Santiago de Compostuela

It was not the right time of year to see pilgrims, but we did

see plenty of signs, hostels, gift shoppes, scallop shells

(St. Iago=St. Jacques, as in Coquille St. Jacques), etc.

On the outskirts of Santiago, Sunday afternoon, a giant

market

Galicia is the Celtic part

of Spain; really

The ultra-baroque west facade of the Cathedral of Santiago

de Compostuela ("stuela"--the stars allegedly led the

shepherd to the hidden grave of St. James)

In the cathedral gift shoppe--lots of scallop shells, hiking

staffs, hats (like Gandalf's), brown robes; the pilgrimage,

properly done, requires a full costume

St. James was known at the Matamoros--the Moor killer--

alleged to have assisted the reconquista in forty different

battles, as far away as Peru in the 16th century (Moors?

really?), sometimes killing 60,000 Moors at a battle;

after turning both cheeks, one presumes

Inside the not-altogether impressive cathedral,

the choir and altar and such, with the giant

swinging incense burner (pilgrims didn't bathe

all that often)

Electric candles to burn, a euro each; eco-responsible...

St. Jimmy's bones; or someone's

Cathderal clock tower

"A wandering minstrel, I..."

We parked next to this sign, out in the university

neighborhoods, and walked, uphill, to the old city and the

cathedral, for which I think we should be awarded at least

a little time off in Purgatory; we left very quietly, too

St. Jimmy of the Compost-Pile--I won't go far into matters of despicable ecclesiastical fraud--the Camino de Santiago was one of the 2 or 3 great pilgrim routes of the middle ages; the subject of the very first travel guide even. St. James was Jesus' cousin, who preached in Spain after The Crucifiction, returned to Palestine, got beheaded, and then had his bones shipped to Spain to be buried secretly, only to be found in the 8th century, just in time for the reconquista. (As the travel writer Richard Ford said, if you can believe a Galilean preached in Spain in the first century, you shouldn't have too much trouble believing any of the rest of it.) For doing the pilgrimage, you got half-time off in Purgatory.The trail had been forgotten pretty much in modern times, but, a few decades ago, some enterprising persons managed to piece it back together, and it has become a respectable cultural/eco-tourism trek, some 500 miles of it, from various directions. Another UNECSO site, I believe. We weaved back and forth across the trail countless times in our westward drive, and, upon finally reaching Santiago, visited the famous cathedral.