Sagrada Familia

So, in the race for “Chris’s favorite basilica,” Sagrada Familia and St. Peter’s have always been neck-and-neck. St. Peter’s interior and decorations pretty much blow any other church on earth out of the water (when your the headquarters of the Catholic Church for several hundred years, you tend to collect some swag), but I’ve always loved the exterior of Sagrada Familia so much more.

In a nutshell, Sagrada Familia has the typical cross-shaped layout of a basilica, with the Apse occupying the top section of the cross. The other three arms are tipped with three facades, representing three aspects of Christianity: the Nativity, the Passion, and the Glory (i.e. believers, faith, and the Holy Trinity). The Passion and Nativity Facades are mostly done, but the Glory Façade is just getting started. Currently, it just consists of the door pictured below, with the Lord’s Prayer in Catalan in the center, and the phrase “Give us this day our daily bread” in most of the world’s languages.

The Nativity Façade tells scenes fromthe story of Christ’s birth, including the actual Nativity, the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt, and Jesus teaching as a child in the temple. Modernisme (the architectural movement Gaudi was a member of) focuses a lot on nature, plants, and animals, and it really shows here. This façade is coated in little nubbly bits representing animals, fruit, and flowers surrounding the Biblical scenes. The main entrance through this façade is supported by pillars that end in two large turtles, whose long-lives represent the eternal nature of God’s power. Oh, and true to Barcelona’s orientation “La montans, y la mar” (the mountains and the sea), the turtles represent the city’s surroundings. The turtle on the sea-side of the entrance is a sea turtle, and the turtle on the mountain-side is a mountain tortoise. This imagery also extends to the exterior of the apse, which is covered in small animals “fleeing in awe of the Holy Spirit inside.”

The Passion Façade is, obviously, much more stark and somber, and features the other main aspect of Modernisme: geometry. The entire façade is harsh angles and odd curves, and gives everything a kind of shocked and inhuman feeling. The scenes here reflect the scenes of the Passion (you can see most of them HERE), and the shapes of characters and imagery are all meant to be simplistic and sad. My personal favorite part was the statue of the Ascension, which I forgot to snap a photo of. It’s a brass statue that weighs over 4 TONS, and is sitting on a stone slab waaaaaay up in the air. I also liked the magic square near the scene of Judas’ betrayal (where there are over 300 ways to combine the numbers and get 33, Jesus’ age at death), and the ripping of the sheet in the Temple, where you can see the light and colors of God shining through.

When I was there last, they were just finishing up the roof, and had maybe four stained glass windows in place. Now, the interior structure is mostly complete, and the decorations are nearly there too. But, now that Sagrada Familia’s interior is nearing completion, I have to say, it’s pulled ahead in a massive way. The church is absolutely STUNNING inside. I was blown away, and Sean’s reaction was, “It totally blew away my expectations, which were pretty high to begin with after hearing you talk about it.”

The columns are all made using a complex geometric formula that has them start as six-sided ones at the base, then slowly “grow” more and more sides as they reach the top. Once they reach the top, they split into more columns to simulate tree trunks supporting the ceiling, which is designed to look like the canopy of a forest. This is supposed to simultaneously create a sense of wonder at the scale of the church, while also making it feel enclosed, private, and personal (goals which, oddly enough, it achieves). When the sun sets, lights in the spaces between the “leaves” turn on, simulating seeing stars peeking through.

Light and color in the church are AMAZING as well. The altar and apse are surrounded by gold, stained glass, and windows, so it’s so full of color, you don’t really know how to process it all. The windows to the east (the Nativity façade) are blue and green, and the windows to the west (the Passion façade) are oranges and reds, so the sunrise simulates spring, water, and life, and the sunset simulates autumn.

The area behind the altar (where little chapels normally go) was also done differently. Rather than having chapels and shrines to various saints (which invariably get gated off to keep tourists out), it’s just a quiet place where people can go, sit, pray, and think (the original purpose of the chapels).

