This weekend I went to Santiago de Compostela in the northern part of Spain. I've always wanted to go there ever since I found out about it, but have never really been sure why. It's hard to get to there cheaply and doesn't fit into the 'go on Friday night and back on Sunday' thing so I've never managed until now. Since this is the last weekend free to go to Europe before the big trip , Santiago had to be the place to go. M went of to Kiev to find his grandmothers town (and did) and I took the plane to Valladolid, intending to drive to Santiago. 2 mistakes, one was hiring the underpowered car for a long road trip (apologies to anyone out there that owns a Hyundai Getz) and secondly believing the website that it was only 300kms or so (or maybe it was miles). Pretty cool scenery and you traveled over this huge highway no one else uses complete with 500m plus high viaduct, but still a 6.5 hour trip to get there. Didn't manage to find the hotel easily from the map (turns out to be much further out of town) and was compounded by the owner only speaking Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese...but no Inglese. My pidgin Italian wasn't quite up to it...where was my German speaking husband when i needed him...in blimin Poland. Resorted to handing the phone to the car park attendant to ask and then point it out on the map. Still couldn't find it so plan B consisted of driving to the airport, parking the car and getting a cab to the hotel (15 euros and 5 minutes later...Much gnashing of teeth and wishing that I had thought of it sooner!) the upside of it was it only cost 6.50 euros to park in the carpark overnight. Those of you who've parked in Heathrow/Gatwick/Auckland airports will appreciate this, as you can probabley by a used car in Spain for what it costs to park in those airports)
The hotel room was small and next to a busy road but I had my handy 'might have to share a room with my brother the snoring walrus' emergency earplugs so slept like a log.
Santiago is the ultimate destination for hardcore pilgrims who start 900kms away in France and others who start a few days or weeks away. You see them on the side of the road walking the trail...mostly barely talking to each other by the time they make it to Santiago. Apparently the long one takes about 3 months and you can tell who they were from the well tanned, socks and jandals look, whereas the part timers all had plasters and more baggage. The final destination is the catherdral, a gloriously gothic golden stone jobbie, with enormous front doors up the winding steps in front of a large square. I made it to pilgrims mass at 12:00 on Saturday and crammed in with the others to watch the 'handlers' organizing the special ones (not sure if they'd paid more or what) who got to confess to the priests. It was mostly a sung mass and quite wonderful to hear everyone responding when required. During the service there was some kind of disturbance at back of our crowd of people with the security guards dragging a couple away...Possibly for videotaping. The Spanish don't say shhhhh by the way, they say zzzzzzzh. There were lots of zzzzzzzh's when this happened. It was a sung mass so I subsituted the Lords prayer and sang along once I'd learnt the words in all the repeating bits. A nice combination of the practical and the spiritual...it's great to be an a working catherdral, one that's not just for show.
Had a wonderful lunch in the cafe attached to the oldest hotel in Europe (so the guidebook tells me) and was pretty impressed that most of what I thought I was ordering turned up. Watched yet another procession completed with dead saint under a canopy and men dressed as Joseph turn up...The entrance into the catherdral was marked by everyone throwing loud firecrackers that sounded like gunshots...Somewhat unexpected to everyone in the cafe, and somewhat frightening with Beslan so fresh in everyone's minds.
Spent the day walking around the old town...Peering in old doorways, admiring the large cooked squid and other assorted animals for eating displayed in the windows, and trying on jet jewelry...This part of Spain being home to well displayed meat cuts and jet production.
Ended up having a wee sun bathe in the park (after texting my nearest and dearest in the UK to skit how warm it was) and picked up some food to have a picnic on the way home.
Up early and did the long trek back without getting lost more than twice (always did find roundabouts tricky), the usual scramble to find a petrol station to refuel the car and a lesisurely (if cramped and noisy) flight home.
Glad I went as it's a very peaceful and 'Spanish' part of Spain, with a strong sense of it's own identity away from the influence of Madrid and Barcelona.
Must put up M's posts of his journey in Kiev
No comments:
Post a Comment