Santiago

​We made it to Santiago.  We walked to and checked in with our albergue for the night.  It was situated halfway between Lavacollas (our last stop) and Santiago but close to the airport where Jo and Anne would arrive the next day.  So far, so good.  Oh, but it was raining.  It had been raining the two days previously, but at a manageable rate.  It was raining much harder with much stronger winds when we departed our new albergue for the Cathedral in Santiago.

This Cathedral has been the goal of the pilgrimages for 1,000 years because some bones of Saint James the Great were buried there.  As the story goes, St James evangelized the inhabitants of northeast Spain prior to returning to the Holy Land for martyrdom.  After his death, he was transported across the Mediterranean in a stone boat which brought his remains to Santiago where they were subsequently buried.  Fast forward to the 9th century and St James’ bones were discovered near Santiago and were placed in the cathedral in Santiago.  These relics were considered so potent that pilgrims ventured from throughout all of western Christendom to Santiago to venerate the bones of Saint James.   These relics were so potent that the Pope granted indulgences for the forgiveness of all sins for people who completed the pilgrimage.

Back to the rain, it started coming down really hard with winds up to 35 mph and temperatures in the 40’s.  We left our rucksacks at the albergue and we felt like we were flying  being so light on our feet as we began.  As the 10 km second part of our day’s journey proceeded, I got colder and colder.  My gear was adequate for light rain but was totally inadequate for what we were facing.  I kept my temperature up by moving quickly and we arrived at the Cathedral without issue.  But when I stopped moving and started the administrative processing for my Compostela (certificate of completion), the cold got to me and I started shivering uncontrollably.

The cathedral is indeed magnificent.  It has a huge plaza in front of the main entrance and massive twin spires facing the plaza.  There are loads of ornamentation across the facade with large and small statues in abundance.  It is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, capable of holding over 1200 worshipers.  It is magnificent.

However, I was really cold.  After completing our paperwork and taking a few obligatory pictures, we eventually flagged down a taxi for the trip back to our albergue.  Once there, I stripped off all my sopping wet clothes and took a really nice hot shower and finally stopped shivering.  There will be more time to visit and appreciate both the cathedral and our pilgrimage when the wives arrive.  More on that later.

Buen Camino