Pilgrims Progress: Santiago de Compostela

The last 30kms of the journey to Santiago de Compostela took us off the motorway and along the ‘B’ roads, all along the way were small parties of walkers. Some with heavy backpacks, most wore hats and carried a wooden staff or modern walking sticks and many had a plain white flat shell with a red cross drawn on it.

The pilgrims walked stoically along the winding path, sometimes it ran along side the road, sometimes crossed the road and sometimes it disappeared into woodland only to reappear a little way along. What struck me was just how many people were walking the Camino. Predominantly white, more male then female but no one walked alone.

We’d chatted to three American ladies who were on the same museum tour as us in Leon, they said they hoped to make it to Santiago in three weeks time. It only took us a few hours!

Our campsite in Santiago was on a hill overlooking the valley in which Santiago is nestled. It was quite steep but the pitches were flat and very small, if the pitch next to us hadn’t been empty we would have had to put our chairs and table on the road! As it was, we were able to sit in the empty space next door under the shade of tall, rustling birch trees and enjoy the peace and quiet.

The site was only a couple of minutes walk from the No 4 stop, where we caught the bus the next day into Santiago. We started to see more and more pilgrims as we neared the centre, some of them were stopping at various churches along the way, there were soooo many churches, I’ve never seen so many in such a small area. We got off the bus when a little old granny pointed and said ‘Historico’ and waved her hands in a shoo type motion for us to get off, so we trundled down this cobbled alleyway not much wider than our moho, looking up across the roof tops to try to spot the Cathedral spires, all we had to do was follow the pilgrims ahead of us (who were using googlemaps).

The alleyway suddenly opened up into a huge square, Praza do Obradoiro, surrounded by tall impressive buildings, one of which is the Hostel dos Reid Catholicos originally built as a hospital for pilgrims but now a swish hotel.

The plaza was swarming with pilgrims / walkers /cyclists. Some were running into the square whooping with elation, some were just standing there silently looking up at the massive Cathedral deep in thought, some were taking selfies, some were having group hugs and laughing and crying at the same time, lots of groups were having a group photo taken; a memory of the journey, the hardships and the camaraderie. It was then that I felt a bit of a fraud.

The square is very flat and the cathedral rises up from it majestically with the sun shining through the intricate stonework some of which dates back to 1075, we walked toward the right of the cathedral and through an arch in the wall, up along side the cathedral and round the back, down about 30 stone steps to find the way in for tourists. I was surprised that it was free entry but imagine if you’d walked all that way and couldn’t reach your goal because you didn’t have the right cash!!

Disappointingly most of the interior was curtained off as it’s being refurbished, so only the central nave was accessible, it was surrounded on each wall by tables of candles for people to light and say a prayer (at €1 each), but at least they were real candles, in the previous two cathedrals we’d visited they were just electronic candle flames which were turned on by putting a Euro in the slot, when the money ran out so did the candle flame. Somehow these real candles felt more in keeping.

We spotted a queue, so I suggested we join it, neither of us had any idea what we were queuing to see but it just felt right. The queue moved relatively quickly and soon we realised we were queuing to see the statue of Santiago (James the Apostle), you could barely see the Churrigueresque (High Alter) because of the thick white curtaining.

We walked up the stone steps which had been worn away at the edges by the hundred of thousands of people’s feet who had been here before us, you weren’t allowed to touch anything and you weren’t allowed to take photos of the statue. Down the other side, left and down a few more steps into the Cristal Apostolica and we were in front of the 19th century silver casket behind the Holy Door which is only cracked open in holy years (next one is 2021), and incongruously a football shirt on the floor in front of the casket (I’ve no idea what team but it had been signed by them all!)

It was that evidence of modernity which made me feel that although people have been walking the Camino for hundreds of years, everyone is there for a different reason and everyone has gotten there in their own way; times have changed and for us it was on four wheels but at that moment I felt that we were part of the greater humanity, none of us are here for very long so what we do must matter to us. #onelifeliveit

I was brought back with a bump when we had to exit via the obligatory gift shop! I wanted a momento but not at those prices … so I bought a fridge magnet off a stall in the plaza for €2. Each time I look at it when I go into the fridge for my tonic it will remind me of our time as ‘pilgrims’.

We wandered round the town stopped and had a beer /cider and browsed in the shops, as you do, and of course helped the local economy by buying a small sculpture and a leather thong bracelet for me with 3 tiny silver charms on it.

Back to the campsite for a GnT and to take in the sunset over the hillside, feeling quite at ease.

Tomorrow we’re off to Portugal.

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