Saturday, April 25- in Santiago for Monique and me. It is a rainy Saturday. Wearing my poncho. (Ron and Rémi walked from Portomarín to Palas del Rei today walking about 27 km). MinqueMonique and I went to the pilgrims mass at noon. You have to get there early to get a seat in a pew. There are many tourists, pilgrims, and locals. It was nice even though it was all in Spanish. At the end of the service there is a huge incense burner. (Botafumeiro) it was originally used to fumigate the pilgrims after their long journeys.

Before mass started. A sea of people ahead of us.

The incense burner is in the middle of this picture. It is swung like a pendulum with incense coming out of it at the end of the service.

We went shopping after the service. We both both jewelry commemorating our journeys on the camino. I bought a charm of a shell with chain and Moniqe bought a bracelet, again with the symbol of the Camino. Then, it was lunch time. It was after 2 pm. We stopped in a very nice restaurant. They advertised paella and it actually looked decent. After ordering a few glasses of vino tinto we decided to share a seafood paella. It was sooooo good.

We got to share this. There were mussels, pulpa (squid), shrimp, and calamari. It has stopped raining so off we go exploring again. Will finish this later.

We returned to the hotel around 4 pm and have a drink of wine while we catch up on Facebook and emails. It's 7:30 before we venture our again to go try the delicacy of the area - pulpa. It's squid. Neither one of us is sure to pull it off. It'll depend on the presentation. We had already picked out a restaurant so we headed there. Of course it's busy as most people only eat around 8 or later. A waiter needs to explain most of the menu to us. We choose calamari, a shrimp and scallop dish, a salad ( need some veggies), and a pulpa dish. Here are some of the results.

These are the calamari and the second dish is the pulpa. Both were very good. It was 9 before we left, feeling good, but not too full so we decided to have dessert in the same place we had the paella. It wasn't worth the extra 400-500 calories. We were both disappointed. They always look so good...

Lots of nuts in this one. 

This was Apple with butterscotch topping.  We should've stuck with chocolate. You can't go wrong with chocolate. 

As soon as I meet up with the boys on Tuesday, I will post their blog and pictures of the last five days. Monique is leaving Sunday. I will be on my own until Tuesday.