Santiago de Compostela Sunday October 5...the icing on the cake or one more blessing.

One keeps circling back to the square to see those coming in...you think Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, we think it is the plaza in front of the cathedral. All one sees is ecstatic faces. Many people are limping, 60 is often young to do the Camino, for some it is their last wish, all is very emotional.

View of the plaza from the Cathedral, LOTS of tour groups.

We slept in until 8:30 and as breakfast was included went down to a great breakfast before transferring hotels. We are now at San Martin Pinaro, recommended by George and Deborah, just off the plaza, facing one of the many doors to the cathedral. It is the old monastery, updated into a hotel. Very nice, we have 3 single beds in our room??? In any case we love it.

View from our hotel of Santiago.

Coming out of our hotel, just another gate/door to the cathedral.

Turn a corner and get another view.

So once we transferred we went to the cathedral as Sharon had her heart set on going to the pilgrims mass at noon. We weren't disappointed, the cathedral was packed, Sharon could even follow the service as it is very close to the Lutheran liturgy. Granted it was in Spanish, our sermon (delivered by the archbishop) was based on the scripture of Paul, traveling, becoming family, working hard for faith, the importance of faith. Pretty good for minimal Spanish,eh?

Altar of Santiago de Compostela.

The icing on the cake was of course the botofumiero. Yes, we lucked out, it was magnificent, right over our heads. Blair was worried lightning might strike, or the building might fall down, but no we were blessed, as we were through the whole Camino. Sharon kept thinking how excited Blair's grandmother would have been for us and pleased her that her grandson had experienced a Catholic mass, especially a splendourous one like this.

As close as we could get to the botofumiero.

Botofumiero in action.

People pouring out of cathedral after pilgrims mass.

After mass, we met Denis in the plaza and went for celebratory drinks and lunch, he is heading for Finnestere tomorrow another 90 some km to the ocean.

We went to the train station to pick up our train tickets, picked up a few souvenirs, then did a complete tour of the Cathedral and it's museum. Amazing history, so interesting.

Walking in the cloisters of the cathedral.

Another thing in Galicia is that you keep thinking you hear Celtic music, Sharon said in a conversation in a group once that you here more Celtic music here than in Ireland, she was quite succinctly corrected that it was Galician music, this part of Spain was conquered by the Celts pre-Roman, so the Galicians consider themselves part of the Celtic nations. They play an instrument much like a bagpipe which we witnessed today.

Traditional Galician clothing and musical instrument.

On our way back from dinner we passed by the square and ran into Dodo (Anna Marie from Denmark), who we had spent a number of days and evenings with on the road, she had just arrived at 4 pm, will spend a day in Santiago then on to Finnestere. Many people fly out of Santiago and find themselves with a few extra days so opt for the walk to the coast. We would almost not mind sticking around a few days to see other travelling friends come in, but not really, we are ready for the next leg of our trip. On to Catragena tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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