After finishing our pilgrimage we stayed three nights in Santiago de Compostella, which gave us two and a half days to explore. On Saturday morning we did Optimus Tours Santiago Full Experience. We met in the main plaza and toured the old town finishing in the market. Our guide was great and we learned a lot. After the market we had 45 mins free time before reconvening in the plaza for the second part of the tour of the cathedral museum and the cathedral itself. This was again excellent. Our ticket also included the Portico of Glory (no photos allowed) which is the main entrance to the cathedral that is closed most of the time to protect the carvings just inside. A reasonable portion of the paint is still visible on the sculptures which is unusual because in most the old cathedral the painting has long worn off. You can only see these with a ticket because they are screened off from the main portion of the cathedral. Afterwards G and I stayed in the cathedral and visited St James tomb and touched the St James sculpture which is a pilgrim tradition.

I had booked fancy dinner at Casa Marcelo, a Michelin starred restaurant. We were the first ones there and we were seated at the large communal table with a good view of the kitchen. The chef came out to ask about our food preferences and then he got to work. There is no menu, the chef decides what you’re going to eat according to your preferences and the waiters explain what you will be eating as they bring out each dish. I really loved our dinner here. Definitely a highlight!

On Sunday we did a day tour to Rías Baixas with Toxo Travel. I was a bit nervous how this tour would go because it was bilingual and a bigger tour but the guide was excellent. In the bus she gave live commentary in Spanish while we had pre-recorded audio in English, but at each stop should would tell us about the place in Spanish and English. She also alternated which language she did first.

Our first stop was Padrón, which is where legend says the boat with St James body landed in Galicia. In the church is the stone that was supposed to be the one the disciples of St James tied their boat to, although it was most likely the altar stone of a Roman temple.

The next stop was Combarro, a small fishing village on the Ría de Pontevedra. We went on a mussel boat where everyone ate unlimited mussels washed down with local wine while we toured the. I tried the mussels and they were nice, but I didn’t have much of them or the wine because I have to be careful on boats because of travel sickness. Partway through we stopped at one of the mussel farm and they showed us how the mussels and scallops are grown. Afterwards we walked through the gorgeous village, admiring the horreos perched by the water. We stopped at one of the many small restaurants by the water and had some scallops and a mixed salad.

We headed back to the bus at the appointed time and were off to our next stop—the scallop shell church. This was really beautiful. The scallops were added to protect the stone the church was built from.

Around afternoon teatime we found ourselves in a commune of Cambados. This area is famous for Albariño so we had to try a glass in a little bar on the main square.

Our final stop was A Lanzada for a walk along the beach. It was really lovely and the sun actually peaked out from the clouds while we were there.

Our final day started off quite wet and I had booked a tour on the roof of the cathedral. It was just me, G stayed back at the hotel. The tour is in Spanish but I could understand just enough to follow directions and it was wonderful to see everything from a different angle and get up close to the intricate sculpture at the top of the facade. It was a little bit hairy in the rain but even though I’m scared of heights I handled it fine.

After the tour I had a walk around town and took a few more photos, then G and I had a proper lunch in the restaurant at … before heading out to the airport to start heading home.

I often do the high things when I’m visiting a city, do you like to get a bird’s eye view when you are sightseeing?