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Published: November 3rd 2023
What the city is most noted for is that it is the end point of one of the great Christian pilgrimages, the others being Rome and Jerusalem. The legend holds that in around 813, the bones of St. James (one of the 12 apostle’s) were found in what was then the only stronghold of the Catholic Monarchs on the Iberian Pennisula. St. James was said to have brought Christianity to Spain. During the 9
thcentury the Moors controlled most all of the Iberian Pennisula, the discovery of the bones, gave the Spanish King a rallying cry to begin the reconquest of Spain which would take several hundred years.
Soon after the discovery, King Alfonso II built a church, and a city grew up around it. The Moors completely destroyed the church and the city in 997. Not until 1078 was construction started on the current cathedral by Alfonso VI. The current day structure is a combination of Gothic, Romanesque, and Baroque architecture. The cathedral has been expanded upon several times over the centuries.
During Medieval times, the “Camino de Santiago” was protected by the French Kingdom. The pilgrimage has several starting points, England, Ireland, France, and so on, but once
you cross over into Spain, it is a very defined route. To this day, people still walk or bike this route and make the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela to honor St. James. It is said that during the medieval period the pilgrims burned there clothes at the end of the journey. I think because they just simply stank to high heaven. Was everyone then walking around naked? A question left best unanswered.
Up until the end of the 15
th century, the pilgrims simply slept on the city streets. This did not sit well with Queen Isabela I, so she had the Hostel built. This is now the hotel we are staying in. Construction was completed around 1499. In addition to being a hostal, it has also been a hospital and an orphanage. The full name of the hotel is Parado de Santiago de Compostela: Hostal Dos Reis Católicos.
Today, we are touring the cathedral and two portions that must be booked. One, Gelmirez Palace was booked and part of the roof and tower tours. The second, the Portico Gloria (cloisters) is buy invitation only. Which means you must request free tickets 7 days before
you want to visit on the cathedral website. This is pretty much all we have planned for the day. We slept in late, had a late breakfast and are just taking our time getting ready for the day.
It is not raining at the moment, but that seems to change in a heartbeat. It can be clear skies and sunny and then suddenly a downpour. We have two small umbrellas that are basically worthless if there is a strong wind. If time permits, there may be a nice tub soak in my future. The bathroom has a very large clawfoot tub. It will be nice to soak the aches and pains of the trip. No, there will be no pictures of this.
The Cathedral I have said this many times, you can only see so many cathedrals in your lifetime, they all just run together at some point. Are there musts, yes, Notre Dame (Paris), Cathedral in Chartres, St. Peter’s Basilica (the Vatican), The Domo in Florence, and my favorite Sacré Coeur (Paris). Is the Catedral de Santiago on the must-see list? Not really. Seeing it from the outside is really sufficient, the inside is pretty bare
and looks like any other church. I will say that the Roof top and tower tour is probably worth the trip, if your sure footed. The Gelmirez Palace was disappointing as was the Portico of Glory. Moreover, you can’t take pictures of anything. I think that the history behind the church and the pilgrimage is much more interesting. We didn’t go to the pilgrim museum, but I think that is probably a better option over the cathedral.
One interesting tidbit that I only know because I was eavesdropping on the tour private tour in the room, is that the library has a chair that only the Pope can evidently sit on and a desk that is only opened by a key he holds. What deep dark secrets are there in that desk? Sounds like something out of the Da Vinci Code.
That was really the day. I did take a nice soak in the tub, feel much better. While I was doing that Jerry was out shopping. We had to buy a new suitcase because one of our smaller ones gave up the ghost on the trip to Santiago. We have been searching for Olive Oil from Huelva,
truly the best olive oil there is, but it is obviously only sold in Huelva, so next time in Spain we must go there. It is on the boarder of Spain and Portugal.
No lunch today, but while Jerry was out, he did buy a couple of small Santiago Cakes, which we just finished. Dinner is at 8:30, easy to get to, but uphill coming back.
I have a bit of time here, so wanted to make my own comment on my blog. As you can tell, I do not post a lot of pictures of me, and rarely of the two of us. We just don’t take a lot of pictures of ourselves, we aren’t Instagram whores, and have no social media presence other than this blog. When I was looking back at some of the pictures of me on this trip, I was not pleased. I just appear old and tired, more importantly it gives the impression that I am not having an enjoyable time, but I am. I just think that the stress of NYC for seven years and my current position at work, have really taken their toll on me. It doesn’t help that
my ankle does not seem to have ever healed properly and then there both of our backs (and yes, the weight doesn’t help either). But that is just getting old, more aches, more pain. Just means more wine 😊.
Sometimes, dinner is just a meal, not bad not great, but just a decent meal. That is what tonight was. It was very close to the hotel, and most of the cliental seemed to be pilgrims. One table thought we were, yeah Hard NO, not spending over a month making the trek across the top of Spain. I have a bit more today on pilgrims in a moment. Now back to dinner. We were determined not stuff our self-tonight, so watched what we were ordering. The problem is the portions here are just huge. We split what they call a nibble, then split a salad and each had a main dish. It was still too much food.
We started with Raxo con Patatas. Pork in a really nice sauce over fries topped with fried leeks, we both wanted three times the amount of leeks and much fewer fries. The we split Ensalda Rucula & Canonignos, a nice mixed salad
with arugula, lambs lettuce and leaf lettuce, walnuts and a tomato jam dressing. We could have stopped there, but already ordered the mains. We both had steak, Jerry to rare sirloin and me a much smaller cut of beef with a very nice port reduction sauce. Entrecot de Ternera and Picana con reduccion de Oporto. Of course, a nice bottle of Rioja. Prices are higher here than Seville or Granada, not sure why, unless it is just because it is fairly remote, or they have the pilgrims trapped.
So, a bit about pilgrims. I get that they are a different breed than I am, and good for them for making the hike or biking, but they are not special. Once they get to the cathedral square, it is like no one else in the world matters. They throw their bikes in the way of pedestrians, block the paths with their backpacks. They have an arrogance about them that is really just not appealing. I thought the purpose of the pilgrimage was to honor God and St. James, not their inflated since of self. But then that just seems to be the world we live in, self-important and entitled people.
God, I just sounded like my grandmother.
Back to the trip. No dish of the day, nothing met the criteria to the standard. This ends our time in Galicia, tomorrow we are off to Basque country starting with Bilboa. We have a very long journey ahead so going to stop here for now and post this.
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Connie Craddock
non-member comment
Blog memories
I think your blog and area photos is a great way to capture your travels for your memories. Thank you for sharing with the rest of us! Your area history was very informative. Having not traveled much out of the US, seeing your photos of the historic buildings is amazing. It amazes me how much you see each day.