So yes, overall, Sagrada Familia is a very different church from most of the cathedrals and basilicas you’ll find in Europe. It might not have the gold and marble of St. Peter’s, but it more than makes up for that in character, creativity, and the thought that went into all the details. Even things that you wouldn’t think of (like the decorations around windows you can only see from the towers, the use of spring fruits on the Nativity towers and autumn fruits on the Passion towers) have a reason behind them.

All in all, it’s an absolutely fantastic church, and worth the visit to Barcelona all on its own. I see at least one more trip to Barca in my future, somewhere on the order of 2026-2028, when it’s supposed to be completed.

War of the French Artists

So apparently artists in Provence and Paris dislike each other. Walked past a woman selling some very nice, surprisingly cheap watercolors today and asked if they were originals or prints.

She got a little huffy and said, "Monsieur, these are ALL originals. We are NOT like those "artists" in Montmartre."

(Imagine it in a thick French accent to get the full effect)

Provence Schedule

So, schedule of Provence:

Yesterday (5/29): Train to Avignon

Today (5/30): Planned and booked tours, trains, and buses, went on a cheesy tour, saw the Bridge, walked along the river, got dinner

Tomorrow (5/31): More of Avignon; papal palace and wandering

Friday (6/1): Buses to and from St. Remy in Provence

Saturday (6/2): Taking a guided tour of Nimes, Uzes, and Pont du Gard all day

Sunday (6/3): Train to and from Arles 

Monday (6/4): Leaving Avignon for Nice/Monaco

Trip to Avignon

So, the trip to Avignon was…interesting.

Not bad interesting. Actually quite dull. But a little different.

Basically, there’s no direct line to Avignon from Barcelona. This is mostly due to the fact that Spanish rail lines use a different gauge (distance between rails) on their track than just about everybody else. So, anyone going into or out of Spain by rail has to change to a different line near the border. Most people going from Barcelona to Avignon change at either Montpellier (on the French side) or Figueres (on the Spanish side). These are the ‘official’ Eurail routes.

Not so with Sean and I. When we went to the train station in Barcelona, we realized two things. 1) Eurail’s official routes are not at all comprehensive and 2) People in Barcelona reaaaallly don’t like speaking English. We talked with 4 different train officials, two of whom knew a bit of English, but didn’t speak it to us, one of whom actually spoke to us in English, and one who didn’t speak English, but was a master of Spanglish. 

Anyway, long story short, after about 2 hours at the train station, we figured out what we were doing.

Interestingly enough, though, the officials had pointed us to an unofficial route. Instead of one of the other two towns, this route took us through Cerbere, France. We were happy, ‘cause it took only local train routes, which meant that we didn’t have to pay a reservation fee (which eurailers have to do when riding long distance or high speed trains).

The wait at the station the day of was fun. We got there plenty early, and were drinking coffee in the waiting area when an Asian woman runs up to us, drops two suitcases and a backpack, asks us to watch it, then scurries off with two other bags.

Enter Ellen, another of those characters you only meet once in a long while.

Ellen came back a few minutes later, and we realized the two other bags were (occupied) cat carriers. She plopped down, thanked us, and struck up a conversation. Turns out, she had just finished a year-long stint at Google, and was moving back to France. She was…vague, at best, with what she did. She did tell us that, before her initial move to France, she worked on “UI design in Silicon Valley for 1

When we got to Cerbere, though, it was a ghost town. Our train was there, but there were maybe a dozen people at the train station, of which maybe a half-dozen were actually on our train. The rest were ticket salespeople, janitors, and border agents (Who were a little befuddled by my passport. The border agent in Lisbon was running low on ink, so the visa stamp is kinda faint. The poor agent here looked at my passport which seemed to say I magically materialized on a train in his country. He was fine when I pointed the stamp out to him, though).

Anyway, aside from that, the trip was fairly vanilla. I read a book on Provence, Sean read a book on his iPad, and we arrived. Got a nice view of the countryside, too, but it was mostly on or near the border, not before. The Spanish like to build their trains a bit below ground level, so aside from a bit of Figeueres, we didn’t see much. Once we got to Portbou, though, it was gorgeous. We drove through a few marshes, across a river, and spent a hefty amount of time on the coast, which was nice.

Anyway, we arrived in one piece, got checked in, and got dinner. Check another country off my list!

