it is worth the visit if you ever go to S de C.
This is Saint Roch. One of the pilgrim saints that is often requested for intercession in the middle ages, he is said to be a patron saints for avoidance of the plague!
I also found out the word Compostela actually refers to the certificates given to pilgrims upon their completion of the pilgrimage. The certificate not only shows they have finished the journey, but also guarantees special treatments and aid given to pilgrims on their way back home. The clam shell is taken home from the nearby coast as a moment.
On exhibition was also pilgrimage notebooks designed for a celebration in 2010.
All the items on exhibitions were very detailed and crafted with lots of attention. The exhibition will end in September so I'm really glad we got to see it.
Here are changes of images of St James over time.
Look at this final painting which portraits St James as a knight! You can see the Moors being overcome, this is when the Spanish were fighting moorish invasion from the south.
We also visited the Museo do Pobo Galego (Galician museum). The sight was originally a Dominican Convent.
This museum building is famous for this set of stairs. It is actually a triple helix.
Clay facial mask?
Actually a scarecrow mask.
The museum also housed modern arts. I love this painting simple because I've actually visited the place. This is the Convent of San Paio de Antealares.
The old chapel of the Dominican Convent.
There was also a Parthenon of Great Galician. I think these people must have done great service to the Galician region during their lifetime to have earned a place here. One of the person resting here was a women named Rosalia. I don't fully understand the Galician inscriptions but I think she had something to do with the setting up of a Hospital during war periods. There may have been a recent memorial as the flowers there were just starting to wilt.
One final church for the day. The chapel of Souls.
A church dedicated for Purgatory souls. Not many people visited this church, but I thought it must be one of the most prayer encouraging chapel in the city. A pity we do not have such churches back home.
By now, the time was around 7pm, we were quite hungry. We spotted this giant chocolate pastry in a patisserie for only 0.90 euros.
We wandered down the hill to a seafood bar and restaurant, we noticed earlier in the day. Northern Spain is famous for it's seafood and being our last night we thought we should give it a go. The waiter managed to convince us to try the 60 euros seafood platter for four which was on special.
This was the very keen and eloquent waiter!
All except the giant crab, everything was perfectly cooked.
I don't think I have had so much seafood all in one go.
This is not the end to our evening. We wandered back to the Plaza in front of the Cathedral thinking to take some night photos.
There was a group of Galician performers there and I got invited to dance! Very unexpected but a terrifically fun experience here.
Of cos, being European men, they asked for a kiss of gratitude after the dance. I had to give kisses to all of the musicians!
I also brought their CD afterwards, how can you not once you have been wooed with beautiful Galician music?!
There was also a Spanish film crew in the plaza who were filming some sort of music video to Katy Perry's Firework. This was one a flying video camera controlled by the man you can see on the side.
They were really awesome. There were jugglers, stilted clowns, sparklers, flame throwers... I manage to take a video. Unfortunately it has been difficult to load the video link here. Please keep your eyes peeled for update video. (sorry, the central actress was not Katy!!)
An absolutely packed day in S de C, a beautiful city. Lots of good memories for me, most especially memorable on this last night here.
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Beautiful city! Thanks for the updates. I saw the flying camera (exactly the same look) at the Wynyard Quarter opening on Saturday 6th August, that was cool!
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