We walked uphill to the Museum of the Pilgrimage which we really enjoyed. It was free to enter and it was very thoughtfully arranged. There was a multitude of artifacts but not so many that it was overcrowded. There were very few folks in the museum with us, which made it even better. We had already heard many of the details about the town and its founding on our guided tour but being able to read about the same details on our own pace really brought it all home. Many legends, "historical" accounts and even archeologists vouch that the remains of St James the Apostle are indeed located at the site of the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela. The story goes that St. James went out into pagan lands to spread the gospel and when he felt that he had completed his task he went back to Juelersuem where he was promptly executed by beheading. His followers took his body and loaded it into a rudderless stone boat that miraculously made its way to the shores of Galicia. Here two of his disciples managed to bury his remains after an epic struggle with the local Queen and some miraculous events. His tomb was lost to history for 800 years but is rediscovered at he location that would later become the Santiago de Compostela.
The geese are out
Another Parador hotel
This church was open so I popped in to see what was inside
Still pretty ornate
Lots of extras around the exterior walls
No lack of details
Back int he square in front of the Cathedral it is crowded
We heard some squealing and a bit of a commotion
It was because this rat was running back and forth in the center of the square
We also popped in to the original location of the local University
Some of the first campus buildings founded around 1500
A fantastic building
The gates to the courtyard
Back out into the crowd
How a car can navigate through all these people is beyond my understanding
We are in front of the museum
Look who has to wait outside!
These old carvings show the style of the day
This painting is so old, it is before they had three dimensions
These are all of the different recognized pilgrimage paths
One of the very first guidebooks
An early hipster
St James dressed as a pilgrim
A donated backpack
The creature here is either a micro-hippo of a bill-less duck bill platypus
The stone boat
A fine wooden carving
Gilded in gold
More gold
A crowd with candles
The roof is cut out in this area so that visitors van see the cathedral
Some glare is getting in t he way
These four flags are the sae ones we saw from the park
The original Roman Mausoleum
The first church to be built at the sire of the old mausoleum
After that burned down a Romanesque church went up on t he site
Eventually this would be superseded by a Gothic facade
During the many iterations of the church, some pieces of older construction were removed
Only to be rediscovered and put on display
Carved out of local granite with great skill
Gold and precious gems
If you look closely you can see a rock carving of Mary and the Baby Jesus
It was used as part of a stone dam that later failed and was found int he river downstream from the dam. It was cleaned and restored and the stages of the cleaning are seen in the above photos
It is now on display
This is a wheel of fortune, apparently this man was not fortunate
Angles and wolves
This is a fig gesture. always a left hand, curled into a fist with the thumb sticking out from between the first and second finger. It is believed to ward off the evil eye
Made from jet, it is dark and difficult to carve details into the relatively soft surface
Our favorite display, all donated walking sticks
St James supposedly re-appeared on a white horse to lead the Spanish army against the Moord
A random organ
This very old instrument, the organistrum, is featured on many of the stone carvings. It takes two folks to play it, one to crank and one to operate the stops
Above the display there was a dome that played the sound o the instruments
The dome of musical demonstrations
We saw this very ornate entrance to the cathedral but were not allowed to take pictures
This statue is in a very awkward position
So many differnt figurines
Scallop shell tiles
A scallop shaped canteen
Close up of the walking sticks
The shadows
Back out on the street
A thought provoking product. Letters to write to yourself on your camino
The streets are very narrow in this part of town
Don Quixote
Margaritte themed piece
A fancy dress and also a dresser. You can see the drawers
The square is still filled with pilgrims
Lunch at our favorite cafe, starting with soup
Melons and jamon for Lesie
Moving on the the chicken
Steak fritz. The dessert was eaten before any pictures could be taken all for 21 euro
Classic car rally
32 different cars tooling around
Very fancy
