Reaching the Cathedral in Santiago

About a mile from the cathedral of Santiago, we were dropped off the bus by Ishmael for the last time, and hiked into town and the pilgrim’s destination.

I know what you are thinking (not always, just now.  Always would be creepy, and probably too problematic a superpower to really want).  Whoa, now that suddenly veered off course!

Anyhow, you are thinking that, hey, you didn’t do the full camino hike.  You only did probably 65-70 kilometers, not the 100 kilometers to claim it.  That’s true, and I’ve talked about why this way worked well for Carol and I.  Think about it, if we just walked the French Way for 100 klicks (not that there is anything wrong with that) we would not have seen the cave art, walked the Northern Route along the ocean cliffs, visited the Castro, slogged the mountains of the Primitivo, stepped where dinosaurs had literally stepped (it was so long ago, the word “literally” only meant what it SHOULD mean, not whatever the user of the word wants it to mean – end of rant), gotten the tour of Oviedo Cathedral, and more.

People who did the full camino deserve a great deal of admiration.  But right now, writing this on the plane flight back to the US from Madrid, I don’t feel the urge to scratch that itch.

Anyhow, Aner kept us well-informed about the history of the camino in Santiago, and our first stop was at a two-sided cross, with Jesus on one side and Mary on the other.  This time, Jesus was in the sunlight, so I took the picture of him.

We continued on, up the Porta de Camino, coming closer and closer.  Santiago is a town of backpackers, and it was strange to walk around Madrid yesterday and see so few backpackers after seeing so many the previous days in Santiago.

Walking past a church, Aner pointed out the impressive sculpture in the wall depicting hell.  He said it was a reminder that just because you have done the pilgrimage and have been forgiven, do not go back out and start sinning, because the fires of hell are painful.  I pondered that as we continued.

We walked through a “square” (the shape of the open space isn’t close to being square, but that’s what they call it) dedicated to Cervantes.  When Aner asked who the most famous writer of Spain is, I almost quipped “Hemingway” but I thought he would take it too personally about Spain, so I self-edited.

Finally entering the squares of the cathedral, it was dramatic and also a little disappointing.  Dramatic because the squares are among the best in Spain, with interesting fountains, important old buildings all around, and amazing carvings in the cathedral wall.  A bit disappointing though, as major restoration work is being done on nearly all of the towers.  

I know it has to be done, but scaffolding and whatever covering they use is not quite as dramatic as the real thing.  As Carol noted, “Forty years and it is under reconstruction.  Dang.”
(Forty years ago, Carol learned about the camino and Santiago in her Spanish class).  

We did not enter the cathedral.  That was for later.  We did walk three-quarters of the way around.  In the square to the main entrance (essentially totally under reconstruction), we all put our feet on the marker for the end of the camino, and snapped pictures of that.  So when you notice the picture of 14 different feet on the marker, that’s why.

We looked at the statue of St. James on top of his horse.  Legend has it that the Christians were going to lose the key battle in the 800s to the Moors, but St. James rose from the grave, charged in, and turned the tide.  Interestingly, it is on top of the beautiful baroque city hall.

Santiago is a feast for the eyes.  I can only imagine what it will look like when the cathedral restoration is finished.  Maybe we will have to go back.