Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Santiago de Compostela

  • Limoges – Santiago de Compostela

    Limoges – Santiago de Compostela

    [I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

    20180630_113759

    Limoges is on the route of the pilgrim route that is known as Santiago de Compostela, a path which has become much more popular in recent years. I hope to do some of this path in 2019, but for a much shorter distance than the expedition that some pilgrims, and walkers, take.

    20180705_103158

    The route of the camino is marked with scallop shells and there are many of these on the streets of Limoges. The French word for scallop is ‘Coquille Saint Jacques’, it is thought because pilgrims used to collect the shells towards the end of their pilgrimage.

    There’s more information about the Vezelay Way, which goes through Limoges, at https://www.caminoways.com/introduction-to-the-vezelay-way.

  • Ryanair (Santiago de Compostela Airport to London Stansted)

    I don’t often write up my flights on Ryanair, as there’s a limited amount that can be said about the experience. The boarding process is though becoming slightly farcical as the priority queue has now increased to being around 75% of everyone boarding, although I have to say that it is an organised process.

    The aircraft was EI-FZL, a Boeing 737-800, which Ryanair had purchased in April 2017. The aircraft set off on time and was also back in Stansted on time.

    The seating on board, which was clean and sufficiently spacious given that this is a budget airline. I had been automatically allocated an aisle seat for free (woooo), with the other two passengers on this row arriving soon after I took the photo.

    The safety demonstration was appalling and one of the worst that I can recall on any flight. The crew did nothing to try and quieten the cabin down and I’m not sure that many people were able to hear the safety announcements. I’ve been on British Airways and American Airlines flights where the crew have stopped the demonstration if the cabin wasn’t quiet, which does reassure me somewhat that the crew are focused on safety.

    I couldn’t hear the announcements from the pilots either due to the cabin noise, which is not a problem, but isn’t ideal. The flight was the usual constant process of trying to sell things to customers, which is fine given the price of the flight, but it’s again not conducive to a peaceful flight. And, on this particular flight, there were two crew members who didn’t seem to be entirely nimble on their feet and managed to keep bumping into passengers on the aisle seats.

    I can’t recall how many Ryanair flights I’ve taken, I think it’s something around the eighty sectors mark over the last ten years. I’m now reluctant to book with them again though, primarily because the outbound flight was potentially caught up in the crew strikes. This concerns me because Ryanair’s IRROPS handling is inadequate and although I’ve never had a problem, it’s an additional factor which I’d rather not have to be concerned about. And, frankly, I’ve become too attached to Oneworld airlines (not literally, although British Airways do need to clean their cabins better).

  • Camino de Santiago – Day Five (Chapel San Marcos)

    This chapel has been built near to the site where pilgrims would have seen the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela for the first time. This is the beginning of the end of the journey for many and there’s accommodation here for those who want to rest before the final three miles of walking.

    Without being disrespectful, I have to say that this chapel looked like public toilets from a short walk away. I know that I wasn’t the only one to have this thought…..

    The chapel from the rear, where it looks just a little more religious….

    There’s a history board near to the chapel, which incidentally is one of the few along the entire route we walked, which mentions that in 1105 Bishop Diego Xelmirez (the first Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela) ordered the construction of a church dedicated to Santa Cruz, with the remains of San Marcos later laid to rest here.

    The interior of the chapel is peaceful and quiet. There’s an opportunity to get a stamp for the pilgrim’s passport outside of the chapel, which saved a clustering of people inside.

  • Camino de Santiago – Day Five (La Bodeguilla de San Lázaro)

    As we reached the suburbs of our destination of Santiago de Compostela we decided to have a leisurely lunch stop. There were numerous reasons for this, primarily because we were hungry, but I think Sarah needed to calm down after her incident involving a man and a dog.

    The decision was that we’d sit in the cold outside rather than be comfortable inside, so we sat on the terrace area. The restaurant seemed moderately busy and was well reviewed, so all boded well. It’s well-sited as it’s on the Camino route, so there was a mix of walkers and locals.

