We checked into the hotel, celebrating a two night stay in the same hotel, not having to repack and move each day (which is fine, that’s part of the program). Six of us went for lunch on a pretty little square filled with flowers. The food was good and the beer was better. Even though it was lunch, I quoted “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” to myself to justify the second beer. (“The beer I had for breakfast so I had one more for dessert.”)
After some shopping, it was time for a break back at the hotel, including a much needed shower. The hotel is an a converted monastery that was founded by St. Francis of Assisi after he did the camino pilgrimage.
There is beautiful old stone work outside and in, at some point inside you walk over heavy glass protecting archaeological diggings. There are half floors! For example, on the second floor you might be on level 2A or 2B, which are separated by about four feet. Getting off on the third floor, there were only five rooms on our corridor, but floor 4A was only 4 feet above ours. It obviously went a different direction than our floor.
At 5:30 pm, we all met and walked over to the cathedral next door. There was a wedding going on at the church next door. It was fun to see the different dresses (most of the men were wearing blue suits, so that was not interesting) and the general sense of celebration.
We met our guide for Santiago (Spanish law only allows you to guide what you have trained for, so Aner can guide the camino, as well as Bilbao and San Sebastian, but not Lugo, Santiago, or Oviedo, for instance. In Lugo I tried to ask his opinion about a fact, and he refused to answer, being too smart for my trickeration.
Our Santiago guide talked quite a bit about the cathedral, the stone carvings on the outside, and then we walked around the whole building and he talked about the squares, the traditions, and the other buildings. I could tell you more, but you will just have go to Santiago yourselves.
By 7pm, we were back at the entrance to the cathedral. We went in and walked around. Seats for the 7:30 pilgrims service were not to be found, so people were sitting on column platforms or against the walls.
We vacillated on staying for the service. Aner found us and took us to the unmarked basement crypt of St. James. He tried to talk us into staying, and described the incense swinging. Apparently it takes five priests tugging mightily to swing the huge, ornate incense thingie (I’m betting there is a technical term for it, but I have no idea, so “thingie” will have to suffice). The thingie weighs 50 kgs, which is a lot and they get it going at 90 kph, or 55 mph. We were intrigued, so we thought we might stay.
Before the service, we saw there was a very short line to go hug St. James (a shoulders and up bust that sits above the altar. You climb up the narrow stairs, hug the partial statue, and walk past the visibly bored priest back down.
We found some wall to sit by, and decided to play it by ear on staying or not. The first 50 minutes of the services were maddeningly slow. As I have mentioned, I do not know Spanish and I’m not Catholic, so I couldn’t even fake it.
Having been in Charleston, SC for the total eclipse of the sun, we joked about the impending time of totality (when the sun is completely eclipse by the sun). Well, I can tell you this – it was nearly as big a thrill watching the incense thingie (burner? – yeah, I will go with that) fly through the air, going high up at an incredible rate of speed. And, since it was so big, the incense came out in large clouds, and the whole cathedral was sweet smelling.
The mass is held daily, and the incense ritual was started back in the day because the pilgrims had a certain odor about them. Between the dust and the mud and the sweat and the lack of Old Spice deodorant in days of yore, the incense was necessary. These days it draws people in to the daily service.
After that we slipped out amongst the crowds, and headed off to dinner. It was the other night, besides Oviedo, when we did not have a group dinner. I figured it was just the two of us, but we ran into two other couples from the tour, and suddenly we were six (bigger groups are better with tapas!).
A recommended restaurant was actually closed, so we went into the very next restaurant, a cool, rabbit-warren like stone building. We had great food and great wine, eating garlic shrimp as good as made by Jose Andres, having pork bites, salad, drinking Albarino white and Mancia red. (Yes, I drank the white wine (before switching to the red) – Albarino is simply my favorite white wine, and as much as I enjoy it at home, it is even better in the Galacia region where it is grown.
I never had Mancia wine until the night before, but it is so good I got two bottles for the table, which we all enjoyed. Ironically, the only thing that was not that good was the Percebes, a rare sea barnacle found on the Galacian coast and in coastal western Canada. It’s a quite a delicacy, but apparently prime time is in the spring. These Percebes were very small and not very tasty. I did find a few larger ones, which I shared with the others so they would know I was not completely off-base when raving about Percebes. Even those were small compared to what I get in the spring from Canada, but they at least had some flavor.
We went back to the hotel, where we shared one more bottle of wine, a Rioja.
Monday, October 9, 2017
The Santiago Cathedral
The cross of St. James
The top piece of a fountain.
Large chimneys were used to showoff wealth.
When you are the queen (Isabella) and you
donate the money for the hospital, your
picture inevitable makes it onto the building.
The greatest Pope of my lifetime.
Politically correct version of
St. James slaying the flowers
instead of the Moors.
Bottom left you will see the 110 pound
incense burner swinging at 55 mph.
It goes so high it nearly reaches the ceiling.
It truly is a sight to behold.
I would have been incensed to miss it.
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.
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.
Santiago Photos
Jesus, on a reverse cross.
The final gate to the camino.
Try not to sin and go to the fires of hell.
Cervantes, the second greatest
writer about Spain. . .behind
Hemingway, of course.
