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Published: November 27th 2008
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The Cathedral of Santiago.
There was really thick fog in the morning that gave an eerie sense to the cathedral. Thursday
We left in the afternoon on the six hour bus for Santiago de Compostela in the northeastern autonomous community of Galicia. Legend has it that and angel appeared to the bishop of Galicia and told him that St. James (in Spanish Santiago) was buried in this little town. The bishop spread the word and a cathedral was built on top of his remains. Christians from all over Europe and the world have made pilgrimages to this cathedral to attend mass. If you walk (takes over a month) or bike (several weeks) the Catholic Church will even pay for the hostels that you use during your trip. Unfortunately, I took the bus which isn’t covered by the church, so I had to pay for my own hotel room. Luckily, since there were three of us on this trip we split the cost of a hotel room and ended up getting the penthouse with balcony!
We went out in search of dinner and found a cute restaurant with a menu of the day for only 12euro. Deciding to order three different meals and share them all, I ordered the calamari - which I’ve always liked since it’s always served fried. Not in
Cathedral of Santiago
See the giant rope hanging from the ceiling? They were getting ready to hang a 50kilo incense burner from it; then, about 10 monks/priests heft it up by the rope and swing it the length of the church aisle (quite long as you can see). Supposedly it is to "cleanse the spirits" of the pilgrims that come here, but really its probably because they smell after walking for months. Spain! After my vegetable soup, I was served a plate of five purple squid as big as my hand and a cup of rice. I had to ask the waiter to teach me how to eat it! He laughed and showed me how to remove the spine - you can eat the rest. Head, tentacles and all! While it was surprisingly good, I don’t think I’d ask for it again. I finished off dessert which was chocolate mousse with whipped cream and we headed back for bed.
Friday
Got up early to go check out the cathedral that I have learned so much about in all of my culture classes. It was really foggy which is typical of the region but gave the cathedral an eerie effect. Inside mass was in progress, but we could still look around. They had the huge rope ready to swing the “botefumeiro” (it’s not a Spanish word; they speak Gallego (a Celtic language) here, but most people speak Castellano (the Spanish that I’m learning) as well. The botefumeiro is a large incense burner that they swing down the church aisle during special masses. It’s only used a few times a year and today
The Pilgrims arriving
At about 10am, the pilgrims started arriving in the city after having walked probably 30 or more days to the city of Santiago de Compostela where legend has it St.James is buried. After Rome and Jerusalem, this is the city were most Christians make a pilgrimage.Unfortunately, I arrived by bus and that doesn't count as a pilgrimage. happened to be one of them; however, we couldn’t stay since our bus left at noon.
We finished up the cathedral visit by wandering the museum, crypt and monastery a bit.
We packed up our bags and caught our bus to Finisterre where I proceeded to lose my scarf from Granada!
We arrived in Finisterre which was so named because it was the “end of land” before Columbus discovered America. The city is on a “ria” or cove that is a bit inland. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we went down to the cove to eat our lunches then walked the 3 kilometers to the lighthouse that marks the “END.”
We took pictures and admired the view, but it was impossible to go down to the water as the coast was very jagged and the waves looked pretty ruff. We headed back and it was already starting to get dark so we had dinner in the room and enjoyed some Spanish television.
Saturday
Caught the morning bus to the town of Cee where we were supposed to catch the connecting bus the city of Camarinas; however, after hours and hours of waiting on our bus (that never
The Restaurant
This is the restaurant where I had my first taste of whole squid. I even had to ask the waiter to show me how to eat them! They were pretty good, but I wouldn't knowingly order them again (obviously I didn't know what I was ordering the first time either!). showed up) we jumped on the bus to La Coruna, the coastal city of the north. We found a hotel on the beach, dropped our bags and set out to see the city.
We visited the Tower of Hercules, one of the first Roman lighthouses in Spain. We also happened across a local futbol game or two and wandered down the beach walk where the Galicians were out strolling, riding bikes or jogging. After dinner we found a dessert place and shared chocolate fondue with fruit and sweets - delicious!
Sunday
The next day we got up to go for our swim. The weather in the north is a little milder than in Salamanca, so it really wasn’t very cold out. The water was chillier than I would have liked it, but I didn’t freeze.
Afterwards, we did some more sightseeing around the old towne. Everyone was very helpful, especially an elderly man that saw we needed directions. He started asking us questions and complemented our Spanish accents. He then proceeded to tell my two friends that I was the prettiest and had the best name!
I thanked him and we walked away to see the Plaza Mayor, pick-up
The End of the World
Here I am in the city of Finisterre which means "End of the Land." It was believed to be the westernmost tip of the world, before Columbus set off across the Atlantic. lunch and catch our bus back to Salamanca.
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