It’s a cruel thing — sharing a place you treasure. Especially with you well-travelled, country-collecting, showy travellers. Worse still when it’s only a two-hour direct flight from London. It feels like tearing apart the only drumstick on the table and forcing the scrawny child to share it with his beady-eyed, overfed playmate.
Name three people you’d invite to your dinner party? No one. Shut the front door. I didn’t want to write about Santiago de Compostela. I wanted to eat alone.
But… there’s always a but.
Santiago de Compostela is an extraordinarily beautiful town in the north of Spain, brimming with charm and a quiet kind of magic. It is the capital of the Galician region, and the final stop of the epic Camino de Compostela pilgrimage, where thousands of pilgrims from around the world walk and cycle to pay their respects to Saint James the Great, believed to be buried beneath the cathedral.
You’ll be delighted to know that this quaint, slightly superstitious town will feed you generous plates of tapas whenever you order a drink at the bar — for free. It’s also wonderfully compact, so everything is within walking distance. Trust me when I say: it’s a gem.
It’s that refreshing spot in the countryside — like a ripe, oddly shaped tomato, crushed, drizzled with olive oil, and spread over a slice of warm bread. Santiago de Compostela is that layer — the one that makes all the difference to the loaf that is Spain.
And in case you didn’t know, that’s exactly how bread is served there.
One of the best parts was waking early, wandering through the quiet streets, and having strong coffee with spongey bizcocho (orange cake) alongside my closest friend. Not far away, the dulcet sound of a violin drifted through the air, mingling with children playing football in front of the church.
This place made my heart so full.
With love x
Pssst — sorry! Just a quick one today, as I’m blogging from Taipei. I’ll be here for the next four days — gallery-hopping and bar-hopping. Very cultural, slightly boozy, very me. Rest assured, all the fun I’m having here will make its way to you in another delicious blog post — soon, I promise.
Until then, have a quick browse for flights to Santiago de Compostela with this little thing I’ve created for you below. Think of it as a concierge on your desktop. Very glam.
Have fun with it — and see you on Instagram @alxndrluella.
With love x