Today was basically a traveling day, from Finesterre back to Santiago de Compostela and the same pension we stayed in two days ago. We caught the bus at 10am, again along with a lot of pilgrims, and away we went. I think I slept part of the way. We arrived in Santiago before 1pm and walked back uphill to the pension. After we checked back in, we went out to find a place to eat. We decided on the Restaurant Dakar. Manoli ordered mussels and I had a pork, croquetas and pasta salad. The pork was quite good, and tender. We wandered around town until dinner time, found a supermarket and bought some stuff for dinner and for the trip tomorrow. For dinner I had a paella that was quite good. We chilled until it was time to go to bed. Tomorrow we take a train from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid, then change trains for one to Salamanca.
Today we go to Salamanca for two nights, by train. We packed up our stuff again in our backpacks, and headed down to the train station. Again,
we had breakfast in the train station cafeteria, then waited for our train. We boarded the train, and got the back two seats in our car. We settled in, reading and playing solitaire. The train arrived in Madrid around 1:30pm, and our next train to Salamanca didnt leave until 3:50, so we found a bar nearby and ate lunch. It was a bit hectic after that, since the departure line wasnt put up until about 10 minutes before time. We finally got on board, and again had the last two seats in our car. We sort of settled in again, and chilled until the train pulled into Salamanca station.
I had a map saved on my phone, to tell us how to get to our hostel, Hostal Plaza de Espana, so away we went, carrying our backpacks. It was a bit longer than I thought, and a lot harder with the backpacks. We finally found our hostel, used the codes they had sent us, and found our room. It was okay I guess. We had a private bathroom and a double bed, but no kitchen, dining area, or terrace.
explore, and find a good place to eat. Salamanca has two cathedrals, but what a lot of folks dont realize, including us, is that they are right next to each other. We kept wondering where the other cathedral was, or what church this was, etc. There are also alot of convents, old buildings and of course the Unversity of Salamanca. About 8pm, we decided to have dinner in the Plaza Mayor. We picked out Bar Nero, and it was a good choice. While we watched all the goings on, Manoli ate another salad and I decided to experiment. I ordered a croqueta de seta and a miniburger that sounded interesting. The croqueta de seta (mushroom croquette) was okay, but the miniburger was delicious! It was a small hamburger with brie cheese and caramelized onions.
After dinner we wandered around a bit, waiting for dark when they lit up the Plaza Mayor. We saw several churches or chapels, monasteries, convents, and the roman bridge. A little before 10pm, we returned to the Plaza Mayor to see it lit up. It was quite a sight. See the photo. After that, we returned to our room, and hit the hay.
