SANTIAGO de COMPESTELA

Santiago de Compestela
GALACIA, Spain
Mafer Hostal
Day 33

We caught the train last night thinking we were going to have an overnight sleeper, but when we got onto the carriage we realised we were going to have a 9 hour journey sitting up! We got lost in translation there! At least we were stocked up with foot and a bottle of wine for the journey! Spanish wine is to die for! Vino Tinto - Rioja is the one weºre finding weºre really enjoying...

The one thing we were really thrilled about was the fact that, yes, we got to see AVILA! After missing it 3 times and deciding we werenºt meant to see it..we DID! How cool is that!

(By the way, i canºt seem to find the apostrophe on these euro keyboards so bear with me!)

Avila had the wall we were dying to see....a fortress like castle wall that surrounded the old town. And there was a smaller wall surrounding the newer town. Anyway, that satisfied our desire to see Avila and we were able to continue our journey feeling like weºd actually seen all we wanted to see from Madrid afterall!

We arrived in the morning - at 7.30am in Santiago de Compestela and quickly put our luggage in the luggage locker at the train station so we could explore the town and find accomodation. But first, we sat down to breakfast at the train station. Gee, i tell ya, weºve had a lot of meals at train and bus stations!!!!

We walked about 2kmºs into the centre from the train station and found a hostal. 30 Euro for the night! Which we thought was pretty good!

We walked back to the train station and loaded ourselves up with our packs and walked back to our accomodation! THEN we walked 53 spiralling steps up to our room! Phew! Weºre getting fit! (And eating heaps to compensate so donºt think weºre fading away..NOT!)

We dumped our stuff and decided to explore. Why we werenºt totally exhausted after our night on the train i donºt know..but we were just so entranced by this beautiful city we had to get out and see what it had offer. And we were not disappointed. We knew we wanted to see the Cathedral, the palace and the museum. Are we getting addicted to all this history? I think so, I love it!! It feels so cultural, so real, so entrenched in tradition, i well up in tears just thinking about it. Honestly, there seems to such a spirituality to these architectural marvels.

We bought a €10 to enter the museum, which included entry to the other places in Santiago de Compestela.

The cathedral was awe inspiring. The beauty and grandeur were just stunning. When we first entered we expected a cathedral. One like weºve seen previously in Spain, which have been just stunning in architecture and history and art. But this one, was just beyond words.

How to describe it. Well, apart from the extreme reverance of the place the word i can only think of is bewildering.

At the entrance there was a statue which i assume, not being a catholic and not knowing much about catechism, was Jesus and the hand of God. There was a place to put your hands and a place to kiss his head. I followed the masses and got a photo but iºm sure it wonºt be until later that iºll realise the relevance of all of this.

The thing that touched us was there was a service in progression and i assume, being the first day of passover, it had something to do with that. But it was amazing! ANd the singing...was just so beautiful.

I loved being in the cathedral. We stayed and listened to the whole service and in the end, followed the masses as we do, and ended up at this shrine that said Horatio and we went in to find there was someone in there blessing people and another head to kiss which i didnºt and Greg did. He saved the day, doing the customery thing! I think his training at Wesley heled him know what to do!? (Even tho thatºs Methodist)

One thing i did understand was the apostle James was very revered in this church. His remains were buried here in the first century AD and rediscovered in 813.

My knowledge of the Bible from studying it for 10 years when i was baptised into the Church of Christ in 1985 has certainly helped my understanding of the church! And i think, from the time I left the church i have also gained a far greater understanding of other religions and cultures, because iºm not locked into one.

If thereºs one place to be for the Holy week, it has to right here, at Santiago de Compestela. The pure worship is just outstanding. During the night we heard the singing come alive again. And it was the procession going through the streets. Greg said they looked like the Ku Klux Clan!!! Because our hostel was right in the centre of town, we could see everything - the buses stopped, the people following the procession, the noise! Very exciting.

This is the place where the catholics come as pilgrims. The pilgrimages are 750km long and pilgrims do all or part of it. It´s amazing, they are here with all their backpacks on from all over the world. We wondered at first why there were so many backpackers, that looked like us, on the roads here in the city. Then we were told they were doing their annual, or lifetime, pilgrimage. A bit like when Rob and Guity, as Bahai´s went to Haifa I imagine. Quite a personal and spiritual experience.

Went to the Museo Peregrino which was a modern place where they show photos of all the pilgrims that visit Santiago de Compestela. They thought WE were pilgrims from AUstralia and let us in free! ANd honestly, in a way we felt like it, being that we seemed to be the only ones there. The map of all the pilgrims was interesting. Pilgrims had been there from all over the world, except Australia and New Zealand!

Do they know what Aussies and Kiwiºs are? The forgotten ones...........

Even the weather doesnºt show our end of the world. Itºs so weird.

Tomorrow weºre off to Vigo.