Santiago de Compostela (Feb 11)

We took our final night train from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela, in the Northwest of Spain. The conductor woke Jen up for our stop, but apparently our tickets stuck together so Andrew did not get a friendly wake up! Luckily, he awoke on his own in time. When we arrived in Santiago, it was raining, so we decided to wait it out in the train station and journal for a while. Well, 2 hours later when the journaling was all caught up, it was raining harder!! So we pulled up our hoods and headed out!

Santiago is the #3 pilgrimage location in the world, after Israel and Rome. In the morning we visited el Museo das Peregrinacions (written in Gallego, the language of NW Spain). The museum was free on Sunday mornings, and at the end of our travels we were excited for anything free! Nothing incredibly notable at the museum, just nice to learn some history of this spot. We ate lunch at the small restaurant "Los Sobrinos del Padre" where Andrew got clams with his Caldo Gallego. Very traditional.

After lunch we moved to the highlight of this stop... the Cathedral which "houses the remains of St. James". The story goes that his remains were "rescued" from Jerusalem after his decapitation, put in a small boat, and sailed here by 2 disciples through the Mediterranean and Atlantic ocean in order to hide his bones. They were rediscovered in 813 by a monk led by the stars. At that time, Spain was fighting against the Moors and needed to unite as Christian. Convenient, no?

By this time, it was POURING! So we boarded our last train and arrived soaking wet in A Coruna at 4pm. Nate Finch was there to pick us up! (Remember him? He played and sang at our wedding.) It was raining here too, so he gave us a driving tour of the city, took us to get coffee, then to his place to rest for a bit and catch up. This was our first chance to tell someone about our Europe adventures, so he got more than he bargained for when he asked "How's your trip going?"

We picked up Jerry Reed for dinner and had Spanish tortilla, salad with oil and vinegar, white wine, potatoes (french fries), and delicious pork with garlic. After food and wine, it was back to Jerry's to sleep. We were cashed!