    A selection of tapas was brought out to our group, or at least, olives and peanuts and these were very acceptable.

    Estrella Galicia, which tastes like flavoured water to me, lacking any depth of flavour, substance or interest, but it was refreshingly cool.

    I think there was a little mix-up with the bread, as half the group got some and half didn’t. Susanna and Jim seemed to have a bakery deposited on their table, whereas Bev and I got a slightly less generous allocation of bread. Looking back, we were perhaps meant to share with the others on their two tables. But, they probably didn’t need any bread, so win-win.

    I opted for the cod salad, which was colourful and looked well presented. The cod was at a mildly irritating (we can call it low level irritation to quote Susanna) tepid temperature so was neither hot nor cold, but it had a decent flavour and a saltiness to it. The tomatoes were of the usual Spanish high standard and the olives added some texture, although there was quite a lot of lettuce. But, it was a light and appetising lunch.

    It’d be wrong not to mention Bev’s lunch here and she ordered scrambled eggs with spinach. Although she forgot to read the next line which added “with imitation elvers and shrimps”. I think it’s fair to say that the imitation elvers, which looked like a cross between sinews and worms, didn’t really appeal to her. Called gulas locally, they’re meant to have the texture and flavour of baby eels (or elvers).

    There was another disturbance to our lunch, which was a man who put on a gorilla mask and waved at some of our group. I have no idea quite what he was trying to achieve, other than perhaps wanting to be at the centre of attention, but he pinched the restaurant’s bread basket and ran off, which is what we remembered him for and so he achieved that aim.

    Price-wise, this was around €12 for the lunch and tap water, or rather, I mean the local beer. All very convivial, although the process of paying was inefficient and took too long, but otherwise the service was timely and pleasant. This was though the final meal for us whilst walking the Camino, with just forty minutes more walking before the pilgrimage was over.

  • Camino de Santiago – Day Six (Streets of Santiago de Compostela)

    Some of the streets of Santiago de Compostela…..

  • Santiago de Compostela – Mercado de Abastos de Santiago

    The city’s market is a mix of covered and outside stands with a variety of products for sale, which are mainly linked to food produce.

    The church like halls were constructed on the site of the previous market in 1941, although they give the appearance of being older. The above hall has outlets where food is served directly to customers, with seating running along the centre.

    In the other halls, there are market stalls on either side with some impressive selections of cheese, meat, fish and vegetables, amongst much else. There seems to be more of a culture of buying fresh produce at the market rather than in larger supermarkets, something long since gone in most parts of the UK.

    An appropriate symbol for the whole camino journey, a scallop shell, which were once given to pilgrims to mark the end of their walk.

    A slightly sad looking fish (not surprising since it’s dead), although the seafood looked fresh. I couldn’t help but notice that there were more people in the market taking photos than there were actually buying the produce, although I can hardly complain as I was doing the same. The traders must have some considerable patience with the number of people who stand in the way of their customers taking close-up photos of the products that they’re selling.

  • Santiago de Compostela – Cafe Blu

    This cafe near to the centre of Santiago de Compostela doesn’t look particularly exciting from the outside, but it looked quite homely inside.

    A selection of the wines that were available, the cafe was relatively busy and the atmosphere was comfortable. I usually have the issue of having no clue whether to order at the counter or wait at the table, but the ordering process seemed logical here with table service being offered. Although I still sit there at the table looking at my phone trying to look casual and in control of the situation, whilst secretly wondering whether I should be ordering at the counter….

    A seating area which perhaps wasn’t entirely functional. There’s also an external seating garden to the back of the cafe which seemed quite pleasant.

    The cappuccino with complimentary heart shaped biscuit, with the coffee being at the appropriate hot temperature and having a suitably rich taste. The coffee cost €2, which is a reasonable price given the location. The service was polite and helpful, with the staff member speaking English which is always useful for me.

    The cafe offers 30% off their food for anyone who books via The Fork, which has perhaps made their food prices artificially high to compensate for that generosity. The cake selection looked decent, although the prices were a little high.