When grandson number one started school many years ago, in his tiny timid voice, he left this voice message on our phone machine. “ I went to school today”. Five words said it all. I listened to that message many times over the years.
I, actually we, went to church today. It was church at its best in every way. Not all church visits are memorable in a positive way, but I will remember this one for years to come. I will cherish it in the same way I cherished Raphael’s phone message.
I am in Porto,Portugal, doing prep work for a Friends of the Anglican Pilgrim Centre in Santiago Tour next September. I am here with another board member, Edie Morrill, and Joanna Wivell, owner of Insiders Travel, and leader of our tours. We will walk a portion of the Camino Portuguese and visit the places where we will sleep and each day. We will begin in Porto and after ten days finish in Santiago de Compostela.
Our Pilgrim Missioner in Santiago, Mother Anna Noon, had arranged with Bishop Jorge Pina Cabral, Bishop of Portugal, for us to receive the traditional pilgrim blessing before we began our walk. The Rector, Father Jaime Dias of the Church of Saint John the Evangelist in Vila Nova de Gaia, would bless us and stamp our pilgrim passports after the 11 o clock Eucharist. His email said the church was “just on the other side of the river- easy to find”.
We were staying near the train station and according to Google maps, it was a 27 minute walk to the church. We allowed ourselves 45 minutes and headed out. Down the hill, along the River and over the bridge. A piece of cake.
The bridge was a two tier affair and we went across the lower level, assuming the church was along the river on the other side.
We discovered to our horror the church was at the top of a long and steep hill. And I do mean long and steep. Endless and relentless. By the time we got to the top, we were breathless and sweaty. Joanna bought a bottle of water which we passed around. We were now high above the river but the clock was ticking. In spite of the now flat terrain, the church was still quite a way off. We hustled along, trying to stay in the shade as the temperature was about 90 degrees.
A few minutes after 11, we arrived at the church.
In spite of how bedraggled we looked, we were warmly welcomed and escorted to a pew in a mostly full church. We sat behind a row of teenagers, all fully engaged in the service, including singing the familiar hymn, How Great Thou Art, whose words were posted on the screen.
The sermon was on pilgrimage. The peace was passed with affection to friend and stranger alike. Communion included practical Covid regulations. From the back to the front, we went forward to the crossing where an usher squirted our hands with sanitizer. Father Dias dipped each piece of bread in the chalice being held by the Deacon standing beside him. He then laid it into our hands, we consumed it, and returned to our seats. There were several parishioners who took communion in their seats and it was moving to see the entire congregation stand and face them as they too recieved.
During the entire time, the organist played Louis Armstrong well known song It’s a Wonderful World. How right he was!
At the end of the service, before the three of us were called up to the altar for the pilgrim blessing, a woman from the parish asked for help with the Christmas bazaar and contributions for needy of the neighborhood. The church is the same throughout the world and some things including the announcements never change.
For our blessing, we were given a choice of English or Portuguese. We chose Portuguese to the relief of Father Dias, who said he had been practicing the English translation. I can’t tell you what he said, but I can tell you we were blessed.
The first stamps in our credentials may be a little blurry but they were stamped with love.
After church, on the way to coffee hour, we laughed as one parishioner gave a bar of sea salt chocolate representing the sweet and not so sweet in every marriage, to Father Dias and his wife Clarisse, who were celebrating their 34th wedding anniversary.
At coffee hour we joined in a birthday celebration and feasted on ice cream cake and “the best cup of coffee Joanna had ever had”. It was delicious.
As we were leaving, Father Dias showed us the Ecology Tree, where parishioners leave ribbons indicating steps they will take to help save the planet. Some were longer than others.
And then we were gone, but like my sweet grandson’s voice message, I will remember the welcome and the love of this priest and this parish for years to come.
If you are starting your pilgrimage in Porto, I hope you will let Father Dias bless your journey. Just remember to cross the bridge on the upper level.
At last, after a two year delay, we are beginning our Easter on the Via de la Plata Tour. Over the next ten days, we will travel along the Via de la Plata route from Seville to Santiago.
