Of trains and Santiago de Compostela

The days of being cossetted with bags transported, bed and meals all sorted are over and we are off on our self-organised travels.

Step 1 was actually the trip back to Porto. Despite Ann’s stressing that the train travels both ways on the same track, we did manage to catch the Interregional train back down the Douro River to Porto. The Pinhao railway station had really interesting azulejos (blue and white tiled images of life on the Douro)

The trip had some great views initially of the river, then lots of small, rundown towns as we neared the sea, and Campanha Station, Porto.

Finding a post office took us into a different area of Porto, the Ribiera area which all looked a bit rundown, lots of washing out on the terraces and strung outside windows indicated inhabitation, but the apartment blocks are quite decrepit.

We visited a beautiful bookshop, Lello’s with an amazing Gothic double circular staircase up two levels to a stained glass ceiling with the store’s motto, Decus in Labore. You’ll notice the “do not take photos”signs…Ann didn’t.

But the structure which astonished us was the twin churches. See photo. Two churches built, both Catholic, the first in late 16^th C, the other 150 years later. They share a wall but are totally separate inside! The city is full of iglesias, but this seems amazing.

Dinner also amazed us! The restaurant recommended by the travel firm near the Pestana where we stayed was absolutely crowded but they found us a spot although we hadn’t “book-ed”. The wine, a Portuguese red - 2004 Periquita riserva - was delicious, but the food was HUGE. Steve had a paprika roast pork and roast chestnuts (E8.10) and Ann had a beef and mushroom dish (E8.10). Each would have fed us both. We staggered home defeated by the food.

Next morning had us back at Campanha station at 7.30 am and on a similar train en-route to Santiago de Compostela. Time to stretch the legs and watch the Portuguese country go by. Plenty of fertile gardens, grapes, some kiwifruit plantings, abandoned buildings, but only four cows! The shift to Spain was only registered by the fact that a new guard came through and we had to buy a different ticket, all the rest stayed the same, until Steve noticed that in fact we’d gained an hour, so the 4 hour trip was 3 hours long. Another train from Vigo and another hour and a half and we were in Santiago de Compostela.

It rained a lot on this leg of the journey, but as the taxi driver said in broken English, “It’s Galicia!” - apparently the rainfall here is double anywhere else in Spain. The buildings certainly attest to it too, plenty of lichen and moss, and often ferns growing out of spoutings and crannies.

Our hotel is in the pedestrianised part of the city, filled with pilgrims with rain capes, scallop shells, packs and sticks, and with other tourists as well.

We did a general explore, visited the cathedral, a museum which backgrounds the walk (Museo das Peregrinacions to give it its full due) and St James and some lovely gardens with views back on the old city.

The rain held off for most of the time, so that was great. We also went back and collected the Avis car, Santiago - as with most of Spain, the office closes for several hours in the middle of the day. TomTom obliged, thanks Ross and Michelle, and we got to the parking block unscathed.

We ate local seafood: we’d seen heaps of fishery activity in Vigo, with what appeared to be fish pens lined up in the harbour estuary area. Steve had the octopus and I had scallops. Both delicious. Fresh white wine, Terras Gauda, from Rias Baixas, Porteverde, which we’d trained through earlier in the day.

While we ate, we watched the waiter carve thin slivers of Iberian ham from a very long skinny leg for tapas.

We are off today with our new friend TomTom. I had to do a Google search to work out how to get her to speak louder. I think she has a road rules section so will interrogate that today before we go too far.