Why Santiago de Compostela?

I first learned about Santiago de Compostela in Profe Compton's class. I'm not particularly interested in the religious aspect of the cathedral (Saint James' resurrection to help the Christians defeat the Moors), but just the architecture. It's so beautiful!

It seems like a smaller city, so I feel like it will be really easy to explore everything I want to see. There's a museum about the galician people (Museo do Pobo Galego), and lots of beautiful parks.

                                          

                                                          Map of the different caminos to Santiago de Compostela

Galicia also has a lot of interesting food. In an earlier post I mentioned the queimada (flaming drink). Galician cuisine seems to be very focused around seafood--not surprising considering its location on the Atlantic. 

The empanada gallega looks interesting. Kind of like a flaky pot pie. It traditionally has onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, tuna, and hardboiled eggs. 

 Polbo á feira is a dish with octopus! Traditionally it is eaten with potatoes and a "young" red wine (I think its strange that this was emphasized).

A big fan of stews and soups, I'm really excited to try Caldo Gallego.

More on Galician cuisine and Santiago de Compostela... Hopefully I will have a lot of good stuff to post when I actually go there!