This pilgrimage walk starts at a marker in the sidewalk outside of the Seville Cathedral. Pilgrims traditionally get their first credential stamp inside.
The Via de la Plata has erroneously been called the Silver Route by some people, including me. Scholars suggest several different explanations for its name, with supporting evidence going back before 1500.
One stems from the Arabic word al-balat- or “paved road” that could refer to a Roman Road which the Via follows.
Another thought is that the name comes from via Delapidate meaning “a road marked by milestones”, which was misheard so often as de la plata, that it eventually became known as such. There are many fine examples of milestones or “miliarios” on the route, some even with the Roman numeral milage inscribed in the stone.
Whatever the origin of its name, after the reconquest of Spain, the Via de La Plata became one of the Christian routes for pilgrims walking to Santiago to venerate the tomb of the apostle Saint James. It is a distance of 1000 kilometers ( 621.3 miles). To walk from Seville to Santiago takes about two months, and although it is not as popular as the Camino Frances, just over 9,000 people walked it in 2019.
Starting in Seville, our tour will work its way up the map from south to north stopping in Zafra, Mérida, Cáceres, Salamanca, taking a little detour to Braganza in Portugal, stopping in Ourense, and ending up in Santiago de Compostela.
We will have an opportunity to walk portions of the Camino and experience some of the spiritual, cultural and gastronomical highlights of this amazing route.
Our second trip to Spain in the past three months was easier than the February trip. An earlier flight allowed us more time to claim our baggage, check in a second time, and work our way through the various Covid checkpoints. The architecture in the Madrid airport never ceases to amaze me, even as getting from one place to another continues to baffle me.
The crowds waiting for the connecting train were non existent and the red covid distance markers seemed like a reminder of past fears.
The taxi ride from the airport into Seville was longer than usual, as already, the rites of Holy Week had begun. The streets were crowded and many were closed to traffic, but our driver persevered and we arrived at our hotel, the beautiful Vincci La Rábida.
Once checked into our rooms, we hit the ground running. Before we met our local guide for a tour of the Royal Alcázars, there was just enough time for a quick tapa and glass of wine on the roof top restaurant. At 3pm., every table was full of elegantly dressed locals and their children having lunch, a Maundy Thursday tradition.
Having met our guide, we walked through narrow streets and hidden plazas. We saw the ever present carriages, inactive today due to the crowds and street detours.
Pious dress, distinctive head wear and unsettling clothing, plus ranks of chairs set up throughout the city, were a harbinger of what we would witness during the processions.
Our destination, the Royal Alcázar of Seville, is a compound of palaces dating back to the 10th century when the Caliph of Cordoba ordered a new governent center to be built in this important port city.
Over the next centuries, new palaces were added and the complex became the hub of governmental and cultural Seville.
In 1248, after Seville was conquered by the Castillians, the Alcázar also became a Royal Palace. Kings Alfonso and Pedro I added their own Gothic and Mudéjar touches. Even today, the present King and Queen of Spain maintain appartments there.
Wooden ceilings and plasterwork were renovated and modified as each ruler left his mark on the buildings.
Gardens were lush. Fountains and ponds were numerous, reflecting the importance of both throughout the history of the Alcázar.
What we saw was breathtaking but paled in comparison to what we would see later tonight. Here is a preview.
After two years and four months, it was time to return to Spain. Edie Morrill and I both had airline tickets that Iberia Airlines had extended over and over and they were set to expire in March. The time was right for a trip to Santiago to look at some potential Anglicn Centre sites and scope out overseas travel in a Covid world before our Easter on The Camino Tour in April.
What follows will be an overview of our trip . Look forward to expanded reports of various aspects of our week long trip to Santiago, Muxia, Finisterre and Madrid.
Flying to Spain was mostly straightforward as long as you folowed the guidelines. We were required to fill out a Covid vacination form and submit it to Iberia for entry into Spain. Once we cracked the code, we were sent a QR code which we needed to present before boarding, going through Customs and random other places. The plane was mostly full and totaly masked. The Madrid airport was the usual adventure trying to get from place to place. Have yet to make a perfect trip from the plane to baggage check but wherever we end up the colors and architecture are spectacular.
