We had breakfast in the Parador as we do every morning. They put out a real nice spread of local foods. It is really by far our best meal of the day. Today Jan filled her purse with fruit, cookies, meat, cheese and rolls for our afternoon meal. It turned out, with the help of some chocolate, to be lunch and supper.
Our first stop was at Santiago de Compostela. This is the end point for the Pilgrimage to Santiago. Every year in July hundreds of thousands of people walk hundreds of miles to pay homage to the remains of St. James. While July is by far the main time people do it all times of the year. We saw them walking along the road.
In Santiago there is a huge cathedral where the remains are supposed to be buried. All the walkers congregate there to pray. There were people from all over the world. We talked to a couple from South Africa. It was a Tuesday morning in October and the place was mobbed with people from everywhere. Many of them had backpacks or bicycles. It was a very festive place with street performers and all kinds of sights and sounds.
Then it was off to Portugal. It is the first time Jan or I had been there. We had a real hard time finding the Pousada, a Portuguese Parador. It is in the town of Porta. It is a large very old town with a maze of small one way streets and terrible traffic. We managed to find it however and it is beautiful. It is the combination of a restored palace and a neighboring factory. The rooms are in the factory. We have the equivalent of a three bedroom apartment; a huge bedroom, bathroom and large sitting room. Everything is first class and very contemporary.
We went out for a ride and I sort of freaked Jan out. We went down a series of streets that were so narrow we had to fold the mirrors in. With every narrow 90 degree turn between high dark walls the road got narrower. We were wondering if we were ever going to get out. We did.
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