Food in Barcelona

‘Twas good to be back in Barca; I was ready for some good Catalonian food.

Anyway, the first night, we took the hosteliers advice and went to Hugo, a Chilean restaurant that specialized (oddly enough) in Catalonian specialties. I got pork sausage and white beans, and Sean got the sirloin. Spanish food continued its streak of being tasty, but heavily underseasoned. I had to reapply salt 3 times before I could taste any of it. Was quite tasty after that =) Dessert was Crèma Catalonia, a (very large) crème brulee.

Day two, we grabbed some Durum kebab (basically a gyro wrap) between the train station (where we split a muffin) and Sagrada Familia. Quite tasty, but not up to my high durum standards.

For dinner we decided to satisfy some bad vitamin deficiencies. Spanish and Portuguese food are kinda chintzy with the vegetables (you pretty much get a large hunk of protein and some form of potatoes), so Sean and I went to Vegetalia, a vegetarian café in the old city I found last time I was in Barcelona. We split an order of hummus (om nom nom), and I got the mushroom, asparagus, and quinoa risotto, with a brownie for dessert.

Day 3, we went for Italian pretty much around the corner from my old residence in the Carrer de Ribes neighborhood. I got tortellini carbonara, which was tasty, and we apparently impressed the waiter, as we both got a free glass of cava. Dinner that night was a bit different. We tried to find a tapas place that I remembered, but it was closed (Sundays in Spain; plan meals around them!), so we ended up at a place called Mosquito, which specialized in “tapas exoticas.” What does that mean? Dim sum! We got some fried duck, grilled beef, and 3 kinds of dumplings, as well as two red bean paste dumplings for dessert. I also got a schooling from one of the waitresses for ordering my aperitif AFTER my meal (I thought it was a digestif! I’m sorry!). She mimed how it ‘opens up the stomach’ by miming the alien exploding out of her chest.

The next day, we tried to go to my favorite restaurant in Barca (Café de l’Academia), but it was closed for Spain’s equivalent of Memorial Day. ‘Twas quite sad, but couldn’t be helped (closed on the weekend, so it’s not like we could have gone any other time while we were there). So, instead, we went to Tapas Lonje, around the corner, where we split some prawns stewed with mushrooms, skewered chicken, jamon croquettes, and grilled sausage. The prawns were my personal favorite there.

Dinner that night was simple. I was a bit tired of eating out, so, while Sean ran to a Donor Kebab place, I just got some bread, meat, and cheese at the convenience store and made a sammich. Quick, simple, and cheap.

Our last meal in Barcelona was…amusing. I’ve sworn off American chains while I’m over here, as has Sean, as this photo of him chowing down on a Big Macadillo proves. I can’t judge really, though. I ran to a pastry shop across the station and got the largest chocolate filled pastry I’ve ever seen. Seriously. I’ve seen baguettes smaller than this! ‘Twas quite tasty, though!

And now, on to Provence!

Things overheard in hostels

So, one of the benefits of travelling is that you meet some absolutely fascinating characters. Some are wacky, some are witty, some are just clueless. Whatever the reason behind their interestingness, they say some interesting things.

Click through to see them. Some are definitely R-rated, so if you're easily offended, look away!

(Note: Some of these are just amusing quotes from out and about that I had to share. Most are from my hostelmates, though.)

New friends in Barcelona

In Barcelona, we met a few characters. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to grab any photos, but they’re colorful enough without them.

First and foremost, the Australians Ryan and Ren. These guys were covered from head to toe in tattoos, and showed up on their first day wearing nothing but swim trunks and flip flops. Ren was a butcher and Ryan worked for a contracting company as a tile-layer (I think; never asked him, but heard this second-hand from another of our roommates). Nice guys, but were a little…crass. You’ll see why in another post I’m working on called “Things overheard in hostels.”

Next, Lizzie and her little sister (I felt too awkward to ask her name again after the third time of me not remembering). Two girls from Pennsylvania, both of whom were at University of Pittsburgh. Lizzie just finished a degree in nursing and is about to start her job search, and Lizzie is on her last year of her primary education degree. They were funny. Right around the time Sean and I thought, “Hey, they’re getting along pretty well for sisters travelling together,” one of them lost her toothpaste, and the other just adamantly refused to let her borrow any.