Edie was chosen for a random rapid test which caused us to miss our flight to Santiago but allowed us to see first hand the Covid innovations in the airport and in the lounge, including a clever automated wine dispenser.
Easy flight to Santiago. The Gallician health form that we were required to fill out was never looked at nor asked for. Looking at the Obradoiro Square and the Cathedral I was struck by several things. First, the Cathedral is free of all of the scaffolding that has covered it for the last few years. Newly cleaned, it is beautiful. Second, the sky is as blue as ever and third, there were virtually no pilgrims in the plaza. While there are fewer pilgrims walking in the winter, in our five days in Santiago we fewer than a dozen pilgrims.
Quick check in we were of to Santa Susana to meet Bishop Carlos, Bishop of the Espanish Episcopal Church, Father Colin Patchen, Vicar of the Santa Susana congregtion, Mother Anna Noon,member of our “Friends” delegation and recent Camino walker, Archdeacon David Waller, Archdeacon of the Anglican Church in Europe and member of the Anglican Chaplaincy program for Santiago and Gary Snider, a American layman who is very involved in the Santa Susana congregation.
Following Mass, we adjourned for a “meet and greet”. While we all knew each other via email, Whats App or Zoom , we had not actually met in person. In good Spanish style we had a fine night of wine and tapas in the fittingly named Taberna Episcopo.
The following morning we met for a productive two hours ways ways that the Church of Spain, Santa Susana’s, the Anglican Chaplaincy of the Church of England and the Friends of the Pilgrim Centre could find ways to word more collaboratively in a shared pilgrim ministry.
From there we were of to the Archives of the Cathrdeal for a tour led by Father Francisco Guide. Father Francisco if the Ecumenical Officer and Archivist of the Cathedral. We saw ancient liturgical maunscripts, a library of all music that has been performed in he Cathedral, ancient musical instruments and song books.
For the next two days we visited properties in Santiago. We saw some with real estate and others that were unused propertires of the Archdiocese of Santiago. None was suitable for our Centre.
We gathered again for the Pilgrims Mass at the Cathrdral. Bishop Carlos vested and the rest of us joined the congration of about fifty people, including a Scotsman who began on January 1st and had ridden his bicycle to Santiago. He said it was a cold trip! Again, the newly restored interior of the Cathedral is bright and shiny. The angels holding up the baldachin are eyepopping to say the least.
Another night of fine dining. This time Razor Clams at El Cardenal.
We sp ent the next morning looking at more buildings with no better luck. Our next task was going from shop to shop buying 250 shells to give away at the CEEP Conference to those who visit our booth or attend our Lunch and Learn presentation. Edie and I ended our day taking a tour of the roof of the Cathedral. Naturally it was the only time during our stay in Spain that it rained. Tours of the roof are only given hourly in the afternoon. There is no elevator to the roof and tours are only given in Spanish. But even for a coward like me, the views are amazing and the tour is a must if you are in Santiago.
Happily, the sun and the blue sky reappeared Friday morning and we snapped one last picture of Anna in the empty plaza before picking up our rental car and heading to see one last property which we had been told about at dinner our final night in Santiago.
Here are a couple of photos of the last bulding we saw in Santiago before we headed off to Muxia and Finisterre. Ironically we were met by the same real estate team that had been showing us some of the other building. It was love at first site and you will hear more about it in a subsequent report. From the location to the size to the gardens , yes three o the view out the window, it flt like our prayers had been answered. Time will tell but we went away elated.
Onward to Muxia. Edie drove, Anna charted our course and I gave probaly too many instructions on navigating round abouts from the back seat. In Muxia we peeked ino the Santuario da Virxe Da Barca. Angels surrounding the nave, each one holding up a different type of fishing vessel. We climbed on the rocks and collected, rocks, soil, clay and moss to send to Christine Hales who wants to use pigment made materials found along the Camino.
Finished our day in Finisterre with a glass of champagne and the usual beautiful sunset.
Saturday- Back to Santiago and on the new fast train to Madrid. Three and a half hours instead of the usual five. Just enough time for us to sort out the photos we will use for our Lunch and Learn CEEP presentation.
