River of Gold Viking River Cruise
Day 12: Tuesday, November 19, 2024 - Santiago de Compostela, Spain
The day's statistics:
- Weather: upper 40s - low 50s, overcast
- Steps: 8,368 Linda; 10,064 Steve (including any pre-trip / leaving home steps)
- Miles traveled (approximately): 3,860
We awoke at the normal time, got ready, arranged the content of our luggage, and headed to breakfast after
putting our luggage outside the cabin. We took our other belongings - camera and jackets - with us to the
dining room.
We sat alone for our last meal as pretty much a little more than half the passengers were off the ship by
5:45 (they got breakfast to go as light fare was put out at the coffee station).
After our slow breakfast, we went up to the lounge to bide what little bit of time
we had left before we had to depart.
We verified our luggage, and boarded the bus.
Our driver was Joaquin, and our guide was Ricardo.
On the way to our extension destination - Santiago de Compostela - we passed through Braga,
about an hour and a quater away.
But first, we had to get there.
Our journet took us up into the mountains.
We finally arrived at the grounds for Bom Jesus do Monte.
The bus parked a three hundred meters (1,000 feet) away in the parking lot, and we made our way toward the basilica.
We first started in the front where there were some extensive gardens that had 17 chapels, gardens, a hotel, a rectory, statues,
and the basilica.
One of the chapel buildings had a station of the cross in it, the Chapel of Descent.
Before going into the basilica, to the left while looking at the basilica, we paid a visit to the funicular, the oldest
water powered funicular still in use (water weighs down the carriage, gravity pulls the carriage,
at the bottom, the other carriage looses its water helping cause it to rise).
We then, finally, went inside the basilica.
At the conclusion of the tour inside, we were given a little bit of free time to continue admiring what
we wanted.
In front of the basilica, in addition to the gardens and a fountain, there was a large staircase. On the
landings of the various flights were alcoves with more chapels. There are some that make a journey to the
site in order to climb the stairs.
Most of the trip pictures are presented in order they were taken. I pulled these stairway ones out
from before going into the basilica for continuity. I point this out because part of the time I had
after the tour I used to descend some fo the stairs and look at some of the stations. I might
have been able to make it to the bottom, but I guess we'll never know. Anyway, I started at the top,
near the gardens, and got down a couple levels before time required me to return. Here is what I
captured on that brief trek.
We were to meet on the bus at 10:45, so we headed to the bus.
After everyone was accounted for, we headed to our next destination.
We arrived at / in the town of Braga itself.
The bus dropped us off by one of the entry gates - Arco da Porta Nova - into the main section of the town.
Our walk into town eventually took us to the Braga Cathedral - Santa Maria de Braga Cathedral.
We went inside and had a guided tour.
We started in a gift shop / museum sort of area before heading into the cathedral itself.
After viewing the main nave, statues, apses, a tomb, the pipe organ, and more, we eventually exited out the rear of
the church into a courtyard that had some old stone pieces about, before leaving the perimeter of the property.
Right outside the "gate" - that pretty much anyone could enter through, for free - there was another door to
the church (that we didn't use).
We walked a bit further into town, turned left toward a plaza and then paused a bit.
We eventually broke for some free time that was to include lunch.
Once again, in an effort to not have to worry about what to eat and where, we packed sandwiches
from the breakfast buffet on the ship. So we sat on a bench that encircled a tree and ate.
We bided the rest of our time by returning to the Cathedral and going back inside for a bit.
When we tried to go inside the nave again, there was docent preventing people from entering. We
told them we were with Viking and that our guide Ricardo told us we could get back inside (this
was true). The docent eventaully reluctantly allowed us back inside.
Outside the nave was another chapel that we seem to remember was closed when we were in the area
the first time. We stepped inside.
After more than another half-hour in the cathedral, it was time to start back toward the bus.
Our exit took us back through the shop we entered at earlier.
Before actually leaving, we stopped by the restrooms.
I don't normally comment on them, or even take pictures for that matter, but this time was a bit of
an exception. There must have been some remodeling done - that's the only logical conclusion I could
come up with - that didn't work out too well for the designer...
In it isn't obvious, depending on what one had to... do... one must plan ahead (yes the TP really is
as far away as it looks - and Linda said the lady's room had the same design flaw).
We finally left the cathedral and headed toward the bus pick-up spot right outside the gate.
Outside the gate and across the street were this electronic device of some kind, a few shops, and the Triangle Square.
It was eventually time - 1:00 - to board the bus. When we got on, our wonderful driver Joaquin had small gifts for
everyone. The ladies received Portugal tea towels, and the gentlemen received postcards. It was a nice gesture.
After were were all aboard, we sat for a bit, and waited. For our guide. Our guide. His story was that he met some
friends for lunch and was making rather merry because this was his last giuded tour, and he lost track of time.
Then the bus got underway to our next destination.
The next leg of our trip was about two hours, and we saw some more scenery on the way.
In Valençia, we crossed from the Western Europe time zone - Portugal - into the Central Europe time zone - Spain (aka
España). While blurry, it is still possible to tell this is the countryline. The stars represent the Euorpean Union).
And with that crossing, I now have to try to keep the rest of the pictures in order because the cell phones automatically sync
to the network while the camera needs to be manually updated and I frankly don't remember if I did that (probably not).
The shots above indicate I was on the left side of the bus, but for this one I either took it also from the left side of the
bus or I jumped over to the other side at the last moment to get it - which helps explain the blurriness.
Further on we passed the Bay of Vigo, and some other sights. The squares in the bay are not boats,
but rather they are oyster and, moreso, mussel beds.
At one point, on one side of Vigo Bay, we had a technical break at a rest stop / gas station with petro
selling at $5.99 per gallon for the "cheap stuff".
After a fifteen minute break, we continued on.
A bit before 5:00 we arrived at the hotel, Hotel NH Collection.
While Ricardo went inside to gather our room keys, our luggage was removed from the bus. We each collected our own and went
inside where we were given our our keys, and told that we were to gather in the lobby at 6:00 for an orientation walk.
We went up to our room, freshened up and bided our time for a bit before the walk.
After we gathered, we headed out - though it was getting late and starting to get a bit darker.
At the bottom of the entrance ramp to the hotel, we turned left and eventually proceeded up a hill past a school.
There was a long covered walkway along the road and at the far end we had a little walk before we came across a convent
named Convento de San Francisco do Val de Deus. We continued down the street past a merchant selling cookies to the
main plaza of City Hall, a hotel, and the rear of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
We weaved down a couple side streets, but we got to a point where "from this point pretty much all the way to the end
is a long series of restaurants".
We walked FAR further than anyone expected us to. One woman, that had a cane but was still able to walk without too much
of a problem, but eventaully asked how much further we were going as she knew she still had to walk back. Ricardo told
us that we could leave the group and do our own thing at any time. OK, thanks for letting us know ahead of time...
We walked a bit further as our phone app told us that there was a market "not much further". It turns out that the phone
app's idea of a market is not the same as our idea of a market. We almost got to the end of the street when we asked
Ricardo where a market might be because we wanted to get something to eat. He directed us "across that street [pointing
ahead], turn left, take the first right and there is a Carrefour (supermarket).
So we went that way, eventually found what we wanted for dinner, and headed back to the hotel.
Yes, it was a bit longer of a walk than we would have preferred, but we did it anyway.
We got back to the room, and set up our meal.
After eating and relaxing a bit, we washed up and went to bed.