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Published: September 25th 2018
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Santiago de Compostela-1
Monastery near Cathedral Hello from Vigo Spain. Today we made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Technically you are supposed to walk the last 100 miles, or ride a horse the last 100 miles, or ride a bicycle the last 200 miles (don’t ask where those rules came from). The more commonly accepted definition is that a pilgrimage is traveling to a sacred shrine for a religious purpose, regardless of mileage or vehicle. So that’s what we did today. But let’s start at the beginning for all the details.
We lost an hour on the clock last night, so morning came early today. We wanted to go to the dining room for breakfast so we set the alarm for 7:30. Janet has been looking forward to Princess’s Eggs Benedict because this is her ultimate standard by which all others are judged. David had a Ham & Cheese Omelet. Of course we also had juice, pastry, and fruit too.
After breakfast Janet went to the Skywalker Lounge for the Knitters & Knatters session at 9:00, but only 3 other people showed up. Maybe tomorrow there will be more people to chat with since it won’t be a day in port. David went back
to the cabin to clean up pictures off the camera and to remind him from the manual about some of the camera’s capabilities which he couldn’t remember.
About 10:30 the ship picked up a Harbor Pilot and began the approach into Vigo. Today was a nice sunny day with comfortable temperatures and a light breeze. Lots of people were up on deck taking pictures of the approach to the pier. We eventually docked about 11:30 and by 12:00 passengers were headed for shore. Our excursion was not scheduled to meet in the Wheelhouse Bar until 1:30, so we went to the International Café for a light lunch at 12:30. Then we headed off for our excursion.
Our group was called and we traversed several sets of stairs to get to the gangway and then walked through the terminal to the bus locations. We were about the last ones on the bus, but there was a very nice oriental lady who had a seat in the 2
nd row and she jumped up and moved back in the bus so we could sit close to the door. That was very much appreciated.
During the drive, the guide gave us
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Former Monastery changed to a Hotel a constant commentary about this part of Spain and especially why Vigo is such an important town. This is the largest Atlantic port in the country – located just north of the Portugal border. It is the largest city in Spain that is not a provincial capital. It has a long heritage of sea-related activities, including being where various armadas were launched from. He gave us so much information it started running together and got confusing. He did point out “mussel farms”, where large barges were anchored in a river north of Vigo. They apparently dangle lots of ropes below each barge and somehow the mussels attach to them and grow. Ultimately they pull in the ropes and harvest the mussels. This area produces more mussels for sale than anywhere else in Europe, and second only to China.
Santiago de Compostela is the burial place for the Apostle James. Apparently he came to this area to do his preaching and Santiago became his home location. Our guide told us a lot about him going back and forth and such, but when he died they brought his body back here to be buried. There is a large Cathedral surrounded by
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Museum next to Cathedral what were once several monasteries. He is buried in the crypt in the cathedral.
The description of our tour described it as Moderate exercise, and specifically called out the 75 minute ride each way, as well as a 15 minute walk from the bus terminal to the main square where everything is located. What it did not clarify was that there are practically no places to sit and rest even though the guide paused periodically to explain what was around us, or just to let stragglers catch up with the group. We were actually the last to catch up each time. In the main square he had the group located in the center where he could point out all the buildings and explain each in detail. Janet just could not keep up the walking/standing regime and she had to sit in a nearby museum while the group continued through town. David could only stay with the group part of the time. In the end, neither of us got the whole picture and Janet mostly got only the exercise and didn’t get to see the key places – including going into the cathedral. But though she didn’t actually walk 100
miles, it seemed like she really did make a pilgrimage anyway. However now both ankles are hurting and we will have to reconsider our planned excursions in each future port.
There are several areas of the Cathedral which is being cleaned and/or repaired, so there were some areas we could not use (like the front door) or see clearly (like above the nave). Over the main nave there is a large incense burner (about 100 pounds) hanging on a long chain. When the other end of the chain is pulled then a set of pulleys swings it back and forth. There are only special times when it is used. There is also an enormous pipe organ with over 4000 pipes that needs 2 organists to play. It was too dark to get a picture and flash photography was not allowed. The main alter has a large number of figures above it which represent various angels looking down on James the Apostle. Again it was pretty dark, but there is a picture attached. The group also got to see various side chapels and was shown how to get to the crypt.
David finally left the tour before the descriptions
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Special Door for Holy Year were finished and we made our way slowly back to the pickup point where the bus would collect us at 5:45. We were able to go from bench to bench (or sometime to just a short stone wall) and gradually got back to the bus point about 5:30. We found many others from our group gradually walking in for the pickup and very few arriving with the guide at the end of the tour. On the ride back to the ship we all tried to rest.
David had to change for dinner so he took our stuff to the cabin while Janet waited in the main Piazza. We went to the nearest “anytime dining” restaurant since it was now almost 7:30 and our 5:45 seating was long gone. But we had the same menu as we would have. Janet had a shrimp cocktail and a bowl of Fettuccini Alfredo. David had the shrimp and sea scallop cocktail, a bowl of chilled mango & pear soup, and the pork chop dinner. For dessert Janet convinced the waitress to bring her only one scoop of chocolate sorbet (they always put at least 2 scoops in the bowls) and David had the
Key Lime pie with a scoop of ice cream.
We went back to the cabin and got Janet started on resting and trying to recover from the pilgrimage. At 9:00 David went up to the pool deck to watch the escapologist perform a couple of tricks – his is the only act on any cruise ship. Tomorrow night he will do some magic/illusions in the theater, but tonight was strictly escaping from handcuffs, or out of a box, and finally from an 85 gallon barrel filled with water.
Afterwards David went to the theater for a 10:15 show (we would have ordinarily gone to the 8:00 show). It was a British comedian who poked fun at lots of things. Some of the jokes you needed to be British to really understand, but he had jokes about the US, about cruise ship life, and even about Vigo today. He did point out that usually the first show is sold out and the second is somewhat sparse, but that was reversed this evening. It might have had something to do with our late departure from Vigo and the consequential impact to the dining.
When David got back to the
cabin, Janet said that our Steward had brought back the laundry we sent away on the first day, so we’ve gotten that process working smoothly now. That about finishes our first port call. Now we will have 3 days at sea before we stop again in Italy. Good night.
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