Sunday morning, Anna and I vested for the eucharist at the Cathedral with the Bishop. It was good to be there again and our old friends. As always we were treated to the generous hopspitality of the Bishop and his wife, Ana.
Anna left us Sunday night and flew back to the US. Edie and I took advantage of a free day. Since it was Monday all of the museums were closed so we shopped at our favorite haunts and ate at the wonderful San
One last thing on our to do list. Off to get our Covid test and certificate which we must have to get on the plane back to the US. We passed.
No trip to Madrid should miss a night of Flamenco at Las Carboneras in Madrid and thanks to Joanna Wivell and Quique, we had a table for the packed Valentines night show. Breathtking is an understatement.
And then it was over and we were back in the US, unpacking and repacking for a drive to Atlanta Georgia and the CEEP Conference complete with new banner, tee shirts, socks, fans shells and masks!
Our nine day bus tour is coming to an end. Today, from the perspective of a pilgrim, I want to walk with you into Santiago. In the next blog we will take off our pilgrim hats and visit the city as tourists.
This morning we will walk the final six miles into Santiago. We will follow the same route that Barbara and I took. We walked in the rain. One of the benefits of a virtual camino is that you will walk on a cool sunny day with clear blue skies. No soggy clothes and no mud. Life on a “Joanna Tour” is very good.
Pilgrims enter Santiago de Compostela on one of four different routes depending on which Camino one has walked. The Via de la Plata and the Camino Portugués enter the city from the South by two separate routes. The Camino Inglés arives from the North. The Camino Franćes, into which all of the other Spanish and European routes merge, will come into the city from the East via a still different itinerary.
Pilgrims from the Via de la Plata and Camino Portugués will see this view from the outskirts of the city. Once within the city proper, they will walk one of the narrow cobblestoned streets to the Cathedral, ending in the Plaza de Platerías.
The Plaza de Platerías, from the Spanish word silversmith, is the traditional entrance for Pilgrims coming from the South.
Since the renovations on the West facade of the Cathedral and due to heightened security measures, this is now the only entrance to the Cathedral for all pilgrims. Lines into the Cathedral can be long especially on a weekend when many Spaniards walk the last 100 km to obtain the Compostela. Backpacks are no longer allowed into the Cathedral. This can be a nasty surprise after hustling to make the Pilgrims’ Mass and waiting in line for over an hour. Happily there is a tiny shop kitty corner to the Cathedral doors where for a couple of euros, pilgrims and others may leave their bags.
Pilgrims from the North walking the Inglés have the best view coming into the city.
Pilgrims coming from the East arrive first at the Monte de Gozo (the Mount of Joy). Here, they get their first glimpse of the city of Santiago and the Cathedral spires. For pilgrims who have walked many miles there truly is a feeling of joy and relief. The end is literally in sight.
This little 11th century San Marcos Chapel is all that remains of the historic hillside. Pilgrims may get the penultimate stamp in their passports. Some pilgrims may even stop to light a candle and say a prayer.
Most pilgrims climb up to the modern statue by Brazilian sculptor Yolanda d’Absbury to commemorate the 1993 pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Santiago.
Unfortunately, the majority of pilgrims arriving at the Monte de Gozo miss the other statue by Galician sculptor José María Acuña. Although trees and buildings threaten to obscure the view, the statue is fantastic and the three spires are still just visible.
The final 5 km from Monte de Gozo to the Cathedral is a slog along sidewalks with missing markers and punctuated by precarious street crossings. This sign is a cheerful antidote to the nondescript buildings.
It will take another hour or more before crossing into the pedestrian only historic city center.
From here it is a short walk to the Puerta de Azabachería (jetstone). The original door on the former facade was known as the Puerta del Paraíso-the door of paradise. The earliest pilgrims entered the Cathedral here. Today, it is the Exit of the Cathedral.
Modern pilgrims walk a little further down the stairs and through the Arco de Palacio (Palace Arch) to the Plaza del Obradoiro.
Barbara in yellow on right.
Obradoiro meaning workshop gets its name from the stone masons who labored in the square.
