Rest day before heading home: Santiago

I'm in Santiago for another day before heading for the airport tomorrow
The only specific destination I had for the day was the Museo das Peregrinacións e de Santiago (Museum of Pilgrimage)

It was closed yesterday (it was a Monday!), and was also closed when I was here last week (they had a movie exhibition)

The museum showcased the history of the Camino de Santiago, peregrinos, and Santiago the city. They had a mix of centuries-old exhibits and modern presentations
What I found quite intriguing was the diverse historical portrayal of St James in sculpture and painting: James the apostle, James the pilgrim, and James the Knight
The apostle is portrayed with a tunic, cloak, holy book, and bare feet or sandals. The pilgrim is portrayed with a large staff, a sporran, a gourd, hat, cape, and scallop shells. The knight is portrayed as a soldier on horseback, supporting Christian troops with a sword, shield, and/or standard
Before leaving Galicia, I felt some obligation to try chocolate con churros - hot dark chocolate with churros to dip
Not too bad, but there are certainly other sweet options here that I would prefer

I should mention the people begging near the cathedral. They are often stationary on their knees (which looks very uncomfortable), silent, head bowed with no eye contact, with a brief note with their story

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The start of the way

Not long now before I put my pilgrim hat on and start walking. Overweight and under-trained, which is a bit of a worry as I shortly start an 800km walk along the Camino Frances from St Jean-Pied-de-Port in the south of France, over the Pyrenees, and across Spain to Santiago de Compostela.  If all goes well, I'll continue on to the end of the earth (a place called Finisterre, where the Romans thought the world ended) on the west coast of Spain - all up close to 900km Somewhat daunted by the prospect, not just by walking 25-30km day after day after day in the Spanish heat, but by the extended time away from family My flight leaves Wellington next Monday, 20 April
Read more

Day 7: Logroño to Nájera

Image
I had an early start today; some kind person got up and started packing at 4:45 am, and thought the rest of us would like to join him. I lay awake for long enough to know that I wasn't going back to sleep, so decided to pack up my bed and walk I had planned to take a short or maybe even a zero day, but the early start in the rain persuaded me to just keep moving (it was quite cold). A bit of manual navigation required in the dark added to the fun, since a pedestrian bridge on The Way was closed I quite like the stylised camino shell used in this region First village,  Navarrete: Just before my morning coffee and tortilla de patata, I had my gold fix for the day at the Iglesia de Santa María de la Asunción in Navarrete. I'm in three minds about this one: is it gaudy or godly or just goldy? [Sorry, not sure if that needs to be rotated on your screen. The video looks impressive, but I can't work out how to embed it...
Read more

Border controls

Image
It's not quite so much fun traveling to the other side of the world without my favorite traveling partner, Sue. Apart from everything else, she probably would have solved my navigation problems at the airport in Paris. I got through arrivals security ok using the new automated passport controls. Then missed a turn and went through departures security (oops), and then got stuck - the automated passport machines refused my re-entry. So I had to go in another long queue to go through the manual border control. All's well that ends well, so I had a day wandering the Paris streets... ... and a lot of waiting around, before boarding the overnight train to Bayonne, with just a short train ride in the morning to St Jean Pied-de-Port
Read more