Matt's Blog: Christmas blog is here!

Now that it's mid-february, I think it's about time to share what I did over Christmas break. Yeah, the blog's been on hiatus. I have no good explanation why. No worries, all blog subscribers will be reimbursed the full $0.49 for the month of January. Checks are in the mail.

On to Christmas. Christmas vacation would have been an ideal time to leave the country and travel around Europe a bit. However, none of my European friends/relatives outside of Spain were free any time during the two weeks I had for travelling. No problem. Perfect opportunity to do some sightseeing around Spain on my own.

I started off in the region of Galicia (seen above) in the city Santiago de Compostela. My Brazilian friend, Marcio, who I met my final year studying in the U.S., studies at the university there and invited me to spend christmas with his family. Santiago is most famous for being the final destination on El Camino de Santiago, a centuries old pilgramage route that runs across much of northern Spain and other countries as well. The most well know site in the city is the Cathedral, a project that began in the (don't fail me now wikipedia) 11th century with constant additions for the next 700 years or so. The cathedral supposedly houses the remains of the Apostle James (brother of John, not the other James), the apostle credited with bringing Christianity to the Celts on the Iberian Peninsula after Jesus's death.

Inside the Cathedral.

Here is Marico with his son, Marcio.

I'm pretty sure it was the first time I had eaten Paella for Christmas dinner. I'm no expert, but Marcio cooked it up right.

We opened presents later that night. Papa Noel brought Marcio Jr. Spongebog and his friends. I got a scarf which I'm finally "warming up" to.

On Christmas day Marcio and I went up to A Coruña, a famous coastal city in northwest Galicia. Here is the city's lighthouse. This rocky coastline with beaches dotted along the way is typical of Galicia and northern Spain. Darn the season. I'm told the beach below (bottom right corner) is nude in the summer.

More of A Coruña.

If there was ever a prescribed pose for a given location and shot distance, this would be it.

Later during my stay in Galicia I went to see some old Celtic ruins. Castro de Baroña as it's called now dates back more than 2,000 years. Here it is from a distance.