Straight ahead is the Palacio de Rajoy – the Santiago town hall.
To your right is the Parador where we will spend the next two nights.
Pilgrims and the ubiquitous white tourist trains fill the center square.
Pilgrims however only have eyes for the Cathedral of Santiago. For some there are tears of joy. Others fall to the ground, lie on their backs and gaze up in amazement. The awe, relief and pleasure are evident. It is a thrilling sight to behold whether for the first time or the tenth.
Finally you really have arrived. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and for now, your walking is done. Saint James is watching over you. Two kings kneel on either side of him. All is well. It’s photo time. Even pilgrims arriving at the Plaza de Platerías will come here to take the traditional “I made it” photo.
For pilgrims, however, their Camino was not finished until they had performed three traditional tasks.
First, they would walk up the stairs behind these Westerly RI pilgrims. At the Portíco da Gloría they would stop at the center mullion depicting the Tree of Jesse with Santiago seated just below our Lord. They would place their fingers in the indentations, etched deep by millions of pilgrims who came before them. They would give thanks for their safe arrival.
Next they would knock their heads three times against the head of Master Mateo hoping to have some of his genius transferred to them.
They would have their first view of the Cathedral and the baroque altar of Saint James and join the crowds at the stairway behind the altar. They would ascend the stairway and “hug the Apostle”.
Their final duty was to descend to the Crypt. Here they would kneel and leave prayers and prayer requests before the silver casket containing the bones of the Saint. Now their pilgrimage was officially over.
Most pilgrims choose to attend the daily Pilgrims’ Mass at noon. If time allows before the Mass, they will go to the Pilgrims’ Office. Here one presents his/her passport and receives the final stamp. The credential is carefully scrutinized and validated. If you are determined to have successfully gotten the required two stamps per day and the examiner believes you have walked at least 100 km, you are granted the Compostela.
final stamp on left below first stamp at top
In 2000, the Camino office was a small and friendly place. There was no line. Pilgrims were taken at their word that they had walked the route. No one cared when I took off my boots, sat on the table in front of the map and took a picture of my battered feet, held together by duct tape. No one cared if pilgrims ditched their sticks at the bottom of the office stairway and went on their way. But in 2000, only 55,004 pilgrims applied for the Compostela.
In 2002, Barbara and I walked from Arlés in France to Santiago on the Chemin d’Arles. We were among the 68,952 who walked that year. We walked 1388km (862 miles) and received our Compostelas, no questions asked. We were exhausted and it showed.
In 2004, we walked the Via de la Plata – 891 km ( 554) miles. The woman in the pilgrim office “didn’t think I looked like I had walked the Camino.” How did the other 179,944 people who received their Compostelas look? Moral of the story. Don’t take a shower before you go. Go directly there in your walking togs. Walk in wet and muddy. Wear your backpack. Don’t comb your hair. You’ll be fine.
By 2014, the Pilgrim Office had moved and getting a Compostela was an iffy, unfriendly, high tech operation. The line was over two hours long and that was in late October. Pilgrims were not allowed to sit on the ground, only on a chair of which there may have been ten. Photographs inside were not allowed. Barbara and I were nearly denied our Compostelas. We had taken a bus on a section that was too long and hilly for us to walk in one day no matter how early we set out. Of the 824 km path, we walked 800 km of it, meaning we walked 497 miles out of the 512. Either way, it was well over the minimum 100km or 62 miles required for eligibility. 237,797 other pilgrims successfully passed the same test. No statistics on the number that failed.
On the plus side, the Compostelas were now in color and it was also possible to get another certificate showing how many miles had been walked. Two certificates seemed like overkill so we passed on the distance one but did wonder if they would have subtracted the 15 “bus” miles.
If you do get inside, stop at the little chapel on the right on your way out.There is a very good multi-media camino reflection which runs continuously and there are two statues worth seeing – one of Our Lady as a pilgrim, carrying Jesus, and the other of Jesus himself as a pilgrim.
