This Is It: Santiago de Compostela

by marjasisu, posted in Reflections

Medieval walls. Church bells. Saint’s bones. Pilgrims bearing backpacks. Tourists bearing purses. Shops – and more shops – selling mementos. All this greets you when you arrive in this small city in Galicia, Spain.

But when you arrive as a pilgrim and make your way to the cathedral, your only thought is, “I made it!” Lots of others gathered around, sticks in hand, are having the same reaction. More than 800 pilgrims arrived the same day we did. Most walked at least a month to get here. We walked eight days but still feel the satisfaction of arrival.

It’s accompanied, for me, by a wisp of wistfulness. A tinge of sadness. An urge, somehow, to keep walking. And so we will, when we get back to our respective homes.

Insight and understanding were my main reasons for “doing El Camino.” (Weight loss and improved health were extras.) Those have nothing to do with famous landmarks or national borders. So I expect that part of “walking” to continue. And I will carry this experience with me. See below…

In the city’s outskirts, we encountered this small church. A monk came through the open door and vigorously beckoned us inside. We obeyed! The cleaning lady was quietly at work. A perfect place to reflect before “the big reveal.”
Leaves decorated the city sidewalks as it began to look like any other city.
Before going to the cathedral, we found our luggage – and that of many other pilgrims – waiting for us at the converted monastery in which we were staying. (Our luggage was transferred for us each day of  the walk.)
We were staying inside the old section, and set off — with walking sticks but no backpacks — to find the cathedral. Which wasn’t hard, since we were right next to it.
You aren’t done with El Camino until you stand here, in front of the cathedral. Maria and Ginny posed as a group of pilgrims hammed it up nearby. As it is November, the number of pilgrims is low. Fine with me since I hate crowds.
The two pilgrims to our right still have orange rain covers over their backpacks.
Ginny and I absorbed the moment. (In the Martin Sheen movie “The Way,” there’s a lot of celebrating at this point and at this place. And a lot more people.)
Then we all posed together. Ginny and Maria are longtime friends. (Gin was actually her doctor for many years.)  I was often the “tagalong” as they chatted, and as Maria is the El Camino veteran who arranged logistics and “directed” most of our movements. This worked great for us first-timers and there was plenty of time while walking for the “aloneness” I require. (Remember I mentioned my Myers-Briggs “type” several posts ago? INTP. Introvert, Intuition, Thinking, Perception. If you know MBTI, you get it. Walking alone while thinking is natural to me.)
Inside the cathedral, the usual bank of candles. I lit many of these along the way for a 50-cent coin. Many are electric and, when you drop your coin in the slot, a candle automatically lights up. For some reason, I didn’t feel the need to join the crowd in that action here. Something about it being expected. (I rarely follow the crowd! 😄) Days ago, I did enjoy lighting a single candle in an otherwise dark display in a tiny church.
And there they are. Inside that gold container lie, apparently, the bones of Saint James the Elder, brother of John and one of the twelve disciples. He is the reason El Camino exists. He preached in northern Spain around 40AD and then returned to Jerusalem, where he was beheaded. His bones were said to be returned to Spain and buried, then forgotten for hundreds of years until a star in a field sent a message to a hermit. (“Santiago” means Saint James, and “Compostela” means field of stars.) The word spread and the pilgrimages began — and continue to this day. A cynic would say the Catholic church was the main beneficiary of this story, as pilgrimages were (and are) a good way to raise money. Today, the communities all along “The Way” reap the economic benefit of spiritual tourism. It doesn’t matter much to me. I came here for my own reasons, as do most pilgrims.
The amount of gold inside ws…!! I was raised a Lutheran in the plainest type of church, so this kind of religious display always astonishes me a bit.
This is the main altar. In spite of a continual parade of pilgrims inside, it was appropriately hushed.
As we began to explore the old town, we saw this old stone in the walkway. Maybe one of my readers can translate it. As I took this picture, I thought about those hiking shoes that took me the entire way – except for one day when I tried my running shoes. Nope. Running shoes are made for running, not walking. A small blister warned me off.
Ginny takes a moment to pause with the horses that mark the main entrance to the cathedral. As we began to explore without Maria, this was one of several landmarks that kept us on track. It continued to rain intermittently during our two nights here.
This was my favorite square in Santiago. For literary heroes! And they formed their own battalions! 🙂
See? Holding books and papers.
My people!
Ginny and Maria retired early, as always. I went out to explore at night… because every place has a different character in the dark. This is the cathedral directly across from our lodging. (We had to walk a few blocks around to the other side to enter it.) I took out my harmonica, which I meant to play on the trail but somehow never did — because we were always moving — and played “Amazing Grace” quietly. And I felt grateful.
Repacking to leave Santiago,
I came across my pilgrims’ credentials that got stamped all along the way. I wonder what to do with them? What do other pilgrims do with them? I’m not the type to frame mementos. I already have too many of those in a closet. I suppose I will know when I know.
More memorable to me than the gold in the cathedral is this statue of an early pilgrim in the entrance of the monastery, with standard garb and tools. A long cloak for protection and sleeping. A gourd to carry water. A very long walking stick. A hat that turns up in front. And shells. We had rain ponchos, water bottles, shorter walking sticks and more practical hats. But we did have the same kind of shells. And, I suppose, many of the same kinds of experiences. We are “the people who walk.” The gifts that come from walking will, no doubt, keep coming. Looking forward!
Finally…this is one of several books that I listened to for about an hour a day. I noticed that many of the factors that led to civil war in this country (which was a precursor to WWII) are also at play in ours. Spain survived, but not without pain. If it comes to it, I suppose we will also survive — but not without pain. Then again, walking El Camino often involves pain, or at least discomfort. You get through it. You feel stronger afterward. I pray that will be the case for all of us. As an old hymn says, “We’ll understand it all by and by.”

4 thoughts on “This Is It: Santiago de Compostela”

  1. Wow! Thank you! I really feel a sense of being with you on this journey. I’m also with you about all the gold (I couldn’t help thinking what happened to the Oval Office….) At the same time, these were artists and craftsmen (I don’t think any women did this kind of work; could be wrong) using their skills and talents to attempt to express the scope and grandeur of God/the Divine and perhaps that meant something to them in a time when God was thought to be “out there” looking over us….
    Thanks again for sharing this. I’m so glad you got to play your harmonica!
    Much love,

    Terry

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  2. I’m tired. I feel like I finished the walk with you – the way your writings flow and the pictures, created the feeling. Thanks for sharing your journey/pilgrimage with us!

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    1. Funny comment. 🙂 An interesting thing about being tired. When you walk day after day, somehow, that disappears. I think it’s partly the body adjusting and partly internal resolve. But isn’t that the way with so many things?

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