Spritual Santiago de Compostela

Catedral Suites Santiago, 3 nights in an attic apartment on Fonte de Santo Antonio – Beautiful, modern, quiet and a terrific location.

It’s a little over a 4 hour drive from Cangas de Onis to Santiago de Compostelo, but once again we had a nice relaxing morning – our check in at the apartment was 5pm. (The motoring strategy was from place to place, no long stops with our luggage and laptops in the rental car.)

Pilgrims, pilgrims, pilgrims

First thing – a visit to the Cathedral of course! It was open until 8:00pm and not crowded for a look around before it closed.

Santiago de Compostela – the facade under scafolding; The eye in the dome of the cathedral; St. James in the high altar; St. James pillar on the Portico de la Gloria; Bottom of the St. James pillar where pilgrims touched after their pilgrimage

The next 2 days in Santiago we were in and around the Cathedral every day. The pilgrimages were fascinating, all of these people walking hundreds of miles from all different directions on the Camino de Santiago. The traditional entry for the pilgrims was closed for renovation – I wonder if it was terribly disappointing to finally reach the Cathedral and not be able to touch the Saint James pillar.

We had a good time in Santiago de Compostela – the weather was on again off again rain but it didn’t matter, we did the full Cathedral and Museum tour with the audioguide – everything except the Cathedral rooftop. Took in the Pilgrim museums – both of them. Plenty of tapas bars, but we kept going back to Pesticos do Cardeal – reasonable prices and fun atmosphere.

Tip: A fun way to get acquainted with the Camino de Santiago is to watch the movie The Way, starring Martin Sheen.