Lastly, Chasen from USC, who is between his bachelors and masters in architecture. He introduced himself as “Chasen. It’s like Jason, except you’re running after somebody.” That, and the fact that he apparently bought a pound of spiced French sausage in Nice is about all I know about him. Well, that, and the fact that he can apparently make an awesome sammich.

Toledo

Toledo

Our last day in Castile (the autonomous region of Spain where Madrid is) was spent in Toledo, a small town just South of Madrid. Everyone always talks about how gorgeous it is, so we figured we’d give it a try.

Getting there was pretty easy; we got to the train station 2 hours before we wanted to leave, grabbed a 20 euro round-trip ticket, and sat around drinking coffee til the train left. It was only a half-hour trip, but Sean and I both took cat naps for some reason.

Once we got there, it was about a quarter-mile walk to the city, which was fine and totally doable. The quarter mile walk into the city center, on the other hand, not so much. Toledo’s built on a hill, and the Moors and early Spaniards weren’t fans of escalators apparently, as it was a bit of a climb. Nothing bad, but it was a HOT day, so we were puffing a bit by the time we got to the top.

On the way, though, we took a little time to admire the countryside and mountains surrounding Toledo. Toledo sits across a gorgeous river  from a series of either tall, craggy hills, or short mountains (however you want to view them), and the bridges across the river are pretty enough in their own right.

Anyway, first stop was the Alcazar, a castle that had been used as a military based by everyone from the Moors several centuries ago, to the Republicans fighting the fascists in the 20^th century. Today, it’s a military museum explaining the history of the Spanish army. I wasn’t as interested as I thought I would be (Swords, guns, and cannons: yay! History of the army uniform: not so much). Sean loved it, though, so I let him finish and I did what I do best: get lost.

I LOVE wandering around old cities and seeing what I find, so I did that here. Toledo reminded me a lot of the ciutat vella in Barcelona. Lots of narrow, windy roads which are just as likely to end in a dead end as in a bright, open plaza. The city also had the genius idea of hanging sheets over the narrower roads, meaning it's really easy to duck out of the sun if you're so inclined. Anyway, I wandered for a while, then went to the Church of the Jesuits, for the sole reason that it had a set of towers I could climb to get a view of the city. Not the best panoramic view I’ve seen, but still pretty.

After that, I met up with Sean again, and we wandered to the Synagogue of St. Mary the White, which was having an art show centered around the theme of strengthening bonds between Judaism and Christianity.

We went shopping for souvenirs after that. Toledo is famous for two things: swords and damascene (steel which is engraved with gold or silver, then baked so it turns a shiny black). Sean and I both considered getting swords, then we backed down for two different reasons. Sean because he realized it would forever brand him as a geek. Me because I realized I probably wouldn’t find a genuine piece of Spanish cutlery after the third shop selling Lord of the Rings replicas. I did, however, find a really nice piece of damascene that shows the city of Toledo from across the river.

After that, we stopped at a café where all the desserts were made by nuns. The café wasn’t staffed by them, however, unless habits have been replaced by nose piercings and iPhones with pink cases. We then wandered the city for a bit more, then headed back to the train station, stopping to take a few more photos along the way.

Madrid

Little behind on everything, sorry!

So, Madrid. Sean and I tried to look as untouristy as possible while we were there, since we weren’t sure if the Spanish Occupy protests had quite cleared up. So, I left the camera and camera bag (or, as Katie called it, my man purse) at home so I’d have less to keep track of. As it turns out, we didn’t need to worry; didn’t see a single protestor the whole time we were there. Not a problem, though. I already have photos of everything in Madrid from a few years back. Apologies if the post is a bit picture-free, though.

Anyway, the train from Santiago to Madrid is sloooooooow, so we didn’t get in to Madrid until 9, then didn’t get to the hostel until almost 10. We were very thankful that the sun doesn’t set in Spain until around 10, since it made it much easier to find where we were going. Anyway, we got in, got some dinner, and crashed.

