Sunday, October 25, 2015

A film well worth watching

Copy and paste the address below to your browser. I'm sure you will enjoy this film about Santiago de Compostela:

https://youtu.be/blK3IF51B0M

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Statistics of Our Ride


Here are the totals of our ride and as a result how the Tandem held up.

784.49 miles of 80% off road or dirt road, of which about 10% was walking

37,472 feet of climbing.

Number of crashes, two, as a result of deep sand

8 flats. Thorns mostly. 2 rim pinched flats.

2 Tires. The old tires delaminated, the rear first, exposing the tire cord. They could be ridden, but we replaced them to be safe.

The front hub had one sealed bearing wear out causing about 3/8" play at the rim, side to side.

The front left crank bearing, (bottom bracket) wore out causing the crank to run loose.

Our suitcases were missing for 6 days.

3,402 gallons of beer consumed by pilot of the tandem

Number of Restaurants that we went to without a TV running, one.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

The Last Glance


Our last look at the Cathedral At Santiago de Compastela out the window of our hotel room heading off to the airport.

Monday, October 12, 2015

The "Roof Top Tour"

After breakfast we returned to the room to try to figure out something to do on our last full day in Santiago.
The bike was packed and all the loose ends were tied, so finding something new and different was this mornings topic of conversation.
Barbara had noticed while reading a journal by "A Texan In Spain" that the Cathedral offered a Roof Top Tour. The "Collection Tour" of the Cathedral's permanent artifacts has a balcony with a great view of the city and the plaza below. I really wasn't sure how much more the Roof Top Tour offered for a view. Walking around the building there were only so many walkways that could be included.
I decided to take the tour and find out. Much to my surprise, the tour actually takes you to the roof!
Here are some of the photos from today's tour:

pic.






It was a little windy but a beautiful view of the city. One like I never expected!

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Sunday off in Santiago

So why would anybody spend so much time on a bicycle, riding across a country to keep going back to the same place?
I mean really! There has got to be a couple of places with a shorter ride and a better ending then a Town settled in the 13th century with great history and great places to go when you arive.
We don't think so.
So whats so special? How about, no cars. Walking everywhere is what 99% of the people do.
How about streets paved with Granite? Most of the time, big blocks.
More great restaurants per street then San Francisco. Bars where the huge beers are three dollars and come with a snack and! WiFi too. They would never ask you to leave until closing.
Walking with a limp is hip and if your friend is too, Perfecto!

Here are some photos for you of today. Just walking around and checking out the city of Santiago Compastela.


The view from bed. Great start to a great day!

The walk down town.





















The Jazzman of Santiago

The Pilgrim Office for the Certificate of our Journey








Walking Home

Saturday, October 10, 2015

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

The most amazing building in town is the Cathedral. You could spend a day in and around finding things you might have missed from previous visits.
The history is deep. Many layers of time and construction. Hundreds of years to be exact. Here are some of the photos of its splendor!

These photos were taken in 2010 before the reconstruction of the facade.




The North Tower to the left and the South tower to the right.

The way the Cathedral looked in October of 2015





Photos from "The Permanent Collection" in the Cathedral's museum.









The Amazing Pipe Organ!