Santiago de Compostela

Saturday, April 27, 2013 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

We had a very rough night last night.  There was a huge wind blowing as we set out from Porto, and immediately the ship began to rock and roll pretty dramatically.  Swells were about 20 feet, whitecaps were crashing, and the water was washing up over the windows of the dining room which is on the second level.  Barf bags were hung on all the railings, and only about half of the passengers showed up for dinner.  Of those who did, many left before finishing, as did we when Joyce couldn’t take it any more.  She looked bad enough that on the way out of the dining room the staff handed her a barf bag and a green apple, saying the apple might help.  She took a bite or two and was somewhat better.  We tried to go to sleep, and the crashing, the falling of things off shelves, the opening of drawers and the intense pitching and rocking made it very hard.  It was a long night.

We made it to breakfast and to a wonderful morning lecture by the Smithsonian lecturer on pilgrimage in the medieval world, as today we went to a major pilgrimage site, the Cathedral of St. James (Santiago) in Santiago de Compostela, about an hour’s ride from the dock in La Corona.  This part of Spain, the northwest corner, is called Galicia.  It has a fair degree of autonomy from the rest of Spain, and it wealthy and proudly different from the rest of Spain.  Its origins are Celtic, bagpipes are among the native instruments, and there is a Galician language closer to Portuguese than to Spanish.  There are close ties to Scotland, Ireland and Wales, but not to England.

The cities of La Corona and Santiago are beautiful, with lush gardens, clean broad streets, flowers, and well-kept public buildings and parks.  There is a minimum of graffiti.  Clearly the economic problems of most of Spain don’t reach here.

The stories and legends about St. James (Santiago) are many; suffice it to say that there is a cathedral here which is one of the major pilgrimage sites for all of Catholicism.  To this day people walk, ride animals, and even bicycles to make a pilgrimage here.  There are rules as to how far you must come in each of these ways to get certified as a pilgrim.

Here is a small square in Santiago:

And here is part of the University:

Here is the front of the Cathedral, originally Romanesque from the 11^th c. but with a Baroque façade added later:

The gates are amazing:

The altar was added later:

The adjacent monastery is enormous:

There are groups of pilgrims on foot and on bicycle, but we saw none on horseback.  To be certified you need to have come 100 km. (62 miles) by foot, or 200 km. by bicycle or animal.  The town has beautiful side streets with lovely cafes, restaurants and shops.  Very enjoyable.

Off tonight for Bilbao and the Gehry museum tomorrow.