We spent the morning driving from out-of-the-way Salamanca to even-more-out-of-the-way Santiago de Compostela. Luckily, the roads between these two small cities were great and we arrived before 1:00 this afternoon. Since we're here for just one night, we've chosen a hotel rather than an apartment, and after checking in, we walked about ten minutes into the old town and spent several hours exploring it.
This is Spain's great pilgrimage site, the culmination of the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James. Since the Middle Ages, pilgrims have arrived every day, on foot, bicycle, and horseback, after trekking hundreds of miles on routes beginning in either the French or Spanish Pyrenees. Their destination is the cathedral, though it's likely that, for most of them, their goals have been more interior. We saw quite a few pilgrims basking in the joy of their accomplishments in the squares that border each side of the cathedral.
The center of the main square, in front of the facade of the cathedral, is marked by a stone bearing the imprint of a scallop sell, the symbol of the Camino, seen everywhere here, throughout northern Spain, and along the route. In each of the four squares surrounding the cathedral, we could see pilgrims celebrating the end of their journeys, each displaying his/her compostela, the certificate attesting to the completion of the Camino.
The main facade and towers of the
cathedral were sheathed in scaffolding; this, Tom swears, is part of a
continuing conspiracy to prevent him from capturing the perfect photo. As
we've traveled the world, he remains convinced of this, while I've sighed and
decided to appreciate the ongoing restoration efforts that will ensure that our
grandchildren can one day enjoy these same sights.
Inside cathedral, the gold and silver of the altar and its surroundings lit up the rather dark Romanesque interior. Pilgrims and others lined up to "hug" from behind the bejeweled silver statue of St. James that presides over the altar, and then to visit the silver coffin in the crypt that, according to legend and centuries of belief, holds the remains of the apostle James.
We walked around the small old town and into a park with a fine view of the cathedral's towers, domes, facades, and -- of course -- scaffolding, and then headed back to the hotel for R and R.
After searching online for a place to have dinner, we chose a restaurant nearby that offered a variety of cuisines. Octopus is very big around here, so we had that and a Middle Eastern lamb dish that was more typical of the proprietor's Palestinian homeland. We enjoyed talking with the owner, who lived for a time in Los Angeles, but returned to Spain when the same restaurant concept didn't work there; LA's loss was our gain tonight!
Inside cathedral, the gold and silver of the altar and its surroundings lit up the rather dark Romanesque interior. Pilgrims and others lined up to "hug" from behind the bejeweled silver statue of St. James that presides over the altar, and then to visit the silver coffin in the crypt that, according to legend and centuries of belief, holds the remains of the apostle James.
We walked around the small old town and into a park with a fine view of the cathedral's towers, domes, facades, and -- of course -- scaffolding, and then headed back to the hotel for R and R.
After searching online for a place to have dinner, we chose a restaurant nearby that offered a variety of cuisines. Octopus is very big around here, so we had that and a Middle Eastern lamb dish that was more typical of the proprietor's Palestinian homeland. We enjoyed talking with the owner, who lived for a time in Los Angeles, but returned to Spain when the same restaurant concept didn't work there; LA's loss was our gain tonight!
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