By 2018, the number of pilgrims admitted to the pilgrim office each day was limited to a certain number. If you walked with a group, the tour leader or a designated person was instructed to present the credentials for the entire group, fill out the paperwork and return later, ususally the next day, to pick up the passports and credentials. On my 2019 “group credential”, I have been renamed “Joyce”. Somewhere a “Joyce” has become a Nancy, Nancie, Nanci or Annam, my Latin name.
This development is very good news for anyone who “has to have a Compostela”. Travel en masse. No one will verify anything! No questions will be asked!
Sadly, more and more pilgrims who have walked a full Camino leave Santiago without their Compostelas. Either they could not stay in the city long enough or they had heard stories of pilgrims whose credntials were denied and skipped the whole thing.
No doubt these changes are the result of the huge increase in pilgrims -327,378 in 2019 – but there has to be a middle way.
It is understandable that pilgrims and staff alike find the crowds overwhelming. Perhaps some of the patience that pilgrims have learned while walking will rub off on the staff. Perhaps pilgrims will have a little more sympathy for the job the mostly volunteers are trying to do. Perhaps the Compostela has lost its meaning.
It is a sad commentary that a pilgrim whose 62 mile “walk” is aided by buses and taxis gets a Compostela and one who walks a complete Camino, perhaps at great physical cost, leaves Santiago without one. Maybe more honesty and more charity is needed all around.
One of my guide books says that medieval pilgrims spent the first night of their arrival into Santiago sleeping in the Cathedral and that there was such jostling among pilgrims to be close to the altar that fights often broke out. The altercations rose to such a level that in 1207 the cathedral had to be reconsecrated. I have been unable to verify this anywhere but knowing Christians, I think this could well be true.
We, however, will not be sleeping on the floor of the Cathedral. Thanks to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and Joanna Wivell, we will spend our final two night in the ne plus ultra of paradors, the Hostal de los Reyes Católicos.
This state run Parador, founded by Ferdinand and Isabella as a pilgrim hospital, is one of the jewels of Spanish hospitality. The indoor/outdoor bar is one of the best places in the city to celebrate a significant birthday, a rainy day, a sore toe or just to watch the action in the plaza.
Many of the hotel bedrooms rooms face either the courtyard or the Cathedral. Many have views of both. You could teach your children to swim in some of the bathtubs. Whichever room you are given, you will not be disappointed.
Tomorrow we will attend the Pilgrims’ Mass at the Cathedral, tour the Cathedral and the Cathedral Museum and explore the Parador. There is so much to see in Santiago. Until then, a preview of the wonders of the newly restored Portico de Gloria. It’s always good to end the day with a smile and this smile should do the trick.
Our nine day bus tour is coming to an end. Today, from the perspective of a pilgrim, I want to walk with you into Santiago. In the next blog we will take off our pilgrim hats and visit the city as tourists.
This morning we will walk the final six miles into Santiago. We will follow the same route that Barbara and I took. We walked in the rain. One of the benefits of a virtual camino is that you will walk on a cool sunny day with clear blue skies. No soggy clothes and no mud. Life on a “Joanna Tour” is very good.
Pilgrims enter Santiago de Compostela on one of four different routes depending on which Camino one has walked. The Via de la Plata and the Camino Portugués enter the city from the South by two separate routes. The Camino Inglés arives from the North. The Camino Franćes, into which all of the other Spanish and European routes merge, will come into the city from the East via a still different itinerary.
Pilgrims from the Via de la Plata and Camino Portugués will see this view from the outskirts of the city. Once within the city proper, they will walk one of the narrow cobblestoned streets to the Cathedral, ending in the Plaza de Platerías.
The Plaza de Platerías, from the Spanish word silversmith, is the traditional entrance for Pilgrims coming from the South.
Since the renovations on the West facade of the Cathedral and due to heightened security measures, this is now the only entrance to the Cathedral for all pilgrims. Lines into the Cathedral can be long especially on a weekend when many Spaniards walk the last 100 km to obtain the Compostela. Backpacks are no longer allowed into the Cathedral. This can be a nasty surprise after hustling to make the Pilgrims’ Mass and waiting in line for over an hour. Happily there is a tiny shop kitty corner to the Cathedral doors where for a couple of euros, pilgrims and others may leave their bags.
