Our Pilgrimage to Santiago...

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

December 1, 2007
N42°52.773
W008°32.694

Throughout our travels we have done our best to avoid back-to-back travel days. It’s tough enough hauling all gear around and spending a day on a train, bus, plane or boat, but when you have to do it two days in a row it will wear on you.

After leaving Coimbra, and unable to make it to Santiago de Compostela in one day, we decided to gut it out and endure back-to-back travel days. Luckily, the first day was a simple hour and a half train ride north to Porto allowing us time to see the city and relax along the Rio Duermo. However, the second day, which was supposed to be six hours maximum, turned into an all day affair…

It was cold, dark and foggy when we stumbled out of our hotel by 6:55 AM; ample time to catch our train from the Porto station at 7:55 AM bound for the medium sized city of Vigo, a 3 hour train ride. The plan was to connect in Vigo, where the trains left every hour for Santiago de Compostela. However, when we were 45 minutes into our train ride to Vigo, the train conductor informed us there had been an accident at the border of Spain and we would have to take a bus from Valenca. Okay, no problemo.

After an uneventful hour long bus ride from the Valenca station we made it to Vigo around noon. Not too bad… we figured we could still get to Santiago by 2:30 and would be sipping some Rioja by 3:30. We headed straight for the ticket counter and bought tickets from Vigo to Santiago. As we were about to turn away from the ticket counter the lady informed us we would have to take a bus to another station and a train from there; apparently the Spanish train problems were wider spread than originally explained, and told to wait for instructions…. hmmm.

I should mention very few people in this region of Spain speak English, so all of the conversations are in Spanish where I understand about 50% of what is being said and Marc about 25%. After each conversation we would look at each other and compare notes, trying to piece together what was being said. It felt like we were in high school and asking each other what answer we got for a particular question on an exam; neither of sure of the correct answer.

To make a long story, and a very long day short, we finally board a train from Vigo at 2:10 PM, after multiple discussions of whether we are really taking a bus or a train. The train then stopped in a small village about 15 miles from Santiago due to yet another “problemo.” After about thirty minutes without any information new discussions about another autobus began to spread throughout the train. Finally, our conductor, who we’ve come to know well, visited our car and explained that we need to vamos on another autobus. Comprende? Of course!

So… we get on another bus to another train station. We get off the bus and back on another train and finally arrive at our destination, Santiago de Compostela, around 5:30 PM. Frustrated, exhausted and giddy that our journey had come to an end, we high-tailed it to the Hotel Alameda and were pleasantly surprised with a room for 40 Euro a night. We showered, ate a light snack and relaxed for a few minutes before hitting the town around 9:00 PM.

Thank goodness the town is really quaint and charming with excellent tapas and wine bars. We already scoped out our favorite by the end of Saturday night… too bad they’re all closed on Sunday and Monday.

Other notes: I have to say congratulations to my nephew’s football team. Kyle Lowe plays for the Whitney Wildcats of Rocklin, CA. They played in the Sac Joaquin Section Division IV title game against the Oakdale Mustangs on Saturday night at the University of the Pacific. Unfortunately, they lost in a very close game. However, his team had a tremendous season and established a tradition of winning and excellence for Whitney’s very young (two year old) program. In June, Kyle will be among the first seniors to graduate from Whitney. I’m sure Kyle and his teammates will be remembered throughout the history of Whitney as the team that founded the winning football traditional. Congratulations to the entire team!