Cathedral Santiago de Compostela
The Finish
First view of the Cathedral - see in the far distance
Route was well marked
Views over an ice creamFriday, April 16th
You guys are great with the knowledge base on Santiago de Compostela! Very nice. Real quick update - no travel interruptions here in Portugal due to the Iceland volcano. The skies are blue - no signs of anything here. I'm just about as far away as one could be unless I was in southern Italy or Greece.
About 2 weeks ago, I ran into this girl in Biarritz, France at a train station when they were on strike. She had a massive pack and she came over to me (matching big packs) to see if I was walking the Camino de Santiago (the Road to Santiago), she wanted to share a taxi to the starting point. At the time, I was clueless to what this meant. She proceeded to tell me that she would be walking 500 miles in 20 days to the city of Santiago de Compostela. After this conversation, I vaguely recalled reading about this in my '1,000 Things' book. Yes - there it was. Sometimes I get surprised at what's actually in this book.
So, the Road to Santiago or "The Way of St. James" is a 1,000 year old pilgrimage route. Along with Rome and the Holy Land, the City of Santiago de Compostela is one of Christendom's three principal pilgrimage destinations. The pilgrimage route is often called "the route of forgiveness" - as my aunt had suggested. Since the 9th century, millions have come from all over Europe and the British Isles to the cathedral, said to house the relics of St. James the Apostle. There are 8 different routes that make up the Way of St. James. They can vary from 500 miles to 65 miles. I was told that one must walk at least 100km (62 miles) to actually get stamped as completing the journey. The most popular route (and the one the girl I met was doing) starts in Roncesvalles, Spain - in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains.
I arrived in Santiago late on Thursday (15th). I had a train departure on Friday at 4:40pm. I don't think I was going to make the 500 mile journey. I decided that I was about 10 miles bad and could use some forgiveness. Side note - how do priests come up with the penance during confession. Do they have an excel spreadsheet or some sort of slide rule. All right, we got a guy here who swears often, has 10+ lies, and covets alot of stuff. That will be............ 10 Hail Mary's and 5 Our Fathers. What if a really bad guy walks in. The conversation may go like this: "Son, do you like donuts" "Yes sir - I do". "Son, do you have a good pair of walking shoes" Yes sir - I do" "Son - I need you to board the next plane to Madrid, Spain and walk 500 miles in 20 days on the Road to Santiago in penance for your actions. Think about what you've done during that time - have a nice day" All right, I probably could do another 10 miles because that wasn't very nice.
OK, this was really an inspirational day for me. I really wanted to experience this trail. My goal was to start from the ending point - the cathedral - and go about 5 miles out and then come back the 5 miles. I hope this was not disrespectful. My intentions were actually opposite this. I wanted to experience the trail, but more importantly, I wanted to see the people and be 'awed' by their efforts. It was a perfect weather day again - very typical so far in Spain. You couldn't believe the walkers on the route. I bet I passed over 100 people. It's just a Friday in April - I can't imagine how many people due this over a year's time.
Now, when I got to about the 3 mile marker, I realized my hotel was right there. I could have stopped, but, I came for a reason. I decided to turn around there, go the 3 miles back to the cathedral and then I would walk the 3 miles back to the hotel. I'll give it 10 miles, figuring the distance I walked around the cathedral site. About 2 miles from the finish, you get your first site of the cathedral (see picture). The rest of the way is shear adrenaline.
Let me say this, awesome. Very humbling, Very inspiring. People of all ages and sizes were on the route. You saw the springy groups with small packs - possibly just doing day hikes. But then you would see these people with huge packs, walking sticks, headbands, faces filled with exhaustion. When I finished at the cathedral, I took some time and watched them come through. You finish through this long tunnel - there's music playing. The tunnel opens up into the courtyard filled with people and you look up and see the cathedral. I've done enough endurance activities to know that raw emotion doesn't come much sweeter then after completion of such a herculean effort. These people were amazing. Hugging each other, tears on their faces, families there to greet them - wow - makes you feel great inside. All these people doing this pilgrimage for many different reasons I'm sure. But they all have a common bond - a trip to stay with them for a lifetime.
The site of the cathedral itself was unreal. Construction began in 1078. Outside there is a spacious plaza that wraps around both sides. The plaza is also home to the Hotel Reyes Catolicos - allegedly the oldest hotel in the world (strong statement). One of my favorite memories of the day was after I returned to the cathedral (6 miles in). I had a seat in the plaza, enjoying an ice cream. An awesome guitar player was playing in the background. A large group was surrounding him. The plaza was confined by buildings, so the music could be heard throughout the area. The guy was playing "Yesterday - the Beatles" and "Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton". I took a photo at what I was looking at during that time (see pic) - coolest part of my day.
I walked back to my hotel feely really good. I got to say, I didn't know I would be doing some of these things on this trip - good stuff however. Taking it all in stride.
I grabbed some lunch/dinner at my hotel and then was off. My destination for tonight is Porto, Portugal. Entering my 5th country thus far on the trip. No paperwork needed or anything when you pass between 2 Schengen countries on train - easy as state to state in US with car. From Schengen to non-Schengen, a passport sticker is required. I'm still getting used to this travel. Oh - I laid out a plan to recover my 13 days that I lost in non-Schengen countries when I chose not to return to Ireland. I'll give details later.
Tomorrow morning I'll be heading to Lisbon, Portugal - the 20th most visited city in Europe. Until then ----
No comments:
Post a Comment