As we arrived in A
Coruña, part of the province of Galicia, in the furthest northwest part of
Spain, our first mission was to find the car we would be renting for the rest of
trip. As I have never been much good at manual shift transmissions, my mom was in
charge of driving, and me, in charge of directions. We headed out in our Ford
Fiesta to where we thought our first hotel should be located, and as we passed
it 3 or 4 times as we went down itty bitty one way streets, we finally were
able to find a parking garage near the beach and walked to the Pension Rías. We
were now learning why everyone has such little cars here, much easier to maneuver their way
through these cities. 
Little did I know when booking our hotel, but ‘rías’ means sea
inlet, and that is exactly where we were located. In between two ‘rías’ meaning
we had sandy beach on one side and the marina walk on the other. What a great
location, right?! Well…let’s just say that ‘The rain in Spain falls mainly on
the plain….especially in Galicia’. With all the wind and rain at our first stop
made us wonder if we had made a huge mistake in coming north in January…but I
am happy to report that it definitely got better! Our first afternoon out we
were given a great recommendation for where to eat and headed to the main plaza
to get some freshly caught octopus at the 'Pulpería', the great Galician specialty. As you can see from the pictures,
they know exactly what they are doing with those things. It was absolute chewy
deliciousness! Mom was a good sport and even tried it too!
With all the wind and rain on the coast, literally
you couldn’t walk to the boardwalk without being blown out to sea or at least
having your umbrella wrenched inside out, we decided to ditch the water the
next day and headed down to Santiago de Compostela to visit the famous cathedral
there. With umbrellas packed in the car, we made the 50 minute drive south to Santiago, and I knew it was
going to be worth it. I had been doing quite a bit of research on the ‘Camino
de Santiago’ because the pilgrim trail passes through Logroño and my
intercambio Fermín had also explained to me all about the ‘flechas’ (yellow
arrows) painted all through the town and the ‘concha’ (shell) plaques engraved
on the street corners that the pilgrims follow as to not get lost on their
journey. 
May it be legend or fact, the story goes a little like this. The apostle James, after the death of Christ, went out to spread the word, and on his trip
he passed through Spain, which was still Roman land at the time. He was later
beheaded, but his followers were able to take his remains back to Santiago by
ship and there, he was laid to rest. Since his remains were found and declared his in the 9th
century by Bishop Theodemar of Iria, Santiago de Compostela has
become an important landmark for pilgrims to visit. One hundred thousand people
go walking and praying on spiritual journeys, some 30-40 days, coming from
all over the world to finally arrive in Santiago to visit the cathedral that
was built in honor of Saint James where his ‘remains’ now lay beneath the
alter. 
Just a side note: The northern coast of
Spain is very rich in culture and each province has it’s own language, differing cultures,
and food specialties. I’ll be making note of that along the way….
Galicia
Language: Gallego – close roots to the
Portuguese language
Cultural extras: ‘Celtic’ roots and the bagpipes
are the traditional instrument
Food Specialties: Fresh pulpo (octopus),
other fresh seafood and awesome crispy fresh baked bread
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