Day 55 - Santiago de Compostela

It was a bright but chilly morning when I ventured out into the narrow streets around my hotel to get a coffee. There were already walkers arriving in the city, heading purposely down the old and narrow streets and towards the cathedral square.

I spent the first part of the morning in the small Pilgrim Museum next to the Cathedral and although I had already been there twice before on previous visits to the city it is an interesting place on the history of pilgrimage and of Santiago de Compostela. I then headed to the cathedral square to meet Russ, the Australian with whom I had spent time on and off in the last few weeks. We watched the comings and goings of today's walkers for a while, feeling the joy of their arrival while enjoying the fact that our efforts were now over and a day of relaxation stretched out before us. On leaving we agreed to meet up later at the fish stalls near the market to eat.

The afternoon was taken up with a leisurely lunch of plates of shellfish and glasses of wine, relaxing around the city and an afternoon siesta away from the heat of the day before making an early evening visit to the cathedral prior to meeting Russ again at the adjacent square to check out the evening music concert.  The square was already a sea of people and from the massive stage there came a mix of a live radio broadcast and live music, although mostly the former. After an hour however I had had my fill of unknown music and unknown bands and, with Russ having left a while before, I headed back to my nearby hotel where I managed to experience the rest of the concert into the early hours while trying to sleep in my room.