Santiago de Compostela is a bustling university city as well as being the third most important place in Christendom after Jerusalem and Rome. It is set in the lush countryside of Galicia, surrounded by woods, mountains and fields.  The city is very hilly with the bustling modern centre set below the historic old town.  Much of the modern city's economy is based around the university, with many shops and bars, not forgetting hotels and hostels catering specifically for the students.  The amount of competition for the student's cash, means that a cheap meal can easily be found.  As well as the numerous tapas bars, there are internet cafes and a lot of  small supermarkets which stay open late.  At first glance, it seems almost impossible to find a car parking space in the city centre but there seem to be quite a lot of small underground car parks, if you know where to find them.  Unlike the hotter south, the cooler climate of Galicia seems to have created a more tolerant type of driver more in keeping with that of the UK.  It took me a quite a while before I realised that drivers were actually stopping at zebra crossings, where I live on the Costa Blanca only the foolhardy attempt to use a zebra.  Red traffic lights are always observed and what I found quite amazing was that pedestrians always waited for the little man to change to green at zebra's controlled by traffic lights even when no cars were visible.

The Historic Centre

The cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is the termination of the pilgrims route or camino Frances a series of ancient walkways which meander across Spain and parts of France. The hugely impressive Cathedral is set in a large paved square, the Praza do Obradorio.  The present building dates from the 11th century and is built on the site of a 9th century basilica.  The cathedral is supposed to contain the remains of the apostle St James which are kept in a  silver casket located down a few steps in a small  crypt. Inside the crypt there is a tiny seated area where people can pray or just contemplate life.  The old city is a maze of small streets, many flanked on either side with cloistered walkways lined with shops and restaurants. Occasionally the streets open out onto small squares with fountains.   There are lots of bars and restaurants serving Galician specialities including many of the famous seafood recipes for which the area is famous (see our Galician food page)  As you may expect, being a tourist destination, there are a lot of  shops selling souvenirs many based on the pilgrims walk.

Weekend Breaks To Santiago de Compostela

There are now Ryanair flights from Liverpool and Stanstead airports to Santiago de Compostela and also internal flights from Reus, and Madrid. You can catch a bus from the airport to the centre for only three euros and with flights costing as little as ten euros, you can get a really cheap and interesting weekend break.  There are hundreds of hotels and hostels available, ranging from the cheap and cheerful to four and five star.  All hotels and hostels in Spain have to meet certain criteria for cleanliness so wherever you decide to book, it should be clean.  If you want to do it all on a budget, you can eat virtually free, just go to a tapas bar and order a glass of wine and most places will give you enough tapas with each drink to keep you full for the rest of the day.  The best tapas bar we found on our recent visit was the Latino on Republica Argentina 33.  The calamares were easily the best I've ever tasted, sweet  and tender.  The bar staff are extremely friendly and helpful.   Prices in the restaurants in the old town are significantly higher, so always check the menus.