Poetry,guidebooks,everyone talked about the ceaseless rain in Galicia. But in the early December, I had 4 bright sunny days out of 5 days stay in Santiago de Compostela.<BR><BR>Probably due to the season,except some daytrippers during the weekend, there was hardly any visitor around. In the late afternoon of my first day,I had the immense cathedral all by myself. Early morinings and nights, wandering along the stone-paved narrow streets,I could almost hear the echos of footsteps.<BR><BR>The whole town is built of gray and cream colours granite. Churches,townhouses,squares,fountains and streets came from different periods but with an uniformed beauty,have been kept intact for centuries. Under bright sky or drizzling rain, they all sparkled as crystal.<BR><BR>Unlike many other touristy old towns (such as Brugge, Siena),even with many souvenir shops,there was always some sort of serene hanging around.

Santiago has many good museums,except the cathedral museums, most of them are free and housed in formmer conventos. Therefore the buildings themselves are part of the art pieces. One of the most interesting is the triple spiral staircase around the exhibition tower in Meseo do Pobo Galego. Across the road, the space design in the modern Centro Galego de Arte Contemporarrea is really unique also.<BR><BR>The best place to view the spires upon spires skyline of Santiago is at Carballeina de Santa Susena. It is a vast park on hill with many huge old trees(I saw a group of 8 person hand in hand embracing one tree,camellias and azaleas,some of them were fully blooming with pink and white flowers already. There are many benches in the park, sitting on one of them is a sculpture of a late professor of the university, gazing contemplatively at the twin towers of Cathedral just as while he was alive.

Street music,organ music and concerts seemed inseperable from the town. Bagpipers,flutesand guitarists,alone or a band; by a corner of a square or strolling along streets,sometimes people joined in and danced together. At one of the concerts,I heard a piece of long forgetten childhood favorite my father used to play for us kids.<BR><BR>Galicians treated strangers with kindness. In A Corura,I asked the direction of a garden from an old lady with shopping basket, she dropped the basket by her front doors, walked several blocks with me to the entrance. On one bus,several passengers told me at the same time upon the arrival of my stop.<BR><BR>Eating is a true enjoyment in Santiago:cheap and fresh food simply cooked. Walking in the huge market(better than the famous one in Valencia),looking at the countless choices, how I was envious of the local. Every morning, fresh squezzed orange juice in one cafe, still warm pastry from a bakery, a pot of tea from another cafe,a ripe melon from a fruit stall; in the night,after the second time dined at the same restaurant,the cook started to discuss what was good for the day. The simple pleasure of traveling.

This is a delightful posting- - thank you JC. I really enjoyed it and also happen to be planning a trip to that part of Spain in the Spring.

JC:<BR>This post about the friendly Galicians reminds me of 2 similar experiences I had during my trip last April.<BR><BR>I asked a young man where the bus stop was for the bus going to the bus station and instead of showing me on the map I had handy he walked 2 blocks with me and made sure I found the correct stop.<BR><BR>On my return to the airport to fly back to Madrid the taxi driver insisted on bringing my luggage for me inside the airport all the way to the ticket counter!<BR><BR>It's funny but it's the little things that you remember when you return...<BR><BR>You were very lucky with the weather. We visited the first week in April and the first 4 days were nice. But the last 3 days the temperature took a dramatic drop (below freezing) and the eversteady sprinkle of rain set in. Surprisingly my friend from Chicago had a harder time dealing with it than I did (and I'm in California).

Topping for Daisy.