Day 2 marked the day I officially turned old (my 22^nd birthday), and to celebrate Sean and I went to the Prado, Madrid’s massive fine arts gallery (wrote a bit about that earlier) and Retiro Park, which makes Central Park in New York look like a putting green. It’s MASSIVE, and has at least two ponds, which make it a fantastic place to just wander. Anyway, after that we went for a spin around Plaza Mayor, went to dinner, came back to the hostel, met Namisha, and went to bed.

The next day was a bit more abstract, as we went to the Reina Sofia, Madrid’s modern and contemporary art museum (also discussed earlier). Also went to the Royal Palace and saw how the Spanish 1% lived (quite lavishly, if you’re wondering). It was also really cool to see the royal armory, though Sean and I couldn’t figure out how some of those early firearms worked. When a gun’s barrel is as long as you are tall, and as big around as your upper arm, how do you fire it without breaking your shoulder? The Royal Pharmacy was fun to snicker at. They reeeaaallly didn’t understand medicine well back then. One of the medicine jars was just marked “good coffee.” Anyway, that was the night we did tapas at San Miguel, after which we came back and chatted with our fellow hostellers before heading to bed at 2am.

Our last day before Barcelona was a day trip to Toledo, which is its own post (which will actually include pictures!)

Back in Barca!

Oh, sorry. For those of you I’m not Facebook friends with, I’m back in Barca!

We got in on Friday night, and are staying at a hostel that’s just a stone’s throw away from the place I stayed 3 summers ago. Walking around the Arc d’Triomf and Carrer de Ribes neighborhood was an instant hit of nostalgia for me, and seeing Barcelona again is absolutely amazing.

Anyway, saw Sagrada Familia again yesterday (which deserves a whole new post on its own) and wandered down the Ramblas, up the waterfront, and through the Barri Gotic. ‘Twas much fun. Saw Parc Guell and the Magic Fountain today, and tomorrow we’re off to Montjuic and some more explorations of the Ciutat Vella.

New friends in Madrid

So, Sean and I met pretty much no one in Santiago, but made a few new friends in Madrid.

Namisha, our roommate for the past two nights, is from Vancouver, where she’s studying communications. Very bubbly girl that was a lot of fun to talk with, even if she did think Sean and I were in our late twenties (we’re just old souls, I guess =P). Also met Natasha and Ashley, two kinesthesiology (yes I know I misspelled that) students from Ottawa, Shane, a big guy from St. Croix who’s studying in southern Florida, and Raphael, from Brittany in France. We all spent a few hours talking over education, racism, and culture in our respective countries, as well as who was responsible for eating that last slice of cheese.

Someone took a photo of us all last night. If I can get my hands on a copy, I'll post it.

Art in Madrid

It’s funny how tastes in art evolve.

Last time I was here, I hadn’t painted since elementary school, and I *loved* the Prado (a VERY large fine art museum, featuring most of Bosch’s, El Greco’s, Velasquez’s, and Goya’s works), and just kind of ‘meh’d my way through the Reina Sofia (a modern and contemporary art museum).

Now, after two years of fooling around with paint on my own, I was all over the Reina Sofia. Don’t get me wrong, the Prado was still EXCELLENT (particularly since I got to see St. Andrew and St. Francis by El Greco and The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, which are two of my favorite paintings), but aside from the famous works, I really enjoyed the Reina Sofia more. Techniques and styles since impressionism interest me more now than they used to, I suppose.

I will say that abstract expressionism is still something I enjoy in small doses. Give me one or two to look at, and I’ll analyze them all day long. Put me in a room with 34 works titled “Untitled number #” consisting of a blue dot and black line, and I just get a headache.

Food in Santiago, Madrid, and Toledo

So, I figured I’d cram food from Santiago, Madrid, and Toledo into one post, partly because they fit together nicely and two are fairly short, but mostly I’m ‘cause I’m a wee bit lazy.

