Rest day - Santiago de Compostela

 

Goodbye faithful stick.

It's late afternoon here. More than 24 hours since we arrived in Santiago. I haven't adjusted my stick since we left St Jean Pied de Port (where I bought it in 2019) and I found it was jammed in position, fully extended. I can't take it home like that, so I left it with a label attached, leaning against a drainpipe by the cathedral. Two hours later, it was gone. It's travelled the Camino twice and done many other walks with me in the last three years, so time it found a new home.

We started the day with a leisurely breakfast, extending over an hour. Breakfasts here at the Parador are absolutely wonderful. I won't go into detail, but we stayed until we could hardly move from our chairs.

Walk anywhere and there are wonderful sights to see.

We went for a walk. I've been plagued with a swimming-induced partially blocked ear since before we left New Zealand. I thought that since we weren't swimming it wouldn't get any worse, but it has and last night I was almost deaf. We've been searching for an audio clinic that does micro-suction, but Spanish translations don't quite extend that far. We walked to the most promising audiologist (we suspect that they just sold hearing aids), but found them closed on Wednesday (only in Spain), so went to a nearby farmacie (pharmacy) for advice. They sold us some drops, which we've used four times today and my hearing is returning.

A sea of people wanting to go to the pilgrim mass or just visit the cathedral.

So much excitement. A quick coffee and then into the queue for the noon pilgrim mass at the Cathedral. It's slightly confusing, as the entrance is around the back, on the opposite side to the square, so even though we were there early, it was standing room only inside.

It may surprise our friends and family, but we're not devout Christians. Nevertheless, we wanted to experience the atmosphere and the sense of occasion that is part of the conclusion of a long journey which has fully occupied our minds as well as our bodies.

The service lasted about an hour, plenty of time to reflect on our tired feet, legs and backs as we stood on the hard stone floor, listening to a foreign language and understanding almost nothing. I thought about how many other pilgrims had leaned against this very pillar in this very spot, who had experienced the same sore feet over hundreds of years. The list of pilgrim numbers was read out, giving the country of origin and the starting point. It was in Spanish, but we did manage to understand that we were the only pilgrims from New Zealand.

The culmination of the service was the swinging of the botafumeiro. Despite being asked to not use cellphones or cameras during the service, the tourist in everyone came to life when that began. I took several short videos to capture the beautiful singing that took place at the same time. With luck they'll be visible in the photo album at the bottom of the page.

Here's a quote regarding the history of that device: The ‘Botafumeiro’ is the famous giant thurible or censer in the Santiago de Compostela cathedral. A ‘Botafumeiro’ has been used since the Middle Ages, originally to clean the air when crowds of pilgrims having completed the Camino de Santiago arrived in Santiago de Compostela after their long journey. (Not everyone may see the photo below, I see it on my computer, but neither of us see it on our phones. I'll leave it there just in case)

The Codex Calixtinus, the first Camino de Santiago ‘guide-book’, refers to the ‘Botafumeiro’ as Turibulum Magnum, which means this ritual has been taking place at least since the 12th century.

The current ‘Botafumeiro’ dates back to 1851 and it’s made of silver-plated brass, weighing 53kgs when empty and up to 10 kgs more when full.

By coincidence Lois, an old workmate from the Nelson Mail newspaper who I haven't seen for way more than a decade was in Santiago today. Lois now lives in England and is on a week-long trip based in Portugal, with a bus trip today into Spain. After the noon mass we met in the courtyard of the Parador for a coffee and catchup, which was a nice mingling of past and present.

We haven't managed to quite appreciate the style and timing of Spanish food, but after parting from Lois at 2pm we wandered through the narrow alleys nearby and found somewhere for a leisurely lunch. It turned out to be one of the best meals we've had here. A couple of shared platters, one with a lovely salad including avocado, another with goats cheese, asparagus, mushrooms and loads of other stuff - each taste exquisite.

My man band.

A couple more gift shop visits on the way back to the hotel. for a small pottery bowl and a map for the wall to go with the various things (the glasses of course), including a man-bracelet for me. I'm not one for tattoos, which is one outlet for male ornamentation - in fact the only concession I make to adornment is my wedding ring. In 2019 I bought a Camino ring, which I wore for a year or two and still have. Now I have this. Yesterday I bought Cathie one too - it's a little big so at the moment she has it on her ankle - it looks very fetching too.

Coming back through the square, the stilt walker, who finally made it. We also ran into Lauren from Australia, who we've seen often. Along the way we also ran into Don from Toronto, who we had a beer with yesterday and have run into twice today - that's the way it goes here.

Having had a large lunch, we'll go out for an early snack and an early night. At 5am tomorrow (Thursday) we're in a taxi. We're leaving on a jet plane - don't know when we'll be back again. (https://youtu.be/SneCkM0bJq0)

Now we're in packing mode, or should I say Cathie is. I have a sworn duty to finish the beer and the whisky as I type. I'm nearly done.

No Relive - as we didn't go anywhere, although we seem to have walked several thousand steps.

Music. Well, now is the time to say goodbye and nobody says it better than Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: https://youtu.be/xBFiUxzWk34 

Here's a photo album. With luck, some videos in the cathedral will survive: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3vaV2kRJ7po4BDKG8

We won't post any reminders on Facebook, from now on it's pot luck at petercathiecamino.blogspot.com