I had never been to Galicia, Spain; I only heard about it. Being in the northwest corner of Spain, I imagined it as being a little cold but really knew nothing else.
On this trip, we have had the privilege of traveling through Galicia by car. We were fortunate to have nice weather, which enabled us to see the countryside firsthand and at its best. We were amazed at the views and the landscape, seemingly the most beautiful on the Iberian Peninsula, and that is just traveling the Freeway. There are other highways to travel, and I felt it would certainly be worthwhile to take some of the side roads to see even more. The green and the mountains are glorious, with little villages tucked into the hillsides. Many are situated on the Bay of Biscay, which we were able to see intermittently from the road. From our view, we could see sailboats and surfers taking advantage of the good weather.
The trip through Galicia from Porto, Portugal, to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, was about 2 hours. We hoped we could visit the cathedral there. Unfortunately, we were too late to go inside the cathedral, but even the views from the outside are spectacular. The Cathedral and the City of Compostela exist because St. James, one of the apostles of Jesus, is believed to be buried there. There are many interesting stories of his life in Spain, but the most prominent is the church he built after a vision of the Virgin Mary in Zaragoza and the fact that he was later beheaded in Jerusalem and his body returned to Spain. Fittingly, he is the Patron Saint of Spain. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have made their way by foot to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela via many different roads throughout Spain and France. Usually it is a trip that is over one hundred miles, and I am told it is extremely arduous but apparently very rewarding for those choosing to make this gigantic effort.
Our next stop was Bilbao and then on to San Sebastián. To gain insights from our experience in the Basque Country, I invite you to explore my blog entry by following this link: https://www.placespeoplepurpose.com/post/our-basque-country-experience
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