Santiago

We only ate three real meals in Santiago. Dinner the first night was the fanciest and, true to form for me, the one I enjoyed the least. I got the roast lamb, which was so-so, but really dry and waaaay too much. Thought that was funny, as most meat in Spain moo’s (or baa’s or bleats) when you cut into it. Dessert (chestnuts cooked in chocolate with whipped cream) was excellent, though.

Lunch the next day was HYSTERICAL. The restaurant/bar we stopped at was managed, waited, bused, and cooked for by one Spanish man who didn’t speak a lick of English and didn’t have the time (or patience) to repeat himself. I asked him to repeat the options for the first plate, and he just patted me on the shoulder and said (in Spanish), “I bring you the soup. It’s good.” Then scurried off. He did the same thing for the second plate (grilled ham). Funniest part was later. I understand Spanish quite well when I’m not on the spot (i.e. it’s not being spoken to me), so when the table of tourists next to us was ordering, I heard him say, “I’ll bring you the ham. It’s good! I just ordered it for them (points at us) too!” Dessert was Santiago tart, which is like a slightly lemony, slightly nutty pound cake covered in powdered sugar.

Dinner that night was tasty, if somewhat hard to find. It turns out the ‘third holiest city on Earth’ kinda shuts down on Sundays, so we had trouble finding an open restaurant. We ended up just eating at the café in our B&B. Sean and I split an order of croquettes (one of my favorite things ever, by the way), and I got an order of morcello, Spanish sausage made from blood and rice).

Lunch at the train station the next day was basic, though special, ‘cause it was my first Iberian ham of the trip. I kinda had an addiction to that stuff last time I was in Spain.

Madrid

Dinner the first night in Madrid was…interesting. Asked our hostelier for a rec (which had worked PHENOMENALLY up til then) and he sent us to a strip of Indian restaurants nearby. Now, I love Indian food, but the Spanish don’t really like spices and ABHOR spiciness (‘spicy sauce’ in Spain means ‘tangy’ to someone from the States). You can’t really do Indian food that way. The curry was ‘meh’, not bad, but way too sweet. The wine also tasted like it was equal parts bad white wine and water.

Lunch the next two days was just bocadillos (sandwiches on crusty baguettes) at cafés en route to the art museums. Tasty, but nothing special. The dinners were both great, though. For my birthday, we went to an Asturian restaurant called Casa Lustra, that I’m convinced was trying to kill me. Got the Menu de la Casa, which was a pot of Asturian stew (chorizo sausage, pork fat, beans, and kale), grilled salmon, a half-bottle of wine, and a Asturian pastry (whose name I didn’t pick up). Quite tasty. Especially since Sean bought it for me =D

Next day was less tasty but more fun. We went to the Market de San Miguel and wandered around grabbing up tapas. Was a bit pricier than going to a restaurant, but it was a lot of fun just wandering around picking stuff that looked tasty. I got seafood paella (meh; he scooped some up and microwaved it), venison sausage (meh; microved again), tinto de verano (dry red wine mixed with lemon soda on ice; sounds weird, but is really tasty), a salmon and crab salad pintxo (tapa on toast; not bad), a pistachio cookie (om nom nom), and lemon gelato with chocolate chips (=D).

Toledo, we pretty much skipped food for whatever reason. Only thing we had to eat was some espresso and pastries at a bakery (which I think had its baked goods supplied by nuns in a convent), where Sean got a waffle with ice cream and I got a mazapan (no, not marzipan) cake. When we got back, we were kinda starving, so we went to a tapas bar called Lateral that the front desk recommended. Awful waiters (the guy said it was over an hour wait outside, without mentioning that the inside of the restaurant was empty), but great food. We got jamon croquettes, patatas bravas, stuffed peppers, and a pintxo that was essentially tuna salad on toast, except it was made with bonito instead of tuna, and had grilled asparagus on top. For dessert, I got “crepes castellanos con dulce de leche,” which is a fancy way of saying mini pancakes topped with caramel and whipped cream.

Don't know what my last meal in Madrid will be, but sammiches at the train station are a strong contender.

Things we don't have in the States, but should

Jamon Iberico

Spanish ham is NOTHING like ham in the States. Ham in the states is sugared, salted, and cooked, but Jamon is instead salted and cured for several months. As a result, all the water gets drawn out, and you get ham that just tastes hammier. It’s dry, oily, and a little chewy (and hard to eat in a sandwich sometimes), but it is tasty stuff. This prosciutto, but less salty and more hammy.