Pilgrims from the North walking the Inglés have the best view coming into the city.
Pilgrims coming from the East arrive first at the Monte de Gozo (the Mount of Joy). Here, they get their first glimpse of the city of Santiago and the Cathedral spires. For pilgrims who have walked many miles there truly is a feeling of joy and relief. The end is literally in sight.
This little 11th century San Marcos Chapel is all that remains of the historic hillside. Pilgrims may get the penultimate stamp in their passports. Some pilgrims may even stop to light a candle and say a prayer.
Most pilgrims climb up to the modern statue by Brazilian sculptor Yolanda d’Absbury to commemorate the 1993 pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Santiago.
Unfortunately, the majority of pilgrims arriving at the Monte de Gozo miss the other statue by Galician sculptor José María Acuña. Although trees and buildings threaten to obscure the view, the statue is fantastic and the three spires are still just visible.
The final 5 km from Monte de Gozo to the Cathedral is a slog along sidewalks with missing markers and punctuated by precarious street crossings. This sign is a cheerful antidote to the nondescript buildings.
It will take another hour or more before crossing into the pedestrian only historic city center.
From here it is a short walk to the Puerta de Azabachería (jetstone). The original door on the former facade was known as the Puerta del Paraíso-the door of paradise. The earliest pilgrims entered the Cathedral here. Today, it is the Exit of the Cathedral.
Modern pilgrims walk a little further down the stairs and through the Arco de Palacio (Palace Arch) to the Plaza del Obradoiro.
Barbara in yellow on right.
Obradoiro meaning workshop gets its name from the stone masons who labored in the square.
Straight ahead is the Palacio de Rajoy – the Santiago town hall.
To your right is the Parador where we will spend the next two nights.
Pilgrims and the ubiquitous white tourist trains fill the center square.
Pilgrims however only have eyes for the Cathedral of Santiago. For some there are tears of joy. Others fall to the ground, lie on their backs and gaze up in amazement. The awe, relief and pleasure are evident. It is a thrilling sight to behold whether for the first time or the tenth.
Finally you really have arrived. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and for now, your walking is done. Saint James is watching over you. Two kings kneel on either side of him. All is well. It’s photo time. Even pilgrims arriving at the Plaza de Platerías will come here to take the traditional “I made it” photo.
For pilgrims, however, their Camino was not finished until they had performed three traditional tasks.
First, they would walk up the stairs behind these Westerly RI pilgrims. At the Portíco da Gloría they would stop at the center mullion depicting the Tree of Jesse with Santiago seated just below our Lord. They would place their fingers in the indentations, etched deep by millions of pilgrims who came before them. They would give thanks for their safe arrival.
Next they would knock their heads three times against the head of Master Mateo hoping to have some of his genius transferred to them.
They would have their first view of the Cathedral and the baroque altar of Saint James and join the crowds at the stairway behind the altar. They would ascend the stairway and “hug the Apostle”.
Their final duty was to descend to the Crypt. Here they would kneel and leave prayers and prayer requests before the silver casket containing the bones of the Saint. Now their pilgrimage was officially over.
Most pilgrims choose to attend the daily Pilgrims’ Mass at noon. If time allows before the Mass, they will go to the Pilgrims’ Office. Here one presents his/her passport and receives the final stamp. The credential is carefully scrutinized and validated. If you are determined to have successfully gotten the required two stamps per day and the examiner believes you have walked at least 100 km, you are granted the Compostela.
final stamp on left below first stamp at top
In 2000, the Camino office was a small and friendly place. There was no line. Pilgrims were taken at their word that they had walked the route. No one cared when I took off my boots, sat on the table in front of the map and took a picture of my battered feet, held together by duct tape. No one cared if pilgrims ditched their sticks at the bottom of the office stairway and went on their way. But in 2000, only 55,004 pilgrims applied for the Compostela.
In 2002, Barbara and I walked from Arlés in France to Santiago on the Chemin d’Arles. We were among the 68,952 who walked that year. We walked 1388km (862 miles) and received our Compostelas, no questions asked. We were exhausted and it showed.
