Day 5 -- Santiago de Compostela

Morning in Orense was uneventful. However, we managed to sneak into the Cathedral right after mass. It is spectacular. The amount of gold is unbelievable. We were lucky since as we were leaving, the lights were being turned off and the glistening gold all around became dark. The drive to Santiago was on a nice toll road going through a lovely green, hilly or mountainous terrain. It was an easy drive, but the situation changed radically when we got to Santiago. Driving through a maze of narrow medieval streets, most of which are one way and totally crowded with cars and people is next to impossible. In addition to that, our GPS lady doesn’t do cities very well so we often drive around in circles. So we gave up trying to get anywhere and parked in an underground garage and began walking. As soon as we got near the Cathedral the crowds were overwhelming. Hoards of people do a pilgrimage to this city from all over all the time. The pilgrims routes are called “Camino de Santiago” and thousands of pilgrims eventually get into the city. You can see them wearing hiking boots, carrying backpacks and walking sticks. They are young and old. They probably take up at least half of the available hotel rooms. They congregate around the famous cathedral, which is immense and architecturally spectacular, but the line to go inside was unending. The whole city is a gem with its amazing architecture and history. It’s a bit too crowded for our taste, though.
Hotel --- we didn’t even think about making a reservation because after all late September is not the prime tourist season. Our attempt to find a hotel was disappointing to say the least. We tried every hotel we saw, even the most expensive place in town where the room is hundreds of euros, but there was not a vacant hotel room in the entire city. The local tourist information office gave us a book with a list of all the hotels in Galicia arranged by city. We looked at a map and chose the closest city on our itinerary towards the coast, called a hotel and booked a room. Tourist information also helped us find the only vegetarian restaurant in the city -- comida ecologica. We have never been so excited about a salad. After eating heavy and meaty Galician food for days, this was heaven.
We finally got back to our car (after having to ask for directions about 5 times). Driving out of the underground parking turned into one of the most horrifying experiences ever. In a very narrow driveway full of very sharp turns we were suddenly faced by another car going down as we were driving up. We thought that for sure he must have made a mistake. We hoped he would back out, but there was another car behind him. We couldn’t move either because there were at least two cars behind us. All this took place on a steep stretch so sliding down seemed like a real possibility. Finally, the car facing us managed to move as far to the wall as possible and we barely passed it and got out. We found our hotel in a brand new suburb about 3 miles away from Santiago. It is modern, clean and quite comfortable.