Santiago de Compostela: Pilgrims or Poseurs?

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Driving in to Santiago was easier than we expected. It isn´t a large city, and road directions are not particularly good, but the Cathedral dominates the cityscape so one just heads uphill towards the cathedral spires. We parked easily in an underground carpark beneath the Praza (plaza)de Galicia near to the cathedral and walked up the narrow winding streets. People´s reaction to Mutley was interesting and not entirely unexpected. Big dogs are not considered to be appropriate companions in the city, according to many Spanish people. Small lapdogs, yes, but big dogs (who are not pets, their function is to work or guard)definitely NO! Old people especially gave Mutley some nasty sideways glances, a giggly group of teenage school kids (about fifteen) started pointing and giggling – “Look! A big dog !!!” and some of the immature fifteen year old boys started making barking and howling noises. Shame! Mutley was totally chilled and ignored them, walked beautifully on the lead and sat nicely outside a little café while we had a coffee. A police car drove slowly past, however, and looked twice before moving on. This did worry us. Travellers with dogs be warned. In Spain you can get a heavy fine for not having large dogs muzzled in public places, even those not on the dangerous dogs list, which Mutley isn´t; really glad he was being a good boy when they drove past! Bella did her usual trick of pooping in grand places, in this case near the cathedral plaza!



The Cathedral is truly impressive and HUGE. It occupies an enormous space in the centre of the city, with a grand plaza in front and in the back and a smaller plaza with a fountain to one side. The “pilgrims” are a most interesting bunch. One group of poseurs ran into the front plaza and laid down in the centre, in a group, hugging the ground. Yeah, right, OK!!! A few others sat crossed legged, gazing in awestruck wonder at the spires, with beatific smiles of rapture carefully posed upon their shining faces. Amongst others, taking photos and getting coffee, there were probably some true pilgrims in the plaza. Who knows!



Due to the anti-big-dog thing we didn´t stay in the city for lunch but headed back to the coast. We went to the little fishing port of Portasin at the mouth of the Rio Timbre. The wind was so strong there that the froth blew off the top of John´s beer. We got back to camp late afternoon to find that several more campers had arrived and a few with dogs, but fortunately no problem with ours. Our dogs only have a problem with the cat in the campervan pitched next to us. The Dutch owners keep it tied up on a lead, poor thing, and when Bella and Mutley arrive and bark at it, it scurries into the camper for the rest of the evening. Taking a cat camping? Oh well, each to their own! It seems strange to us, but no stranger than it seems to many Spanish people when we take our big dog on a lead through the city. Taking a big dog for a walk on a lead? How strange! Big dogs like that should stay chained up guarding dumps! All in all it was an interesting day. We are glad we visited Santiago, it would be crazy to come all the way to Galicia and not do so. We are now going to cook a curry and then head to the bar to put this blog online. Here on the coast, big dogs are accepted everywhere. A guy had three (beautifully behaved) German Shepherds on the beach yesterday without problem and in the campsite bar, the owner calls Mutley “mi amigo”.



Tomorrow will be our last day here, we are moving on Wednesday. This has been a great week on this site.

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