Jamon flavored chips

To paraphrase my friend Cristy: It’s fun to watch people when they taste these for the first time. They’re faces go from ‘Ewww, it tastes like ham,’ to ‘Hey, ham!’

Café bombon

2-1 espresso and condensed milk. It’s like a really sweet and really creamy cappuccino without the foam.

Lemon Fanta

WHY DON’T WE HAVE THIS STUFF?

It's like lemon-flavored San Pellegrino, except about twice as sweet.

Porto's done!

Hi!

So, all my stuff from Porto is up. All photos uploaded (finally) to flickr, and no more new blog posts. Link to the album is here.

Might have one more food-related post for Santiago, but I still need to get the photos from there up too.

Like an old western

You know a restaurant is going to be good when you walk in, guidebook in hand, and all conversation stops as a group of locals look you up and down with a "How the hell did you get in here?" look on their face.

Anyway, Casa Lustra was a tasty place for a birthday dinner. Thanks Sean for picking up the tab!

Santiago de Compostela

Hi all!

As of writing this, we’re just leaving Santiago de Compostela for Madrid via train.

By far, Santiago was our slowest city so far, and was probably the least touristy place we’ll be visiting, once you got about two blocks away from the Cathedral. It was very nice, but a HUGE change of pace from Lisbon and Porto, both of which had a lot of young people (and a lot of young travelers) and the restaurants, cafés, and energy that tend to follow them.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. First off, quick crash course on Santiago:

Santiago is Spanish and Galician for “Saint James,” and “Compostela” is the old Galician for essentially “resting place.” So, Santiago de Compostela is basically “St. James’ burial place.” So named because it is, in fact, where St. James is buried. It’s considered the third holiest city on earth, after Rome and Jerusalem, and every year thousands of pilgrims hike the Camino de Santiago (“Way/Walk of St. James”) from other Spanish cities to see his tomb. People walk from as far as France, but a popular starting point for foreigners is from Ourense, which is about 100 miles outside of Santiago.

St. James spent a large portion of his life preaching to the Gauls in the Iberian peninsula, so after he was martyred by Herod in Jerusalem, his followers brought his remains back to what is now Galicia. The history behind the bones is long and complicated, with them being lost and found a few times before they were finally properly entombed where they are today.

Now, Santiago de Compostela is the third largest cathedral in the world, behind St. Peter’s in the Vatican and the Duomo in Florence. It really is massive in a way that is hard to capture in photos. Walking past while looking up at its towers, you don’t even really notice the parallax that you’d expect, because they’re just so far away.

Inside, the cathedral is gorgeous. Laid out in a typical cross shape, the area behind the altar is full of engraved and gilded carvings and statues. Those statues of cherubs, by the way, are about 3-4 times as big as I am, at least. The cathedral is also famous for its enormous censer, which during large services they fill with about 40 lbs. of charcoal and incense. St. James tomb itself is actually fairly understated, which I liked. To get to it, you just walk down a set of stone steps just behind the altar, and there’s a little unadorned room with a kneeler in it, facing a set of iron bars. On the other side, through a little hall is where St. James bones are kept in a silver reliquary, which is the only real show of wealth in the room, aside from the flowers in front of it. It was very solemn, which I liked. I lit a candle and made a donation for my Nana at St. James’ tomb.

The rest of the city is fairly small and sleepy (once you get away from the restaurants and jewelry stores catering to pilgrims and tourists near the cathedral). It’s also funny to say, but Santiago is FULL of older people. There aren’t many people in their 20s or 30s there. Most of the pilgrims, for whatever reason, are in their 40s and 50s. There were even a few old codgers that were my grandparents’ age.

Well…okay, I should say that Santiago is NORMALLY small and sleepy and full of codgers and whatnot. Apparently we got there right at the end of some big mountain bike race that culminated in a rap concert on our first night. All those folks were gone by the next day, so it made for a rather amusing difference.