Not exactly sure what's going
on here, but it's a bit disturbing.
Another cool fountain.
Half horse, half fish.
St. James, slaying the Moors.
We're not doing the hokey-pokey. It only looks that
way. We're actually putting in our boots to the
final point of the camino in front of the Cathedral.
Gutters back in the day are far more
interesting than present day gutters.
St. Francis of Assisi, outside our
hotel, which was a monastery
that he founded. Won't find this
outside a Marriott.
Cool courtyard at USC -- University
de Santiago Compostela.
This indicated the medical building.
"Hiking" the Mount of Joy
Hiking up a quarter mile does not sound very thrilling, and yet it was. “The Hill of Joy” is the area from which pilgrims first spot the Cathedral, still miles away.
The funny part is, because eucalypts trees have grown, the Hill of Joy actually moved from one hilltop to another in 2009. What makes it even funnier, most hikers/pilgrims still go to the old hill, and they must wonder what the fuss is about. (The trees are on private property, and the owner has declined, as is their right, to cut them.)
So, while we could see many people on the wrong hill, our group had the right one to ourselves. There is even a very cool statue depicting the reaction of two pilgrims to seeing the cathedral (pictures below).
We lingered for a bit, taking in the view, and posing for pictures. Then, we worked hard hiking that quarter mile down the hill, back to the bus. (Editor’s Note: “Worked hard?” Blogger: I don’t the readers will buy it, but we’ll see who is not paying attention.)
The funny part is, because eucalypts trees have grown, the Hill of Joy actually moved from one hilltop to another in 2009. What makes it even funnier, most hikers/pilgrims still go to the old hill, and they must wonder what the fuss is about. (The trees are on private property, and the owner has declined, as is their right, to cut them.)
So, while we could see many people on the wrong hill, our group had the right one to ourselves. There is even a very cool statue depicting the reaction of two pilgrims to seeing the cathedral (pictures below).
We lingered for a bit, taking in the view, and posing for pictures. Then, we worked hard hiking that quarter mile down the hill, back to the bus. (Editor’s Note: “Worked hard?” Blogger: I don’t the readers will buy it, but we’ll see who is not paying attention.)
The Mount of Joy
The Pilgrim statues.
And in the distance, the Cathedral.
You can see from miles away that the
Cathedral is under reconstruction.
Coming Close to the Finish
Well, that’s the way it felt, on our last hike along the French Way. Oh, there was still one more day of hiking, as well as our entry into Santiago, but the nearly five miles we hiked on wide dirt roads felt more like the end than the end.
There was not much to the hike. . .no spectacular views, but more and more people seemed to be on the road. People talked sparingly with some others, but mostly we kept to ourselves. One dad and his younger teenage son stuck up a short conversation. They are from Bern, Switzerland, and I jokingly asked, with all the hikes in Switzerland they would come here. The dad readily replied, “because there is no camino in Switzerland,” speaking of the powerful draw that the camino is for many.
There was a solemn moment when we passed a memorial to a fellow who died in 2011, and I assume it was at the spot on the trail where he did. If that’s not the case, then it’s a bit out of place.
We stopped for a bit in a backyard for coffee and homemade cake. The kitchen is a stunning country kitchen, with a huge fireplace and a stunning banquet table. Absolutely beautiful.
Our next stop was to be the Mountain of Joy.
There was not much to the hike. . .no spectacular views, but more and more people seemed to be on the road. People talked sparingly with some others, but mostly we kept to ourselves. One dad and his younger teenage son stuck up a short conversation. They are from Bern, Switzerland, and I jokingly asked, with all the hikes in Switzerland they would come here. The dad readily replied, “because there is no camino in Switzerland,” speaking of the powerful draw that the camino is for many.
There was a solemn moment when we passed a memorial to a fellow who died in 2011, and I assume it was at the spot on the trail where he did. If that’s not the case, then it’s a bit out of place.
We stopped for a bit in a backyard for coffee and homemade cake. The kitchen is a stunning country kitchen, with a huge fireplace and a stunning banquet table. Absolutely beautiful.
Our next stop was to be the Mountain of Joy.
The French Way, Part Deux
Some of the trail is through the woods,
whilst others were through open fields.
Memorial to a hiker who died in 2011.
There were plenty of pop up bars on the Way.
Sunday, October 8, 2017
The French Way, Day One
It might be the French Way, but we did not have to surrender.
Call me Ishmael. Our beloved driver,
he doesn't eat vegetables and hopes
to become a guide or park ranger.
A beautiful area for washing clothes.
The donkey by the side of the trail. I would
like to make a political joke here, but none
come to mind.
Quince Tree
Apple trees
Basic house along the trail with a basic
coat of arms. Just like at home.
An open horrio, loaded to the top with corn.
Lugo Pictures
Located just outside the city walls, I
have no idea what this is honoring.
One of the main gates into Lugo
Up on the wall.
Very cool modern metal weather vane.
On the side of a building.
The Cathedral.
A good view of the walls.
High atop the cathedral.
Modern art outside a religious building.
Another good long view of the walls.
I want this fountain for my
backyard. (Who wouldn't?)
The window is the window Carol and I posed
at, in the picture near the start of this post.
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