Santiago de Compostela

Before I start, I need to correct a previous post, I said that Pontevedra was the biggest city in Galicia which was most definitely wrong.  It is actually fifth biggest or something like that.  Also I apologize for not posting earlier, I tried to write and post this yesterday but the cafe closed so I didn't get to finish.
Anyway... Getting to the good stuff... Tuesday Evan and I went to the Capital of Galicia, "Santiago de Compostela".  It was very, very cool and very, very old!  Evan made the comment that the roads were definitely not made with cars in mind which is kind of cool to think about but not cool when a car decides to drive down the windy road you are walking down.  It wasn't the first city that has had really skinny roads but it was probably the most extreme case.  Luckily most of the really skinny roads require a pass to drive on so traffic is at a minimum.  Not only did we see old, beautiful buildings, we saw one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen! (I say 'one of' because I have seen some of the best china has to offer, and I highly recommend a trip). I can see why people go on pilgrimages to visit the Cathedral in Santiago (besides the fact that it is generally accepted that the apostle James is buried underneath the cathedral).  It is sooooo huge and intricately carved and there is a huge pipe organ inside and lots of gold statues and it is just overall really awesome.  I would love to hear the organ one day...  Anyway, apparently it is a very unique cathedral and I can't imagine how they built it because it is around 800 years old. Give or take a lot of years.  We got to go inside which isn't always the case because it is in use still and if you pay a little you can see the crypt that James is buried in.  We didn't have time for that but we want to go back.


The Cathedral from the outside and the inside.  This is the only inside picture that looks ok because i was trying to take pictures without a flash since people were trying to worship there.

 This is inside a hallway of a university building.  The classrooms look the same as ours.

At a fountain outside of the Cathedral

A typical street in Santiago

The reason were were in the city with the long, hard-to-spell name was because Evan was being introduced to Galicia by the government along with three hundred other language assistants.  It was very 'aborrido' (which in Spanish means boring and uneventful) because I had no clue what was going on most of the time.  Touring after made up for it though.  Reyes is one of the teachers Evan works with us and she is the one who took us.  She is awesome!  Not only did she give us a mini tour of the city but she took us to a restaurant and introduced us to some traditional Galician food, (not just the bar food which is what we usually eat when we go out). It was very good but different from our food.  They eat a lot of fried meat here but they don't add flavours to things.  For example, salad dressing consists of olive oil, vinegar and maybe a little salt if your lucky.  I kinda miss drenching my lettuce in italian dressing.  I mean here, you actually have to taste the vegetables. ;)  And butter and salt are things you usually have to ask for even though your meal ALWAYS comes with bread.  Also, a popular dish is pickled asparagus with mayo to dip it in.  Sounds appetizing eh?  It's probably not so bad but I don't plan on finding out.  
Im going to end this post but if I have time I will add another post tonight.