Stacy: Day 18 - So Close, I Could Reach Out to God

I have walked on only two rooves in my entire life. The first was on our current house, back when we first bought it and were having all the sewer line troubles, and I wanted to see what the blockage was. I impressed the plumber--no other woman had taken him up on his offer, before.

Well, I wonder what roof is next, because this one is pretty dang "high up there." Before we left Santiago de Compostela, Kim and I took the Cathedral Rooftop tour.

WORTH EVERY PENNY [there was a pilgrim discount, and our tickets cost only $10 each... but that's besides the point!]

It started out much like the Night Time Tour. But, this time, I knew it would be in Spanish. Except, the lady who checked everyone in (and verified they knew it was in Spanish), realized that only two people actually spoke spanish! She was gracious, and did the tour in both Spanish and English! Finally, a rest for my poor brain...

She took us up to the choir loft [44 steps climbed], and I could finally appreciate the architecture because I could 100% understand the guide... My night time photos were better, so only a few right now.

Then, we climbed another 40-ish steps, and were immediately rewarded.

Honestly, I can't remember much of what the lovely tour guide said. My breath was gone, thanks to the views.

But, an amazing perk that I had not considered prior to the tour... we got up close to the altar!!! It's so gorgeous! Honestly, it was so bright out, and so dark inside, that I haven't seen the altar from this angle until just this very moment, selecting photos for you! This is the altar we sat at during the Night Tour--where the visiting priests sat. Each photo is from a different window, and thus a different angle. There's NO WAY you can see all of this from the ground floor. Such incredible artistry. And, so much goooooold!

We then made our way up some more steps to the Carraca's Tower. We couldn't go up the actual bell tower, but they do let us up the Carraca's Tower! Instead of bells, it has a giant carraca! The Carraca in this tower is a giant version of the Spanish wooden musical instrument. This unusual "bell" sounds only during Holy Week (and possibly very special occasions), when the Bells are forbidden from being used.

We even got to hear the bells toll while we were in the neighboring tower! It was so cool, but would have been cooler had the bells facing us been the ones that made noise...

And, with that, we said our final goodbyes to the Cathedral, did one final Geocache, and headed back to our hotel to do our final packing.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!!

First, Kim and I had lunch, BEFORE the Rooftop Tour. But, the rooftop tour was so spectacular, I wanted to describe that, first. Our lunch spot was so beautiful, it couldn't be overlooked.

We ate at a hotel that used to be the hospital that King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I [sponsors of Christopher Columbus] built for the poor and orphans of Santiago de Compostela. It had been a functioning hospital up until the 1950s, I believe.

We watched a pigeon outright annoy another... the darker one, I believe, is a juvenile unrelentingly pestering its parent for food. But, look at this building! And, the food was great! I had a delicious gluten free vegan sandwich that they let me add bacon to. YUM! They didn't charge me for it, either... shrugs

But, there's still more! This day was not finished just yet. We still had to make our way to Porto by way of bus.

This is what it looks like when your hotel (yesterday) told you that they would call a van-taxi for the next day, and a car-taxi shows up... (won't fit all our luggage) Followed by several minutes of frantic discussion between the on-call hotel person, the car-taxi driver, and her dispatch... And, then Kim has her Be Real pop up at the exact moment the van-taxi arrives, with 23 minutes to get there before our bus leaves.

We made it to Porto, and to our hotel, where we ate an extremely late dinner (around 10:30-11:30pm--I can't remember). What I do know is that I started not feeling well. Slightly nauseous, with diarrhea...

Flight out of Porto, back to the good 'ol US of A tomorrow morning!

[[written after the fact]] Where I caught COVID19 because my immune system was quite compromised by whatever stomach bug I got from my dinner the night before. [I was a delicious veggie soup with an impressive plate of fruit--this was from the kid's menu, believe it or not! American kids would never eat this... and, hindsight is 20/20, neither should I]