I came back from the Toledo trip in time for a seven o’clock anticipated Saturday Mass. Instead of going back to the bus depot, I requested our tour bus driver to drop me off at Gran Via, closest to my hotel street and from there, I walked for less than five minutes to the 17th- century Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Carmen y San Luis Obispo on Calle del Carmen. This church used to belong to the old San Damaso Carmelite Convent that has since been disentailed. It continues to

That evening, we checked in at a nice, modern hotel, just ten minutes away from the Santiago de Compostela Shrine, but with a completely different atmosphere. It sits across a park and a small lake. The view from my room was beautiful and relaxing, but quite generic and devoid of any of the character that defines the city of Santiago. The walls were immaculately white with a chocolate brown and apple green motif on the room’s minimalistic furniture and décor. This unexpected