Don’t forget to turn around and enjoy the view

The title of today's post comes from one of the aphorisms often quoted by hikers and walkers. The full statement often being:

Somewhere on your journey don’t forget to turn around and enjoy the view

I can't find an original source for the phrase, but it appears all over blogs, Facebook and Instagram and seems to sum up this Sunday in Santiago de Compostela. A time to decompress.

Since Thursday we have been on the move: miles on Thursday, on Friday and on Saturday, it has been fun, it has very much been part of the holiday not a route to it, but to really experience this vacation time we need to slow down and instead of planning and doing, simply BE.

Below is some of how we have been being during the day.

Early Sunday Morning

I wake up at 3.30am, seems to be a regular time, which is good as it gave me plenty of time to edit the photos from yesterday (between Drew and I we had taken 8 photos of the Madrid to Santiago de Compostela train's speed at everything from 290 upwards - obviously we only needed one when the top speed was confirmed (plus 2 at 0)! 

I then drafted yesterday's blog post, uploaded photos and links to it and then added the photos to Flickr. 

A toilet visit at 6am prompted me to shave, brush my teeth and shower. The shower here is over the bath. It again has a flexible shower head and a static one, though these are connected to different taps in different parts of the bath, the first time I've seen this setup, but it worked without difficulty. 

Even all this noise of ablutions hadn't disturbed Drew who continued to sleep until 7am. He still managed to get up, do his ablutions, and arrive at breakfast as it opened at 7.30am (this is a weekend time, it is open at 7 on weekdays.) 

Breakfast

There were only four of us at breakfast as it opened. A big difference from the massed hoards of yesterday in Barcelona. It meant I had time to take photos of the various things on offer - for those who like photos of food, please go to this photo in Flickr and move forward from there.

Drew began his breakfast with Sausage, Bacon and Scrambled Eggs

I having adopted the flavours as a key part of the holiday meals opted for Greek yogurt with turmeric, sunflowers seeds, walnuts, linseed, chia seeds and pumpkin seeds

My second course came from the Galician options. There is a whole table of Galician food options in the breakfast selection. These include: Tuna Empanadas which are new to me, some cracking blue cheese - it really bites back, two kinds of pilgrim cake (one with the pilgrim cross on top), local meats, including chorizo, local honey, local cheesecake and locally produced chocolate.

I had dark Rye bread - blue cheese, hard sheep's cheese and a cheddar style cheese and they were all delicious, but the blue cheese was the best.

Drew's second course was also from the Galician options: Bread with hazelnuts and raisins; Sourdough (Pan Gallega); Cake and Blue Cheese 

For my third breakfast plate I opted for Rye bread, lomo, jamon, tortilla de patatas y queso.

Drew went back to the Galicia table and had a different pilgrim cake and locally produced choclate.

Knowing that lunch was almost six hours away I opted for an, unusual, fourth course. I went back to the Galician table for pork loin in paprika, chorizo, blue cheese and dark rye bread.

Replete we went back to the room and uploaded the final photos from yesterday before going downstairs at 9.30am and taking photos of the art on display in the lobby area, including this amazing selection of street scetches from Santiago de Compestela. 

Local Parks

With the photos of art taken we had time to go out and look about the places we had rushed through yesterday.

This includes the park in which the hotel is situated - Parque Avenida Burgo das Nacións

We can even see our hotel room from the park - just behind that large tree

and the larger Parque Música en Compostela with its duck, lakes, streams and trees - this is the park we walked through yesterday on our arrival. 

We walk a circle around the park leading back to the Auditorio de Galicia - the musical cultural centre of Galicia. 

The auditorium has a plaque on the side to honours Portuguese singer-songwriter José Afonso. It commemorates the first time Afonso sang his famous protest song "Grândola, Vila Morena" on May 10, 1972. This became an iconic song in Portugal after being used as a radio-broadcast signal by the Portuguese Armed Forces Movement during their military coup operation on the morning of April 25, 1974, which led to the, so called, Carnation Revolution and the transition to democracy in Portugal. The event occurred at the former university hall called "Burgo das Nacións", which is the current location of the Auditorio de Galicia.

Drew was made up as we walked away from the auditorium to see our first pilgrim, heavily loaded with a huge rucksack on the back and one about 50% smaller on the front. How she was still walking with all that weight I'm not sure!