In 2004, we walked the Via de la Plata – 891 km ( 554) miles. The woman in the pilgrim office “didn’t think I looked like I had walked the Camino.” How did the other 179,944 people who received their Compostelas look? Moral of the story. Don’t take a shower before you go. Go directly there in your walking togs. Walk in wet and muddy. Wear your backpack. Don’t comb your hair. You’ll be fine.
By 2014, the Pilgrim Office had moved and getting a Compostela was an iffy, unfriendly, high tech operation. The line was over two hours long and that was in late October. Pilgrims were not allowed to sit on the ground, only on a chair of which there may have been ten. Photographs inside were not allowed. Barbara and I were nearly denied our Compostelas. We had taken a bus on a section that was too long and hilly for us to walk in one day no matter how early we set out. Of the 824 km path, we walked 800 km of it, meaning we walked 497 miles out of the 512. Either way, it was well over the minimum 100km or 62 miles required for eligibility. 237,797 other pilgrims successfully passed the same test. No statistics on the number that failed.
On the plus side, the Compostelas were now in color and it was also possible to get another certificate showing how many miles had been walked. Two certificates seemed like overkill so we passed on the distance one but did wonder if they would have subtracted the 15 “bus” miles.
If you do get inside, stop at the little chapel on the right on your way out.There is a very good multi-media camino reflection which runs continuously and there are two statues worth seeing – one of Our Lady as a pilgrim, carrying Jesus, and the other of Jesus himself as a pilgrim.
By 2018, the number of pilgrims admitted to the pilgrim office each day was limited to a certain number. If you walked with a group, the tour leader or a designated person was instructed to present the credentials for the entire group, fill out the paperwork and return later, ususally the next day, to pick up the passports and credentials. On my 2019 “group credential”, I have been renamed “Joyce”. Somewhere a “Joyce” has become a Nancy, Nancie, Nanci or Annam, my Latin name.
This development is very good news for anyone who “has to have a Compostela”. Travel en masse. No one will verify anything! No questions will be asked!
Sadly, more and more pilgrims who have walked a full Camino leave Santiago without their Compostelas. Either they could not stay in the city long enough or they had heard stories of pilgrims whose credntials were denied and skipped the whole thing.
No doubt these changes are the result of the huge increase in pilgrims -327,378 in 2019 – but there has to be a middle way.
It is understandable that pilgrims and staff alike find the crowds overwhelming. Perhaps some of the patience that pilgrims have learned while walking will rub off on the staff. Perhaps pilgrims will have a little more sympathy for the job the mostly volunteers are trying to do. Perhaps the Compostela has lost its meaning.
It is a sad commentary that a pilgrim whose 62 mile “walk” is aided by buses and taxis gets a Compostela and one who walks a complete Camino, perhaps at great physical cost, leaves Santiago without one. Maybe more honesty and more charity is needed all around.
One of my guide books says that medieval pilgrims spent the first night of their arrival into Santiago sleeping in the Cathedral and that there was such jostling among pilgrims to be close to the altar that fights often broke out. The altercations rose to such a level that in 1207 the cathedral had to be reconsecrated. I have been unable to verify this anywhere but knowing Christians, I think this could well be true.
We, however, will not be sleeping on the floor of the Cathedral. Thanks to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and Joanna Wivell, we will spend our final two night in the ne plus ultra of paradors, the Hostal de los Reyes Católicos.
This state run Parador, founded by Ferdinand and Isabella as a pilgrim hospital, is one of the jewels of Spanish hospitality. The indoor/outdoor bar is one of the best places in the city to celebrate a significant birthday, a rainy day, a sore toe or just to watch the action in the plaza.
Many of the hotel bedrooms rooms face either the courtyard or the Cathedral. Many have views of both. You could teach your children to swim in some of the bathtubs. Whichever room you are given, you will not be disappointed.
Tomorrow we will attend the Pilgrims’ Mass at the Cathedral, tour the Cathedral and the Cathedral Museum and explore the Parador. There is so much to see in Santiago. Until then, a preview of the wonders of the newly restored Portico de Gloria. It’s always good to end the day with a smile and this smile should do the trick.
nancyelnorte 