Butt’s blurb
Arrived in Santiago after successfully navigating through Barcelona airport. The car ride to Sarria was a complete blur. Gorge, who runs the Casa Solance where we are staying, met me at the gate and gave me a quick download of the town and then the keys to our BEAUTIFUL room. I had a much needed shower and woke up this morning a new woman! I had a perfect breakfast and Gorge gave me a few Camino essentials and our Camino passports, which he stamped for us before I had a bit of a walk around old town and new (separated by the Escaleira da Fonte) the town was very quiet until noon when Sarria really woke up. I met Susan from Sydney in the courtyard of the hotel while we watched the hotel cats chase each other around and then I walked back to new town (the stairs again) and had lunch at A Cantina Pulperia Luis, known for their octopus, which was delicious! I learnt how to ask for another glass of red wine in Spanish (Podria tomar otro vino tinto, por favor). The restaurant had a shared table plan and I chatted with a lovely man called Tom who is also walking the Camino. Tom is from California and was very excited to share that his brother and wife just won an award for a new tv show. I was the first person he’d spoken to since learning the news and he was so proud- as he should be! His brother and his wife, Richard and Michelle King, also wrote The Good Wife and Tom was very surprised that I’d heard of it 😂. I walked off the octopus and queso (and the glasses of vino tinto- my pronunciation got much better….then progressively worse) by walking back to old town. Again. The stairs. But this time I stopped half way up for an espresso at a very strategically placed cafe, where a heavily mustachiod Spanish man stamped mine and mum’s passport with the ever essential second stamp which we need every day. I found the Sarria sign, Igrexia (Church) de San Salvador and the Igrexia de Santa Maniña – both unfortunately were closed but beautiful all the same. After a little siesta I did some research and found a restaurant off the main strip for dinner. La Salina which is a converted old salt house and has too many things on the menu that I wanted to try but I settled for a simple salad, charred artichokes with cheese and tiramisu. The waitress and I bonded over how much we both loved the tiramisu. I took one bite and had to put my spoon down otherwise it’d all have been gone completely with the second. Sorry mum! I couldn’t share this time. The “slight” hill back to the hotel was “slightly” more difficult post dinner but I managed it ok then settled in to wait for mum to finally join me!
