Mon 16 Jun- Santiago de Compostela and our Parador 'Hostel des Reis Catolicas', 'Pazo de Monasterio de San Lourenzo

Mon 16 Jun- after breakfast, we left for Santiago de Compostela and our Parador 'Hostel des Reis Catolicas'. The Hostel is a large spread-out structure built by the Catholic monarchy as a resting place for pilgrims. It's in the middle of old town Obradoiro Plaza, and driving in the mainly pedestrian area was worrisome - were we allowed here? were we in the right place? where was our Parador? Everything was resolved satisfactorily, and we checked in.
Our room was nice, but kind of dark. It had wood shutters that excluded all light when closed - great for sleeping. The Hostel gardens are famous, but we didn't find them particularly impressive. The Hostel itself is pretty impressive, it's a 5-star hotel, and is very interesting to walk through. Many tourists visit just to see the Hostel, but stay someplace inexpensive. We looked at the menu and prices, but didn't see anything tempting at those prices. We went to the nearby 'Las Huertas': 'Estrella Galicia' beer; 'Calamares Fritas' (fried squid), E5; 'Ensalada "Las Huerta" (mixed tuna salad), E6; one 'today's special', E7, which included beer, bread, 'Caldo Gallego' (bean & greens vegetable soup), 'Filete de Merluza a la romana' (hake with lettuce & tomato salad), 'Arroz con leche casero' (rice pudding); total E21.87.
The 'menu de dia' (daily special) is a really good value if you can find a place that has a special you like; it's a complete meal, more than enough generous portions, and includes the bread, drink (wine, beer, soda or water), several choices of first course, several choices of second course, several choices of dessert, sometimes coffee, all for a set price.
We visited the garden 'Pazo de Monasterio de San Lourenzo de Trasouto', a very old established garden, famous among garden visitors, but somewhat neglected. It was cloudy, cool with periodic showers, so it wasn't as pleasant as it could have been. There were some huge trees and shrubs, the hydrangeas along the outside stone wall were quite impressive. Inside the monastery is an atrium with very old box shrubs, trimmed by hand scissors, and very high. The chapel was beautiful, with marble statuary and walls, especially when the lights were turned on.
In the evening we were not hungry, so snacked on wine, tawny port, cheese, tomato and chocolate.