It's strange walking into the Cathedral in Santiago after finishing the Camino. I mean, you've walked for over a month to get there, you reach your destination, it's impressive and...well, for me at least, there's this great anticlimax. I mean, for 34 days we walked every day with this destination in mind...and once we arrived, we didn't have that destination anymore. We sort of stopped being pilgrims in that moment, and became ordinary people again. It was hard. Of course, it helped that our wonderful friends Bill and Lindsey were there to give us hugs, show us where the pilgrim office was, and take away some of the sting.
The Cathedral is amazing--big, imposing, full of ornate stonework on the outside and gold on the inside. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site...and a complete tourist trap. There were busloads of tourists EVERYWHERE! It was overwhelming. I guess we had a feeling of entitlement, like we deserved to be able to wander through the Cathedral un-annoyed by hordes of people because we were pilgrims. Sadly the hordes of people did not feel the same way.
There's a specific sort of ritual that each pilgrim tends to do when they arrive, which can be really emotional- you go into the Cathedral, attend a blessing mass for the pilgrims, visit the tomb of Saint James, the guy you've just walked over a month to see, and hug his big gold statue at the top of the church. And, if you're really lucky, you get fumigated by the giant incense burner that swings through the rafters of the church. Although technically this is a religious pilgrimage, even those people who are not particularly religious tend to do this ritual, because it gives you a feeling that you have actually arrived, and accomplished something, and can now move on. Because of the sort of people that Jana and I are (we really wanted to be unintrusive inside the church, and not bother others), and the fact that it actually took us about a week of exploring the Cathedral to no longer be bothered by tourists and get that feeling of completion, I have very few pictures of inside the Cathedral...but what I have, I'll share! For a good look at what it's like at about 7 in the morning before the busloads of visitors arrive, take a look at
The Way (we watched it in Léon, as we were walking the Camino...other than the fact that everyone is far too clean and sprightly, and there's not nearly enough talk of blisters, it's a fairly good look at the walk...you should go out and rent it soon!).
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| The outside of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It's fairly amazing close-up...it kind of looms over the whole plaza once you turn a certain corner, but before that, because of the lay of the land, you can't see it at all |
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| This is us with our friend Marian from Germany. She was always lovely and smiling and blowing past us as if we were standing still. We're facing the Cathedral in this picture, and behind us you can see the historic buildings surrounding it in the square (including the Parador Hotel on the right, I think the oldest hotel in Europe--it used to be a Pilgrim Hostel in the middle ages). You can also see many, many tents. This was the space being used for a student protest (there were many more going on across Spain). So...our first sight of the Cathedral square was of hundreds of tents. |
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| There he is! On the roof of the Cathedral! St. James, or Santiago, with his staff (with gourd) and scallop shell, looking out over the square and the arriving pilgrims |
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| This is one of the back doors to the Cathedral...we used this to get in and out to beat the crowds early in the morning. It feels strange to type 'Beat the crowds' in relation to going to church, but there you have it :D |
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| Inside shot of the Cathedral, with Angelita. She looks a little possessed in this photo (but notice that she acquired a pilgrim shell and a walking stick along the way)! Also notice all the gold gleaming to her left. And the light inside. The rope you can see to the left secures the giant incense burner (the Spanish name of which I've forgotten) |
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| Angelita inside...with church hair this time. You can see the incense burner hanging over her shoulder in the background |
I was going to leave you with a video that Jana shot of the end of the last church service we attended in the Cathedral...but it won't upload. I'll keep trying over the next day or so! Now you really will have to watch The Way! I'll post again soon, with more memories of the Camino.
-K-
