16th – 18th August
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Well, guess what? we were told that this bus trip would take us 11, 14 hrs at most, ummm, SEVENTEEN hours later, we got to Galicia, Santiago De Compostella…but you know what, it was well worth it..
Santiago is a little (well, its the capital of Galicia) tucked away in the mountain side of Spain towards Portugal…the weather has been completely different to that of the rest of Spain, raining and very wet wet wet…yesterday and today was raining and all i feel like doing is eating, so it looks like all that sweating and eating bread and cheese only for lunch is all being put right back on again! (why oh why does chocolate and rain mix so well?)
Cathedral of St James
these were tombs where people were (and still are) buried…there was a whole level which was a graveyard in the Cathedral
The scenery is beautiful and the city is centred around an amazing Cathedral that has been built in honor of Saint James, one of Jesus� 3 beloved apostles. We have been to museums (as there is nothing else we can do since it is raining!) and I have learnt a lot about what happens here in Santiago. The amount of Tourists supercedes that of Barcelona..they are all on Pilgramiges here..everyone has a walking stick with a shell attached to it, this is the symbol of Saint James and what he used to take with him on his pilgramages
Walking sticks used for Pilgrimages, Shells were the symbol of St James
Detail of work gone into building this Cathedral is unbelieveable as you can see
We went to many museums while in Santiago, mostley because the weather was pathetic but we like to say that we wanted to because of the knowledge and information we would gain from looking around (jokes, that really is my main reason I love museums!) so, we went into the Cathedral and there were 3 parts to this museum, one was a palace, below is a little bit of the section of the palace
It was very eerie (whos eerie mum? haha! miss you!) i actually felt like i was living in the past, the rooms were small and dark and there was a dungeon at the bottom which kind of freaked me out, its funny, when u stand at the doorway looking in, you can actually visualise the people and where they were having dinner and where the animals were sitting blah blah blah, or maybe thats just me, I was telling Anita that im guessing this is where they put the huge banquet table and this is where the goats would sleep and this is where the woman would be sewing her husbands varigs and she was looking at me with a blank face…OK, so its just me…NEXT
We walked around Santiago a bit afterwards because we soon learnt that no matter what you do you are always caught in a bit of rain, my paboojuh’s were soaking wet as well as my whole body but we got used to it in the end and stopped dodging the rain drops. BY the way, i feel like im at a cattle farm while overseas…you cant walk in a straight line without bumping into people, there are people everywhere and they are all just EVERYWHERE, if ure in a rush, forget it cos youre going to be late, doesnt matter…it annoys me a lot cos im a fast walker and i keep getting bruises on my ankles from the mums pushing babies trolleys into me…grrr
View from the Cathedral
About the Cathedral again, we lined up for 45 mins to get into the main hall and go up to the altar…we actually didnt know what we were lining up for, that was the funny thing, but yup, cos people were lining up we thought it must be good! it ended up being, as I said, a little trip up to the main altar to hug the HUGE gold statue of St James, so Anita (kindly) let me go up first since we didnt know where we were heading and then i followed suit and hugged the gold statue of St James, some people kissed it some people hugged it so tight, but it was an interesting and moving experience.
I later learnt that there are 3 places in the WORLD where they do these pilgrimages and Santigo is 1 of those special 3 places…I am so glad I went there and had a look…
going up to the altar to kiss st. James, not knowing what to expect at this moment, but if its in a Cathedral, its always good!
Oh! another thing i noticed about Santiago..A LOT OF BASKETBALL RINGS
I was so happy! BUT no one was playing…and trust me, i took photos of the courts…man, i really miss playing basketball, I wonder how my U19 boys are doing, if anyone knows, email me and let me know!!
Not happy Jan, all these courts and no balls!
We have been sleeping at around 9:30-10:00pm most of the nights to catch up on all the sight seeing, we never have enough energy if we stay up late, sad i know, but we have seen so much of all the cities we have been to and its all worth it…
The Wandering Passport 