Before I get going on this post, if you don’t know of, or much about, the Camino de Santiago, I’m going to refer you to this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago – it explains what the Camino is, and why people make this walk, much better than I can.
For many years I have had the thought that I would like to walk part (honestly, no desire to walk all – all being from Mont St Michel in France, to me at least) of the Camino. Not necessarily from a faith based reason, more just because it sounds like an amazing thing to do. As with most things, it’s the history that fascinates me. So, when the Husband mentioned that Santiago de Compostela was only a 2.5 hour drive from Porto I got rather excited. No, it wasn’t walking, but to actually go to Santiago – well, that’s pretty cool! Plus, it was finally getting to go to Spain. Another country checked on the Places Been app!! Another UNESCO site checked off!
Off we went, in our rented Fiat 500. First stop Guimaraes, Portugal. Why? It had a castle, of course. Not just any castle though. In 1128 this castle was integral to the establishment of Portugal as an independent country. And, as European travelers have come to expect from historical landmarks, the castle was undergoing extensive restoration. Sigh. We only had a couple of hours to spend in Guimaraes, which was really too bad as it is a beautiful little town.
We continued our journey north into the Galicia region of Spain. One of the cities we drove through, Vigo, looks amazing! We noted this as a possible future stop. It is located on a – for lack of a better word, fjord – and is absolutely beautiful. I’m not certain exactly what I expected Spain to look like, but we were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful countryside. As we came into Santiago we could see the cathedral looming above everything else – what a sight it was! Naturally, the medieval part of town was absolutely crawling with pilgrims who had completed their Camino, as well as other tourists.
The cathedral was very beautiful, and rather unique. The exterior that you see is from the 15th century, built to protect the incredible 11th century portico that is preserved inside. I wish we could have taken photos of that portico – stunningly beautiful. There has been a church on this site since the 800s, when Santiago was declared a pilgrimage site. The amount of preservation of the very old (800-1100s) inside that structure made me very happy. Again, no photos allowed! Sigh. We did get to do an amazing tour…I’ll get to that in a sec. Back to the people who have walked the Camino – some who have walked for a month or more – seeing the faces of those arriving in the plaza in front of the cathedral, the sound of bag pipes welcoming them (Galicia is Celtic – did you know that?), the sense of joy and elation – we couldn’t help but smile (as we frantically raced to our tour appointment).
I love finding unique things to do in the cities that we visit. The activities often involve climbing a tower. One (Duomo in Florence) involved walking around the edge of the roof – very cool. I don’t think I will ever find an activity to top (hahaha) what we did in Santiago…we walked ON the roof of the cathedral. Not just around the edges, but up and over the top. It was amazing and somewhat terrifying! I am not normally bothered by heights, but I am a bit of a klutz, so I didn’t wander around too much – I just stood at the very top and took it in. The Husband was all over the place – but, he is half mountain goat.
Before I move on to day two of the trip, there are a couple of bits that I should share. One: the Fiat we started our trip with is not the Fiat we ended our trip with. When we got into the car Monday morning to head back to Porto we were greeted with an assortment of dash lights being on.
When we first arrived in Santiago we weren’t certain where our hotel would want us to park, so we headed for a lot right near the hotel. There was a young man directing people to available parking slots. He took one look at our little Fiat 500 and directed us to a spot – the Husband said no way was he going to be able to park there! Between me and the young man guiding him he did it!! Without hitting either vehicle in front or behind!! He says never again.
Day two of the trip was a tour of the coast of Galicia, part of which is called the Costa da Morte, or Coast of Death. Crazy, treacherously beautiful coastline! I can honestly say that this was the first, and last, big bus tour we intend to take. Van tours, yes. Small groups, yep. But not a big bus again. Certain people, ahem, deal with motion sickness.
You know, the funny thing is, we saw some really beautiful places on that tour. Most were nature focused, as one would expect from a tour of a coast, but I think my favorite place we went was to see a little bridge.
