Our morning adventure today was to walk the last part of the pilgrim's walk to Santiago. The weather wasn't that great, so we stopped at a vendor on the way to the bus and a bunch of people bought umbrellas because it was starting to rain. We hopped on the bus and then drove a ways to one of the last places people sleep before they get to the city. From there we walked up a hill (in the light rain) to where there were two large statues of pilgrims dressed in the traditional clothes. It is the first place where pilgrims on their walk have get to see the city and the church that some people have walked for weeks or months to get to. After that we walked down the hill and followed the trail back through the city to the church.
In free time before lunch I explored the city a little more with Laura and then we had another very long lunch in the hotel. The many courses consisted of bread, soup, tapas, steak, and then for dessert a flan type dessert with some sort of alcohol type gelato.
Post lunch brought us via bus to a vineyard and wine tasting at Pazo de Galegos. It is one of the oldest vineyards around, and I believe still family run. The owner made it very clear that they are not a wine factory, but produce their own few varieties of wine. They showed us where the grapes are growing (to be picked very soon) and where the bottle the wine, and then led us down to a room for the wine tasting. They had tables full of food that is common in this area such as empanadas, cheese, breads, and a type of pepper.
Before we could taste our glass of white wine, the son of the owner told us that we first have to look at the color and clarity, then smell it, then taste it. I might be forgetting something else too since I'm writing this almost two weeks later. The wine was very good and I enjoyed hanging out with the people in our group more.
After that we headed back to Santiago where we had the rest of the afternoon and evening free to explore. I bought a pair of silver colored earrings in the shape of the scallop shell which is the symbol of the pilgrim in Santiago and brings them protection and luck along with being one of the many symbols to lead the pilgrim along the trail.
In walking around after dinner with some friends we found a park that a lot of locals were walking in. We walked up the hill a bit and got a wonderful view of the cathedral and church then headed back to town to walk around some more.
There wasn't really much to do at night, so I hung out with a couple people for a while then we all just went to bed.
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