We pop back into the hotel freshen up and at 11.30am I head down towards the city centre to go to Mass.

 

Sunday Mass

I walk to Mass following this route:

I leave the hotel at 11.30am and arrive at the Cathedral at 11.45pm for Midday Mass. It quickly becomes obvious that this wasn't a good idea. As well as having to pass the many pilgrims in Praza do Obradoiro jumping and shouting because their pilgrimage has reached its destination, I then went to Praza das Praterías, the main entrance to the Cathedral where there were at least 400 people queuing to get into the Cathedral for Midday Mass. The queue snaked back through the surrounging two squares in 8 curves of 50+ people. As by this time there is only 15 minutes before, it is clear that joining the back of the queue wasn't going to get me to Mass on time, so I walked around the corner to the nearest alternative church with Midday Mass called the Capela de Ánimas (Chapel of the Holy Souls). 

I had found this useful source on the Cathedral website this morning. 

It shows the time of Mass in all the churches in the City Centre. Given the thousands doing the Camino there are many Masses, 26 on weekdays, and on Sundays 36 in Castiliano and another five in the Galician language, with (not on the above timetable) one in French, one in English and one in German!

Armed with this knowledge I left the Cathedral surrounds at 11.45am and headed to Capela de Ánimas. 

This church was designed by Miguel Ferro Caaveiro and begun in 1784 and completed in 1788. Note the nine people burning in the image below the round window - souls in the pain of purgatory waiting for us to pray or offer Mass for them. 

Even though this church is only 3 minutes walk from the bustling Cathedral there are only 40 people at Mass. A small group of elderly Spanish pilgrims had completed the Camino today following the Camino Francés and they led the singing and did the readings while an elderly priest who had travelled with them said the Mass as we celebrated the solemnity of Corpus Christi (The Body and Blood of Jesus). The homily was less than 3 minutes long, but focussed on all the key themes of the celebration. Of us consuming the Lord's body and blood, so that we are united with him in all we say, think or do - a good reminder. 

Dinner

Having assumed I was going to Mass in the Cathedral I had booked our meal today at 1.30pm, but with the smaller number at Mass in the little chapel I was out by 12.40pm. I had remained after Mass for a prayer, but after five minutes the sacristan was giggling his keys, as the church gets locked up on a Sunday after the last Mass reopening on Monday morning. 

I used the time to walk gently through the old town, seeing this fascinating place. It feels very medieval in form and layout. With paved streets converging and diverging and some very steep streets making their way out of town. The photos below were taken by Drew who had been wandering around the town while I was at Mass.

We had arranged to meet just before dinner and Drew found me sitting on a medieval bench/kerb stone. 

I was looking for him as he was photographing me!

Restaurante Simpar

Today's lunch is one of the two posh meals (Poncy Dinner in Drew's words) we have booked in Michelin Starred restaurants. 

The restaurant isn't open on Mondays and only opens for lunchtime on Sunday, so the only options we had was to take the risk of booking it for arrival day (to much of a risk from my perspective) or to have dinner at lunch-time today, so we had opted for that. 

The restaurant is in the heart of the old city

It is small with seven tables of four its maximum, but with only three tables of two being used this afternoon.

The meal began with a course introduced to us as 'A Taste of Mushroom'

The first (midnight and six in the photo below) was a Mushroom tart, simple to say, but a real bomb of flavour flooding the mouth as you eat it - a one bite morsel.

The second (3 and 9) a Mushroom meringue - light and delicate in texture, but a big punch of dried strong mushroom powder at the end - astounding

The third was a Mushroom Fritter - Buñuelo de champiñones - this Garlic and mushrooms fritter has a light background of garlic cream in a warm mushroom fritter - a bag of these and a good book and I'd be a happy man.

Fourth - Mushroom Tea - This was warming and seemed health giving. As the Wenglish says:  Something tasty for someone sick in bed under the doctor!

Next came the Croquetas de jamón y queso - This ham and cheese croquette is like nothing you have eaten before. It won the national croquette of the year awards in 2025 and it is obvious why - The insides have an exceptionally creamy béchamel sauce and outside there is a very crispy coating in a perfectly sized spherical shape. Excellent.

