Santiago de Compostela , the Galician capital, is known to all mainly thanks to its famous Xacobeo and the Camino de Santiago . By the way, do you know when is the Jacobean Year? , very easy, when July 25 falls on a Sunday, that year is Holy. But hey, I’m not here to talk about pilgrims, at least this time. In Santiago there is much to discover and much to walk, although I particularly love its historic center, where of course the famous Cathedral of Santiago stands out , where if you have the chance to stay and see the Botafumeiro , although it is only on Sundays and once it begins. You can’t go out for mass, so you decide if you want to be in there for two hours.
In the vicinity of the Cathedral you have a lot of narrow streets with shops where you can buy a lot of souvenirs from your visit to the city, patisseries to take some of the many Galician sweets (my recommendation, Tarta de Santiago or almendrados ) and, of course , bars and restaurants. In that area there are a lot of small but very charming bars, where you can eat all the Galician delicacies prepared in different ways in some of them. Sit on a small terrace to have a little empanada with a tortilla skewer and some Padrón peppers … delicious.
Of the other sites that you must visit, you have the Palacio de Rajoy (next to the Cathedral), the Pazo de Gelmírez , the Plaza de Abastos (where the Mercado de Abastos is, one of the five most important in Spain), the Monastery from San Martín Pinario the Plaza de la Quintana , or the Plaza de Praterías (with the famous Fuente de los Caballos ). If you want to visit a museum, you can choose between the Museo del Pueblo Gallego, the Museo Galego de Arte Contemporáneo or the Museo das Peregrinacións , although these are a small sample as there are many. Anyway, if you are going to visit Santiago de Compostela I assure you that you will not get bored.