A Beautiful Monday morning in Santiago de Compostela, Spain

We took the train north from Valenca to the first significant train stop in Spain, Vigo. Our plan was to decide at the train station whether to stay or keep going northward. We were told that our 10:15 train which left the Valenca train station at the Portuguese almost on-time time of 10:50 was intended to get to Vigo at 12:15 so given our delayed start time, we expected to get to Vigo about 12:50. Our train car was almost empty, and at one stop the last few people got off as we waited to resume our journey to Vigo. After sitting there for a few minutes a security guard came and chased us out of our seats telling us ¨vigo- finish¨over and over. It seems we were already in Vigo but had forgotten that there was an hour time difference between the countires.

The countryside on the way to Vigo was beautiful rural, hilly land. The Portuguese and the Spanish both use rolling shutters on their windows to block out the sun, and the houses all look like people with their eyes closed against the sun. At first I thought they were closed down vacation homes until it was apparent that not every home in the district could be a vacation home- they are just resting against the strength of the sun. The farms are all small, with mostly corn growing and the grape vines interspersed periodically. Aside from the occaionally vegetable garden we have not seen any other crops growing except corn and grapes.

The Spanish towns along the tracks look more modern than the Portuguese, as if this area was not inhabited until the last fifty years or the old ruins have been replaced with modern homes. There is a feeling of more money here, and many more people. The train stations are modern and relatively luxurious compared to the Portuguese.

As we appraoched Vigo (of course not knowing that it was Vigo and having no announcements on this Portuguese train that corsses the border to Vigo) we were both thinking that Vigo, beautifully located on the coast was a much more commercial looking city than either of us wanted to visit. At over 200,000 people, it is a large port city with a small historical center. Not much to hold our attention. So, when we got to the attractive and modern station we caught the next train north- a much more modern and clean train than we were used to.

We arrived in Santiago de Compostela at 3:00 and jumped on the phone to call around and find a room. After several calls we found a room in a one star hotel above a square in the old town. It is a beautiful room, with exposed rock walls, in an ancient building within the formerly walled old town. We entered the cafe marked with our hotel name and they gave us the key and carried our luggage upstairs to our room on the third floor. For 54 Euros a night it really isn´t all that different from the rooms were we have lived for much more. Two hard twin beds, a bathroom with a flexible handle bath/shower and a tv that in Spain, gets no English speaking television. The Portuguese use subtitles when they frequently show US movies or tv shows, but the Spanish broadcast the Mighty Ducks with Spanish speaking voices.

Running out to time. Will post more later. Love, Deanne