Our bread course was Pan Gallaga - A perfect example of this delicious bread - see the wonderful holes in the crumb, that and the crispness of the crust characterises this bread.

It was served with a refreshing Olive Oil from Galicia for dipping. 

What followed was a dish of White Asparagus - This dish displays asparagus in multiple ways. The centre piece is a tip and stacks of white asparagus from Valladolid, the most well known area in Spain for growing the vegetable. That is served with an asparagus ice-cream (yes, that's a thing and it's a very tasty thing), an asparagus cream sauce, salmon roe and micro leaves. The sauce was spectacular, perfectly seasoned, we had a similar dish in our local michelin starred restaurant (Gorse) recently and this was even richer in taste and texture than the wonders they do there.   

Merluza a la gallega - The hake cooked in Galician Style is a real delight. The earthy rich white fish is cooked to perfection, with the flakes almost pearlescent, below it are the traditional potatoes of Galiciam, all in a sauce made with the same ingredients as is traditional in the Octopus spices of Pulpo a la gallega, with paprika, laurel, pimientos and cebolla giving it its distinctive flavour. It is topped with a garlic flower. Drew said it was like Merluza in a chorizo blended into a sauce and those were indeed its flavours.

How can simple food become such a refined delicious taste - I don't know how, but thankfully for us Chef Áxel Smyth does. 

The Risotto with mushrooms and ice plant was also delicious, such a deep flavour. Simple mushrooms elevated beyond expectation. The little ice plant leaves are fun, they look frozen and give a great crunch which balance the softness of the well cooked arborio rice filled with chestnut mushroom flavour.

Next came the meat course - Roasted roe deer with chocolate and truffle. The roe deer was cooked in a dark chocolate ganache formed into a case with chocolate shavings around it and truffle on top.

This is an unexpected combination of meat with a rich dark chocolate - none of the amazing flavour of the deer is overcome by the chocolate, not does the truffle become to strong as it can - indeed the balance showed off the best of each ingredient, without being at all sweet (for which I was grateful).

Earlier in the meal we had been asked if we wanted an extra course, almost a chef's speciality item, and as it happens it was Callos, my favourite Spanish soup. So I couldn't resist it (Drew could!). The soup is tripe (cow's stomach for the uninitiated) with chorizo, morcilla y garbanzos in a rich galician sauce. Served in a small Le Creuset pot, it was as good as I expected layers and layers of rich, delightful flavour. This dish is always on as an option at this restaurant as it was this dish that led to the Chef winning the Concurso Cocinero del año España 2022 - that's Spanish Chef of the year. It was on the back of that that the chef established his own restaurant, rather than working in other peoples' brigades. The immensity of flavour show the love that went into its creation. 

The dessert was completely new to me Raspberry ice cake. A Raspberry dish with the sharpest most tangy raspberry flavour you could imagine on a cake with the texture of someone mixing ice-cream into a cake dough and freeze drying it!

The next dessert was slightly deconstructed almond pilgrim's cake with all the elements (including the cross of Santiago - St. James) being almond flavoured. 

We had been introduced to the concept of a pilgrim's cake at breakfast today, but this resembled it only in the base flabout. It was almond with everything. Almond Ganache; Almond Cream; Almond Jelly; Almond Rock Cake; Sugared Almond (I gave up on this being too sweet for me unlike the other elements) all on a traditional cake base, but this one thin and luscious. 

Next came our coffee - two espressos, served in very pretty cups

The coffee came with petit fours, that could be called chocolate three ways. The one on the right an Ecuadorian 85% chocolate rock cake - the texture of an aero. The middle one a 70% chocolate with passion fruit juice inside - zingy. The left hand one, of which Drew had both, was a 45% milk chocolate with banana - way to sweet for me, I'm told - and I trust him not to say it just so he gets more chocolate!  

As all good things must come to an end, we received the decorus bill box as we finished our meal. What a wonderful place.

After Dinner

We left the restaurant at 3.30pm and took a gentle walk back through the town. Arriving back at our hotel at 4.15pm.

We both had siestas and spent a gentle evening catching up with reading, emails, sorting photos, uploading some to Flickr before stopping at 8.30pm for the few items of room picnic we had picked up in the city earlier. 

We got to bed by 11pm after an enjoyable quiet day allowing time and plenty of good food to wash over us.