I arrived at noon in Santiago de Compostela and had a dramatic first view of the cathedral a hundred feet from the hotel. (I feel the need to make a plug for the excellent public transportation in Spain. Getting around has been easy, inexpensive, convenient and comfortable.
The town is full of pilgrims, many rubbing sore feet in the plaza in front of the cathedral. The cathedral (begun in the 9th century) houses the shrine of James, a son of Zebedee….there is a long and involved legend as to how his bones got to this part of Spain. The cathedral is a handsome Romanesque building, with many later Baroque additions that (in my opinion) added more gold than grace. The double life-size angels supporting the baldacchino over the Altar is one case; another, the army of putti on the dueling organ cases: two sets of trompettes en chamade face each other only a few feet apart high above the nave.
Criticisms aside, the holiness and cherished nature of this church is immediately obvious, even to the most casually religious person. One of the dearly loved features of the cathedral is the Botafumiero, or incense burner, so large it takes seven men to get it swinging before the Altar. It’s spring and throughout this part of Spain are beautiful camellias that are trees, rather than the bushes I know from the American South.
Leave a Reply