DAY 11

Thursday 18th October Braga and Santiago de Compostela

Today we had to say goodbye to The Torgil and all her crew, especially the lovely Liliya and Raquel as we were moving on to the post-cruise extension in Santiago de Compostela. This involved a bit of a drive from Porto to Santiago, which, of course, is in Spain. We left at 0900 for the first leg of the journey to Braga.

Braga is one of the larger cities in Portugal with a population of about 200,000. It has existed since before the Romans and was once the most important Christian site in Portugal. This is reflected in the huge numbers of churches in the city and also in the sanctuaries on the hill overlooking the city.

Our bus took us all the way up the hill to the the sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Monte - The Good Jesus of the Mount. It has some lovely gardens, but is rather more famous for the monumental Baroque staircase leading almost 120 metres up to the sanctuary. We were shown round by our guide Carolina who had come through on the coach with us and would stay with us until we flew home.

The site offers fantastic views over the city.

The church itself is one of the first Neo-Classical churches in Portugal and was built in 1784 to 1834, which is quite a long time.

Pilgrims were supposed to climb up to the church on their knees by means of the zig zag staircase. We went down a little bit to get some nice photos.

By the Nineteenth century pilgrims had become a bit softer and this water balance funicular was installed to make their lives a bit easier. Just prior to that, the area around the church was turned into a public park.

 The park has a very nice little grotto, which is actually made of concrete, because there is no limestone on this part of Portugal.

 There was also a statue of a goddess.

 You could go inside and look out.

 You could also go up to a balcony and look down on people.

Once back on the bus, we were taken into the city for a look around, guided by Carolina.

Of course, there were churches. 

Thus one belonged to the Bishop, hence the double cross and the mitre on the spire.

There were also statues on the house balconies nearby. You should, of course, always look up in any city as there's always something to see.

Once again, the church was pretty smart inside.

The organ was amazing.

Of course, all that looking up at painted ceilings and organs can give you a crick in the neck. The light from the stained glass windows created some interesting effects on the floor.

The windows themselves were very colourful.

Braga does betray a bit if its past with thin buildings like this which were erected to avoid taxes that were based on the ground floor area.

Carolina took us to some gardens, which were looked over by this fantastic dragon, which has been here since 2013.

These are the gardens of Santa Barbara in the former Archbishop's palace area.

Carolina then took us back to the centre of town where we had a bit of free time. This meant time to find somewhere for a spot of lunch, which we did opposite this rather nice avenue.

We found the Cafe Astoria, where we were treated to some very nice little nibbles. Mussels with onion and chilli, a kind of breadcrumbed chicken sausage, a sort of pizza bread - all very nice and so was the fresh, cold Albarino wine we had with it all.

After lunch, it was back to the bus and on to our final destination of Santiago de Compostela. This is famous for the tomb of St James, who was one of the original apostles. The tomb lies within an amazingly effusive cathedral. Pilgrims came from all over Europe to visit the relics. Nowadays, the pilgrims might not be religious and may come from all over the world. After walking at least 100 kilometres they receive a certificate to prove they have done it.  The pilgrimage has become a very popular. 

Our coach took us to our very nice hotel, where we checked in and our luggage was delivered to the room. We had a little bit of time to freshen up and then we joined Carolina who took us on a short walking orientation tour of the city.

It didn't take long to walk to the historical centre of the city. Much of the way is covered to protect you from the rain. We had none and it was actually pleasantly warm. There was an option for people who were less mobile to take a taxi to the centre and meet us there.

The key area is the central square in front of the cathedral, which you would have to be curmudgeonly not to find completely astonishing.

The pilgrims have to get to the shell in the middle of the square to complete the pilgrimage.

Carolina also took us to the main street where all the restaurants were - and there were a lot. Many of them display the raw ingredients in windows to entice you in. It was like food heaven and the choice was bewildering.

So, we made our choice and, once Carolina left us, we settled into this very nice tapas place called El Papatorio. It was relatively quiet when we sat down, but was soon completely packed. The waiter was really helpful and we soon had a fine array of tapas to tuck into.

Ham, cheese, bread, oil, chorizo, padron peppers, prawns with garlic and chilli, prawn, smoked salmon and avocado, prawn and squid skewers, tiny fillet steaks on toast. It was all tasty and fabulous as was the Albarino wine.

We came out satisfied and happy and not too light in the pocket.

The cathedral was lit up as was the square.

Our eye was taken by the most expensive of the Paradors in Spain. These are state owned hotels and they are all over Spain and tend to be in historic buildings. This one is sumptuous, expensive and also supposed to have one of the best restaurants in Spain (unfortunately, I only found that out after we got home).

Carolina had told us that most of the building was restricted to hotel guests, but we could go in, turn left and go to the bar for a drink.

So, we did after Sharon posed at the door.

The bar was very small and very nice, with a few clients who were a little surprised to see us! The drinks were very good, although the whisky was expensive. although it would have to be said that the measures were not small.

We came out to find the moon shining on the square and then we walked back to our hotel for a well deserved sleep.