PARIS - DAKAR

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA - MARCH 2007

Santiago is mostly known for its Cathedral and for the famous pilgrimage on the Camiño. But being also a city with around 40,000 students (in a population of roughly more than 90,000 people) and more than 200 bars there is much more to do than just strolling around the churches. The weekend starts on Thursday as many students head home at weekends, and the most famous of the nightlife routes is the Paris-Dakar race! It starts at Bar Paris at the top of Rua Franco and ends at Bar Dakar on Rua de Raiña, after stops in all of the 48 bars that make The Way through pulpo a feira (thinly sliced octopus) and Albariño (white sparkling wine)!


"QUINTANA MORTOS - On the eastern side of the Cathedral we find the Praza Quintana, where the «Porta Santa» (Holy Door) nay be found. It's a two level square and the lowest side used to be facing a cemetery, thus the name «Quintana Mortos» (Quintana=door or square Mortos=Dead); it will be the starting point of our tour of the rúas (streets) of historic Santiago!


"COLEXIO FONSECA - At the beginning of Rua do Franco we find the Fonseca College. It was commissioned by Alonso III de Fonseca, archbishop of Santiago from 1507 through 1523, and has been used by the University since 1544. It houses now the General Library, but I would say that its most particular feature is the statue of Fonseca in the courtyard, posing as if he was already talking at a mobile phone in the early sixteenth century; man of great vision... :-)"


"RUA DO FRANCO is the street running off the Cathedral Square to the right as you look at it, and got its name from the Franks that once used to live there. Bars and restaurants abound"


"CASCO VIEJO - Side street"


"NARROW ALLEY"


"PILGRIM (?) - (Makes his life from charging tourists for the photo; similar to the dentist at Djemaa El Fna...)"


"TAPAS"


"PIMIENTOS DE PADRON - Unos pican, otros non... (some are hot, others not)"


"LAMPREYS - Just imagine a Portuguese lamprey rice!"


"PRAZA DO TOURAL - It's probably not one of the most impressive squares in Santiago, but the 18th century Pazo de Bendaña is an interesting building. It houses now a museum dedicated to the surrealist artist Eugenio Granell"



"RUA DO VILAR - Another of the nice streets in the historical centre of Santiago"


"TYPICAL HOUSE"


"CASA DE LA BALCONADA - A building from the second half of the 18th century, now housing services from the University of Santiago. It takes its name from the balustrade we may see in the picture"


"RUA NOVA"


"CASA DA TROIA - This museum is a reconstruction of the old late 19th-century students lodgings immortalized in the novel La Casa de la Troya by Pérez Lugín. It holds a collection of furniture, photographs and documents that belonged to some of the characters in the book, who were all actually existing people"


"WINDOWS"


"FOOD MARKET - Built in 1941"


"RUA DOS LOUREIROS"


"QUINTANA VIVOS - Back to Quintana, this time to the Vivos (Alive), the top level of the Square. It includes the Casa da Parra (the one with the flags), a late 17th century building now used as an exhibition hall. Its name derives from the bunches of grapes (parra) that ornate both sides of its door"