March 7
This will be a short post as it was a pretty short day. We started out in the rain (of course we did) but luckily it was just a sprinkle, and it didn’t rain for long. We caught the bus down the street from our flat and headed to the historic city center. Santiago is a university town, but its most famous landmark is the Cathedral. It is absolutely gorgeous. Construction began in 1075 and finished in 1122. Of course, there were additions and changes throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Unfortunately, they’re doing a great deal of construction, so we weren’t able to get a good picture of the front so here’s one from google.
The inside was also a bit of a mess with scaffolding and drapery hanging from the main alter. We couldn’t get too close to it as they were preparing for mass.
The Cathedral is reputed to be the burial place of St. James the Great, one of the twelve apostles. According to legend his remains were brought the Galicia (this region of Spain) in the late 1st century. His tomb was found and is the reason for building the Cathedral. We saw a crypt (couldn’t take pictures) but there was no sign, so we don’t know if that’s where his remains are located.
There are quite a few side chapels, some of which were from the 10th and 11th centuries. Again, no signs, so we don’t know which were which but several of them were also under renovation. Here are a couple of our favorites.
This Cathedral is one of the Top 10 recommended places to visit in all of Spain and now we understand why. It was incredible!
After finishing at the Cathedral, we strolled the narrow cobblestone streets stopping at a pub for lunch. We didn’t want anything heavy, so we had small sandwiches and a drink. Total cost was under 5 euro (about $5.25). Since it was cold (low 40s) and damp and there was nothing else we really wanted to see, we headed home after lunch.
Once home we had to decide where to go tomorrow. We’re heading towards Madrid but there are a couple of places we could stop along the way. So, after watching a couple of Rick Steves episodes on YouTube we decided to head to Salamanca, which is about 4 1/2 hours from here. We might stop in Zamora on the way for a quick peek into the Cathedral. We booked our AirBnB flat so we’re good to go. We may get to Madrid on Friday but who knows where the spirit (and weather) will take us.
Love to all…..