Walking the Camino de Santiago
The narrow medieval streets in the old town of Santiago twist and wind like a maze around the Cathedral. It’s easy to get lost, and I frequently have. City workers wash the streets in the pre-dawn hours, which is why this one appears wet, even though we can see the brilliant morning sunshine in the plaza beyond. The streets are […]
» Read more
Both of my breakfast companions on that first full day in Santiago de Compostela were charming. Exhausted from six weeks of walking, but charming. It is a long, long time indeed since that first meal that Francine and I shared on this Camino, back in Saint Jean Pied-de-Port, France. Date: 03 May 2016 Place: Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain)
» Read more
After visiting and praying some time at the tomb of the saint, we spent a short time touring about the cathedral. I’ll have more photos in coming days, but this is enough to give you a taste. It’s not a building so much as a complex of buildings all mashed together in a glorious cacophony of architectural and artistic styles. […]
» Read more
Here, at last, we come to the object of our pilgrimage. In the crypt under the high altar of the Cathedral, we come face to face with the casket containing the remains of the Apostle Saint James – Santiago. “And going on a little farther, [Jesus] saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their […]
» Read more
Just opposite the Holy Door we come at last to the steps leading down into the crypt where Saint James the Apostle – Santiago – is entombed. The stone steps are worn smooth and concave from the footsteps of generations of pilgrims. Day and night they file down in a seemingly unending line. The crypt itself lies under the high […]
» Read more
Compostela in hand, we head at last to the Cathedral. Here, we enter through the Holy Door. This particular door is open only in Jacobean Holy Years – those years where the Feast of Santiago falls on a Sunday. In 2016, however, Pope Francis had declared a special Jubilee Holy Year of Mercy. Holy Doors were opened in Cathedrals and […]
» Read more
And here it is, the Compostela, the proof of my pilgrimage. But it’s not over yet! We have yet to actually complete the last few steps into the Cathedral itself and down into the crypt where the Apostle’s bones reside. That’s next on the agenda! Date: 02 May 2016 Place: Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain)
» Read more
And then it’s off to the Pilgrim Office. In centuries past, you would receive your Compostela – the paper that proves you’ve walked the pilgrimage – at the sacristy of the Cathedral itself. Nowadays, there’s a whole building for this. You wait in line with the other pilgrims who have walked at least the final 100km. Of course, our distance […]
» Read more
When you finally arrive in Santiago, there are a number of time-honoured traditions that pilgrims observe. Some time offering a prayer of thanksgiving in front of the Cathedral comes first. Next, because you aren’t allowed to take backpacks into the Cathedral, you have to find and check into an albergue to drop of your stuff. With this, naturally, comes a […]
» Read more