Long time. Loooooong time, but I have been working on a few posts:) I just happen to be busy lately. Anywho, this first one I am getting out is from a day spent in A Coruña and a weekend in Santiago de Compostela!
So, cheap tickets, cheap hostels. Great reason to travel, right? So, we flew out Saturday March 30, early in the morning with the closest call of making our flight on time I have ever had…. Not puttin it here, nope, mm-mm.. Just ask me. We were picked up by Sarah’s roommate and friend, Abbie, and her coworker, Brooklynne! Brooklynne had rented a car so as soon as they picked us up from the airport in Santiago de Compostela we headed to A Coruña for the day. The thing that has probably left the biggest mark on me from there was how amazing this one cup of coffee was haha. It is the first thing I think of anyways. The coffee was just this amazing blend of espresso to steamed milk…. I bet it was the milk… My absolutely favorite was this coast we went to….
Turns out, all of these ladies happened to love taking pictures. It is not my favorite but I do not love it haha. I more so like taking pictures of things and nature rather than myself. HOWEVER. This time was well enjoyed. The air here was just so refreshing and I felt so much happiness and joy seeing the ocean and sea foam.
So, this pointy little building is the Torre de Hercules and it had this cool and giant blue dial on the other side with different symbols on it and probably a distinction of which way North was. Here’s some fun pics of me and miss lovely sitting in some even more fun flowers haha
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After we had our time, we made our way along the coast and ran into this gorgeous sight tossing up some sea foam. I found out sea foam is one of my favorite things. It was an extremely elating moment internally. You can clearly see Sarah’s was external.
Nice. So, we are on our way off the coast and as we leave I see this… interesting statue..
Just purely interested in what it was for haha.
After this, we decided to head for this area where there was an Octopus sculpture 😀 After you see the pictures, you will tell that I am quite in love with everything Octopus. Also located at the Octopus was this big funicular orb that took us to the top of the cliff opposite the Torre de Hercules.
Soooooo very lovely… We found ourselves walking allllll the way down this cliff in order to save a few bucks… eurobucks…. and made our towards the beach! Now, the cool thing was that there was this wall of sand on the beach blocking the wind. The not so cool thing was that it was not sand haha. More like ocean debris. I found a nasty chunk of sea glass, but it made for a great souvy! The sun also decided to disappear behind some clouds and it is still rather chilly here. So, we packed up camp a little and head to Santiago de Compostela!
Sarah and I stayed at this amazing little backpackers hostel for only 11€ a night! Lovely little trip it was. By this time, it was around 7 PM so we showered, up, got ready for dinner, and walked around a bit before meeting up with Abbie and Brooklynne. Walking around was fun because Sarah and I got to scope the place out a little bit and get a snippet of what the night life had to offer. You can see so many stars in the sky right in the plaza of this cathedral…. Full of stars….
Next day comes and it just turns into a journey! It is Abbie & Brooklynne’s last day because of work. So, we sent as much time with them as we could. Sarah and I ate breakfast at this cute little cafe where this lady was the cashier, barista, bartender, and cook. Sheesh. Her sandwiches were deeeelicious, though. Coffee did not compare to the one in A Coruña, nope. Then we found ourselves meeting up with the ladies for a walking tour that was quite informative! It started out as a “private tour” because there were no other English speakers in our group, lol, but an older couple sort of hopped in after an hour. Something that stuck with me from the tour was learning that in every Holy Year, they build a door here connected to the cathedral and the Pope breaks the door down with a silver hammer. Then, the Pope blesses you I think? Or you are blessed at the cathedral? I am unsure… but it is only during the Holy Year. I was intrigued!
After the tour, we snagged some lunch at one of the only streets that had open restaurants. It is like the town closes on Sundays… Most places were closed. We then headed over to visit the cathedral, but it was “low time” for tourism and they decided to start renovations inside. So, we could go in but much of the place was covered in scaffolding and rafters. However, I did see one of the oldest things I have ever witnessed in my life. The remains of St. James from either the year 43 A.D. or the 1st century inside of the cathedral. You should definitely read up on the city of Santiago de Compostela’s upbringing.
Next up, we headed for two parks. The local park and the tourist park haha. Both were lovely, though. It was a good moment to just relax and lay out in the grass. In the following photos, I will share that I am walking along a cliff with a long way to the bottom and you can see the progression of Sarah’s concern haha. Thought it was cute.
These pictures were the journey to the next park which was the touristy one. It was much bigger and you could tell it was more touristy. In between the parks we also stopped by a monastery that was 100% open!! It was just stunning and I have never been so close to an altar at an ancient church before.
Soon after this, the ladies had to leave:( That part was not too fun…
After that, Sarah and I headed to this Italian restaurant that caught Sarah’s eye and my nose. Of course the food was delicious, but I also had this drink called vermut, which is different from vermouth like we have in the states. It was amazinggggg. Some sort of liquor drink that was very floral.
I also ran into my man Luciano.
That was the end to this day because everything was closed and we decided to walk part of the Camino de Santiago which meant going to bed a little earlier;)
Monday. Last day. Lots to do. We start by heading to a different café for breakfast this time and it was so good and so cheap! It was the café of some university there in Santiago de Compostela. Quite lovely! Next, Sarah and I revisited the park to find some good views for lunch because we love food I guess. That was a blast.
And this ended up being the view we loved the most! Next stop was this craft beer pub where I had all the beers from a nano brewery there as a flight. Very enjoyable:) Now, at each of these bars they give you some tapas with your drink. You can imagine we were not very hungry yet… But the next thing on the list was going through this wonderful food market where we got a fruit smoothie of all kinds of fruit and some souvenirs! I got a cool bottle opener with St. James on it! We took the smoothie to the local park and had that instead of at the view we found in the touristy park haha. Do not worry. We revisited this sight again. We then ventured into this beautiful room in a library that was quite hidden if I do say so.. Most likely because of tourists. And finally… Sarah and I made our way out to the Monument of the Pilgrimage. This location is where pilgrims would come over the mountaintop and catch the first glimpse of the Santiago de Compostela Catedral. An extremely powerful moment for some.
We walked from this monument to the cathedral and it felt special to be a part of such a thing. It was a very small part…. but still a part of something extremely special. My body does not feel extremely special having done it but my soul does haha.
This experience has really made me think about some of the things that I want to do many years from now when and if I make it to an older age. Many of my thoughts have either rested in the direct future or where I want to be in the prime of life. I think it is nice to sometimes reflect on all aspects of our lives… If I retire or have nephews/nieces, how will I handle that as the person I will become? I do not know.. More ramblings but I am glad you are with me if you have read this far:) All the love to you all. I hope you enjoyed this next blog!!!
Colby's Journeys 