Next day, 4/26, we left Sedor and headed to Santiago de Compostela. First we did some hiking along the Camino. We saw a lot more pilgrims today and yesterday, being on the main camino to Compostela now.
Packing the bus up. The blonde woman is Ana, our Third, and final, driver
We drove to the town of Arzua, where we began walking. But first a little shopping!
We stopped in a cheese / charcuterie shop!
We got some local cheese. It’s called Queixo Tetilla, or “titty cheese” because, well, I think you can probably make out the shape of the cheese. Different cheese makers make their shapes a little different – some are pointier, some not so much, some not quite so robust. These were on the bigger, pointier side, than other cheeses I saw.
Yep, still raining!
A local chapel we stopped in
“Place for Inquiries” – a place to hear about local news. Not open any more though …
Footsteps captured in cement
A tree with a bit of an angry face!
Clouds starting to break up!
The wall of wisdom is lined with many sayings from many different people such as Lao Tze, Buddha, etc. Several people contribute to it (I think anyone can)
A man named Bruno, who is German (Austrian maybe??) but who now lives in Arzua and also guides with REI, walked with us for a few miles. He’s friends with Jorge. The top line of sayings are ones he posted there. I have a photo of him later in this post, when we stopped for lunch.
A memorial
Our lunch stop – covered in beer bottles!! I think they remove them at the end of each year, and then they get filled up again.
Calvin very carefully cutting the specialty of the house – a kind of potato cake. Delicious!
Cheeses and quince jelly from the cheese store we stopped at in the morning.
Door of Forgiveness. Forgive me for drinking my beer! Ha!
There’s my bottle! They had a pen to use to write on it, at the restaurant.
Bruno talking philosophy with Pat
Now it was time to get back on the bus and travel to Monte del Gozo (Mount of Joy), on the outskirts of Compostela.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_do_Gozo
Most people don’t seem to like the modern sculpture at the top, among other things …
After walking around here a bit, it was back on the bus for a short ride to the old town part of Santiago de Compostela.
A statue of Miguel de Cervantes, in Cervantes square. I later bought ‘Don Quixote’ in Spanish at a local book store.
This tunnel leads to the Plaza del Obradoiro. The acoustics in there are very good so there were always musicians in there – mainly bagpipers!
Note that ‘Plaza del Obradoiro’ is in Galician, not Spanish. It literally means “square of the workshop.”
While I’m on this topic, I’ll add this bit of info – students in schools in Spain must learn Spanish, English, AND the native tongue of their historic principality. On our trip we travelled from Cantabria (where Bilbao is located), thru Asturias (where Camilo and Jorge are from) into Galicia. So, Jorge and Camilo both spoke Spanish, Asturias, and English.
The buildings that make up the 4 sides of this Plaza are the Palace of Rajoy, the main facade of the Cathedral of Santiago (the most photographed image of the city); The Hostal de los Reyes Católicos and finally the San Jerónimo College, now the seat of the rectorate of the University of Santiago. The four emblematic buildings of this square have a meaning that transcends time and even today is fully valid. They are based on the four pillars of the Galician capital: religion, attention to the pilgrim, public administration and university education. Even today these buildings continue to perform these four functions in the day-to-day compostelano of the 21st century.
The Plaza del Obradoiro also has a very deep symbolism as it is the end of the Camino de Santiago for most pilgrims. Entering from Obradoiro Square to Santiago Cathedral through the Portico de la Gloria, Maestro Mateo is one of the most awaited experiences for all pilgrims, a ritual that has been fulfilled every day for hundreds of years by millions of pilgrims coming from all over the world.
The feeling in the square was really Festive – lots of happy shouting when a new group of pilgrims would arrive. People laying in the sun leaning on their backpacks. People riding in on their bikes. It was amazing to be there!
The front of the cathedral
Couldn’t resist a selfie with Camilo and Jorge, photobombed by Matt!
After a little time in the plaza, it was time to head to our hotel – just a few steps away from the plaza.
We had a long walk to our room!
Here is a bagpiper (playing the Galician Gaita) playing in the tunnel I mentioned earlier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_gaita
We had time to walk around a bit before meeting back at the hotel for a tour of the old city.
Our tour guide, Manuel. He was really good and really funny!
The back side of the cathedral, which is undergoing restoration, hence the scaffolding
I can’t remember who this was now, but he is shown cutting his own head off because he was a martyr.
After the tour, some of us opted to enter the cathedral. The lady in the front bottom right with the bandana on was PLEADING for money. It was kind of weird – she was really going at it with the pleading, and even poked me once (the line moved very slowly) but as soon as I got past her she stopped. There were people in line behind me, but for some reason she didn’t plead with them.
Unfortunately due to the restoration, the Botafumeiro was not able to be seen in person. But here’s a video – it takes 8 men to move it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45fNNo77WUU
Then some of us went to dinner together
This sign, in Galician, says, literally, “free space for sexist violence” – I think it means the restaurant was free from threat of sexual violence, of course.
After dinner, some of us opted to go out for a few drinks (big surprise). This is the floor of the first bar – I thought it was cool!
The second bar. The nice thing about wine bars in Spain, is, you order drinks and they give you something to eat with it. Bread, olives, cheese. And the local wines were cheap and very good!
OK, this is the end of day 1 of our stay in Santiago de Compostela. Stayed tuned for the next post for more of Compostela and our journey to Finisterre!