Sea (see) food in Santiago

Last night and today have included times of celebration with new friends made along the way, and those celebrations seemed to have included sea food and plenty of it. Andres has been our culinary guide and coming from Alicante on the Mediterranean coast he is a sea food affectionado. 

As planned, we met at the famous ‘Black Cat’ yesterday evening. It is a very down to earth establishment and Andres assured us we would get traditional Galagian food there.

We began with a toast and then enjoyed various plates of Galician goodies.

Everyone was pretty tired so it wasn’t a late night, certainly not by Spanish standards.

This morning I spent time just quietly soaking in the spirit of the place. For an hour or so, I simply stood in the plaza and watched. I found it very moving as each pilgrim came to the end of their Camino, and all the while, there were two musicians filling the space with the most beautiful and haunting Galician music. I could have stayed all day.

But, alas, there was more feasting on the agenda. I had arranged to join Andres and Louis for a trip to the markets.

The plan was to select some seafoods and take them to a local cafe to be cooked.  I left it to the guys and they chose more than I would eat in a week! 

These fishies made the cut.

Along with these other two Galician delicacies, the names of which I cannot remember.

We finished off with a plate of plump cherries, bigger than I’ve ever seen. They were delicious.

I feel as if I have to walk tomorrow as it will take me four days to walk off this wonderful food. 

After lunch we sat and talked for a while, and then said our goodbyes as the guys are leaving early in the morning for the train to Madrid.

It is one of the gifts that seems to happen on the Camino that you get to meet and make friends with some great people. It has happened on each of my caminos and, as with amigos from previous pilgrimages, I will appreciate keeping up with these guys despite oir language differences.

Tonight, I will wander again and enjoy the ambience of the narrow lanes and the plazas. Tomorrow, I shall put those shoes and take the next step on the way (or thirty thousand!). Buen Camino, Neils 

P.S. The cathedral door - not the main one!!