Santiago de Campostela, Spain

The high speed train from Porto to Vigo, Spain was sold out, so we took a bus that went all the way up to Santiago de Campostela, Spain. It was a bit slower, but at least we didn't have to transfer. And on the way, we forgot that we lost an hour, as Spain is one hour later than Portugal. That means sunset is later now, a good thing for us. The scenery was mostly smaller cities with wooded pine forests and small mountains in between. Vigo is a port city just over the border. I thought about staying here, but I didn't read about any reason for a tourist to stop over.

I couldn't find any bus info on Google maps for Santiago de Campostela, which is weird. I downloaded an app to show bus schedules, but it was lacking. There's no Uber here, so we got in a good old fashioned taxi at the bus station. It's been awhile since I've taken one. I've had so many bad experiences with them in South East Asia and South America over the years, that I had written them off. I really like to know the cost before I get in. But this was reasonable and efficient and the meter was built into the driver's rearview mirror so I could see it was on the up and up. That's a far cry from the old Ecuadorian trick of putting a rag over the meter in Quito and saying it's "broken."

We rented a small, and I mean SMALL apartment for 3 days just across a ring road that separates the old city from the rest of the city. We're used to cramped places in Europe, so it's not a big deal, but it's quite a shock if you're coming from America and you've never seen a bathroom where you have to stoop and can hardly turn around in the shower. The way we see it, we're damn happy to have a fridge and a clothes washer.

Santiago is the end of a long pilgrimage for many who start the long walk from SW France. It's a pretty popular thing to do for people from all over the world and of all ages. We know a couple of people who've done at least part of it. Walking on a Catholic pilgrimage is definitely not for me, but I do wonder if I could do a 45+ day trek. That's a totally different type of travel and the idea is intriguing. I haven't done anything like that since I hiked around the Annapurna mountains in Nepal for 2 1/2 weeks in 1995. I'm not sure I could still do it.

After checking in, we went grocery shopping. I like to sample the local liquers in different countries. At the neighborhood store we found, there was a selection of Galician wines and liquors. I asked a random guy which of the 3 herbal liquers was the best, and he pointed one out. So I bought it. I'm starting to use my Spanish again, but here in Galicia, they speak Galego (their spelling) or Gallego (Spanish), or Galician (English spelling). It seems to be a cross between Castillian (Spanish) and Portuguese. They also speak Spanish, but I'm hearing a lot of words that sound like Portuguese to me. So in the store when I was talking to the guy about the liquers, he could understand me at least.

Later that night we saw a poster for a concert series of American bands we like and have seen: Pokey LaFarge, Sarah Shook, and Nikki Hill in particular. We've seen Nikki Hilll twice in Madison and were surprised to see live music in town that we knew. She happened to be playing two hours later at a place just down the street at Sala Capitol. Well, she sold out two weeks earlier, so we couldn't see her. Instead,, we walked around our hood and stopped in a nice tapas bar that was too packed. We left and went in a divey bar and had 2 glasses of the local Alborinho wine (one of our favorites) and watched the antics of the local old guys watching a futbol game. Then we left and walked by another small joint. I looked in the window to see what it looked like, and this guy inside gave me the weirdest look like "Get in here" kinda look. It was the same guy I talked to at the grocery store about 2 hours earlier! He was the owner/manager. We both laughed as we walked in and he poured us a shot. It was his homeade liquer that tasted like the one I bought at the store. Small world. We had some more Albarinho there and called it a night.

The next day we booked a 9 hour tour of the Galician coast. Earlier, we bought tickets at the Sala Capitol to see a Swedish ska band called The Beat From Palookaville. Weird, I know, but it was a fun, packed show with about 700 or so people. A duo from Madrid called Kamikaze Helmets opened up. We even made it to a rock bar afterwards for a nightcap. I was a tad skeptical about going in a club called "O Cum" but it was a friendly, packed club with a DJ spinning R&B and early rock classics. I give the clubs here bonus points since I can now find gluten free beer. Mahou and Estrella Galicia both make GF versions and they're good. That was a super long day, and the first time we could find live music on this trip, so we collapsed when we got home.

On our last full day, we took a train to A Corunya, a large Galician city on the north coast. We now have some time to kill on our last day. Luckily, we can check out late to make our 4 pm bus to Oviedo, about 4 1/2 hours east in Asturias.

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