Santiago de Compostela

(L to R: Dad, Uncle Mark, Mom, Aunt Judy, Honore)

Rest day! Well, we actually didn't rest a lot but we didn't hike. After breakfast (a feast!) Honore and I grabbed Mom's iphone for it's maps and headed off to find Zara's for a bit of shopping. It felt like a huge victory that we found the store, figured out the sizing, were able to try on clothes and pay for them. Yay us! I guess shopping is really a universal language. OK, not really but it still felt good.

After a brief siesta I met up with my Aunt Judy and Uncle Mark (pictured above) in the hotel bar for some beers, cafe con leche and olives. We sat and chatted for an hour or so until it was time for our rooftop tour. Mom, Honore and I had signed up for a tour along the roofline of the cathedral. For some reason, I forgot that we would actually be CLIMBING ON A ROOF and wore a short skirt and sandals. Appropriate, no? The tour was in Spanish but I caught enough to kind of figure out what the lady was saying. And let me tell you, it was DIZZYING up on top of the cathedral. You are literally walking on the roof and it's slanted. Not flat at all. It's like climbing slanted stairs, with no hand-rail, in the wind, about 3 stories up. I found it uncomfortable but gorgeous and informative (at least if the parts I translated were correct.).

The roof top tour was over at 8:20 which made it only a bit early for dinner. We went to a little tapas place that specialized in pairing wine with food. They had a huge cellar of Spanish wines and the waiters were extremely knowledgeable. We have a few bottles of wine (Alberino's) and tried about 8 types of cheeses with it. Delicious. I'm a little sad we aren't going to be spending more time with my family. Tomorrow they are leaving to drive along the northern coastline and then work their way down to Madrid. Honore and I are taking the train directly to Madrid tomorrow.

Santiago has been a wonderful reprieve after the hike. It has been peaceful, calm, and had a lot of fine food and wine. It has been joyous seeing my aunt and uncle and meeting up with my Dad for a few days. I feel rested.