Not that we were really out and about enough to notice, though. Sean and I took a little vacation from our vacation and pretty much spent the day in our room working on our computer tans. We still weren’t caught up from the jet lag, and since Santiago doesn’t have much aside from the cathedral, we just kinda bummed about for a day and a night.

Anyway, our first night, we got in around 6, dropped our stuff, and went straight to the cathedral, since we weren’t sure if it would be open to the public on a Sunday. Turns out it was, but better safe than sorry. Anyway, we got back, I posted a few new posts, we went to dinner at a Galician restaurant, and went to bed.

The next day, we went to the train station to book our tickets to Madrid, then got lunch at a TINY little Spanish bar that was waited, bused, and cooked for by one guy. The food was forgettable, but the dude serving us was hilarious. Didn’t speak a word of English, and didn’t have the patience to speak Spanish slowly, so he kept ordering for us (and for everyone else in the restaurant too).

After that, we came back and crashed ‘til dinner, and even then, we just went to the café in our bed and breakfast. In our defense, that was pretty much our only option, since ‘the third holiest city on earth’ kinda shuts down on Sunday. Who’d a thunk it?

Anyway, we got up this morning and caught the train. A nice quiet stopover before the whirlwind that Madrid and Barcelona are sure to be =)

Santiago hostel

Since Santiago’s not exactly a hub for college-age tourists, rooming there (at least the kind we’re staying in) is very cheap. So, Sean and I sprang for a bed and breakfast instead. It was only about 5 euro extra per night, but it meant we got a private room to ourselves, with our own bathroom. We had a floor-to-ceiling window which we could open and look out on the street below. The walls were also cool; they were made of stone and mortar, and for whatever reason, people had stacked euro pennies in nooks and crannies in the mortar. Couldn’t figure out why they did it, but made me smile nonetheless =)

Oh, and it also had a restaurant/café downstairs (the ‘breakfast’ in ‘bed and breakfast’), which was quite tasty, and saved our butts on Sunday. The waiters didn’t speak a word of English aside from the numbers on the menu, but we still managed to get by.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a quiet, small place in Santiago, Casa Felisa definitely gets a thumbs-up. It’s easy walking to the bus and train stations, and is just down the street from the cathedral square.

Porto hostel

In Porto, we stayed at the Yes! Porto Hostel across the street from Igreja dos Clerigos, just down the street from Sao Bento train station. Excellent location, as it’s walking distance from some cool sites, good food, and the train station, and is a 5 euro cab ride from the bus station (or a thirty minute walk, which we were happy to pay 2.50 euro apiece to not have to do with our luggage).

It’s also a nice place to stay. Clean rooms, free wifi, huge lockers, comfy beds, free breakfast, and the same 10-euro, 3-course dinner offer our hostel in Lisbon had.

Chatted with a few folks whenever I was in the common area, but didn’t make any friends like I did with Anita and Leanne in Lisbon. I did meet a few interesting folks, though. Chief in my mind is a Stephanie, who was born in Montreal, raised in Alabama, then moved back to Montreal for university. She reminded me of my sister a bit; she’s studying fine arts and French in Montreal, and is in France for the spring taking French classes. Also met Zach, who was taking the scenic route to Barcelona, where he’s going to be studying economics for the summer.

The staff were also friendly, and were hysterical to watch. Two of them were shamelessly flirting and randomly dancing with each other for the entire stay, and another one was playing a drinking game with some of the guests when we left for dinner one night.

Basically, I’d definitely recommend it to folks looking at going to Porto, UNLESS you’re looking for someplace quiet to stay. It’s very much a party hostel, and the lobby and kitchen basically become a dance club at night. That was a lot of fun to watch, but if you have trouble sleeping with noise, it might be a bit annoying at night.

Photos

Small hiccup in uploading photos last night, so only like a quarter of them made it up. The rest of the Porto photos should be up soon (uploading now).

Oh, and I'm sorting through the ones from Santiago too right now.

EDIT: ...okay, apparently Spanish hostels just don't like to spring for the good wifi, as it's taking freaking forever to just upload one or two photos. So, addendum: the photos MIGHT be up soon.