Camino Portugués: Day 13 - Santiago de Compostela

Waking up this morning was a little unsettling. I could not tell you how weird it felt knowing we didn’t have another 15-mile walk ahead. As much as I hoped to sleep in and enjoy “a day off” from the Camino, I could not help getting up early. It was true that our bodies had gotten used to the pilgrim routines, which was not bad. As a sightseer, I appreciate getting more daylight hours into my days. You will never find me going to late-night parties since I like to be out and about while most tourists are still asleep in early morning.

In a good Galician fashion, the weather at Santiago de Compotela is fast-changing.

Like any typical Camino day, the first order of business is breakfast. Santiago has no shortage of places to eat. A short stroll led us to Cafetería Universal. We were surprised at just how expensive a simple cafe con leche is. So far, we found prices at Santiago quite absurd compared to the rest of the Camino, especially considering the number of cafes around town. Camino's popularity undoubtedly positively impacts the city’s development and is key to the city’s identity. Unbeknownst to many, Santiago is only the fifth-largest city in Galicia; the influx of tourists and pilgrims must put a strain on the city.

These side doors are now the de facto entrance into the cathedral.

After our daily dose of caffeine, it was time to cap off our Camino officially. We slowly made our way to the cathedral and then to the Pilgrim's Reception Office. By this time, the cloud and our mood had lifted. Santiago looks magnificent with good weather. My perception of the city changed dramatically from yesterday. Gone were the hordes of tourists; Santiago is the domain of our fellow pilgrims at this hour. Seeing all the pilgrims spread out across the plaza was very joyous. Naturally, we were keen to see whether we could spot anyone we met on the trail.

After lingering on the square for ten minutes, we were disappointed that we had yet to see anyone we recognized. Meeting up with people we walked with is often the most memorable experience for many. I did think that we would have better luck later in the day, as I figured most pilgrims we knew were probably spending the night near Padrón. They were likely still a few hours away from the city. With that, we headed to the pilgrim office just two blocks northwest of the cathedral. Getting the Compostela is a momentous occasion for any Camino pilgrims. Although it is not importnat to non-religious pilgrims like us, a little formality and physical souvenirs are still much appreciated.

Pazo de Raxoi is the headquarter of Galicia’s regional government.

The Compostela is an official document that certifies that a pilgrim has “completed” the Camino de Santiago. They are issued by the local church authority for those who walked at least the last 100 kilometers of Camino. The origin of the Compostela is as old as the Camino itself. Initially, pilgrims used scallop shells to signify the completion of the pilgrimage. Since scallops could be easily found across Europe, the church began to issue evidentiary letters to pilgrims in the 13th century. According to the official rules, pilgrims who professed religious motivation are eligible for Compostela. Compostela has also served as a letter of indulgence during the holy year since the Early Middle Ages.

On our way to the Pilgrim Reception Office.

Luckily, Pope Francis extended the 2021 Holy Year until the last day of 2022 due to the pandemic. In the context of Camino, the holy year is also known as the Jacobean Holy Year (or Xacobeo), which I believe is English or Scottish. I honestly can’t figure out exactly why the name “Jacobean” is. However, I do know that the Jacobean Holy Year takes place during the year when Saint James’s feast day, July 25th, falls on a Sunday. Because of the nature of the calendar, it comes around every five or six years. As an agnostic growing up in Taiwan, the letter of indulgence was something I only read about in history books. I never imagined receiving a legitimate letter of indulgence in my lifetime. I felt more “Catholic” than my father-in-law for once.

The official procedure for obtaining your Compostela at the time of our visit.

If you believe all the online Camino forums, the mechanics of getting Compostela were quite confusing. Given the pandemic and Camino’s surging popularity, the exact procedure and system at the pilgrim office seem to be evolving quickly. At the time of our visit, pilgrims must register their information online by inputting basic personal information and some specifics of the route walked. Once the registration was completed, we got a virtual queue number and were let into the building by the staff at the gate. The inside of the building was complete mayhem. Despite the staff’s best efforts, nobody knew where to go. Is it necessary to wait in line once your number group is called? No idea!

While waiting in one of the main physical queues, we started a conversation with a young woman in front of us. She walked the entire stretch of Camino Frances from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in 28 days. For those who are familiar with Camino Frances, completing that route in under a month is truly impressive. During that time, she took one rest day and only arrived at Santiago half an hour ago. Apparently, she had a prescheduled flight back home to England tomorrow morning. Now, that was quite an intense itinerary, and I can’t help but wonder how stressful her Camino must be.

Some of us were shepherded into a separate office for speedier processing.

After about ten minutes in line, many of us were ushered away by a non-uniformed staff member. We were led downstairs through the back garden to an “overflow” pilgrim reception area. Here, we were quickly processed, and all the queue numbers seemed irrelevant suddenly. The lady who processed our ‘case’ had the efficiency of a city bureaucrat. No pleasantry was exchanged, and no substantive conversations were required. After all, most of the information they would ask was input into the online registration anyway. She only asked whether we would like to have a “Certificate of Distance” for €3 or a packaging tube for €2. The Certificate of Distance is a cousin of Compostela and is supposed to include more details on the pilgrimage, including the starting points, the route taken, and the distance one walked.

An obligatory picture with the newly obtained *Compostela*.

Given the minimal cost, we opted to get both the certificates and the packaging tubes. As recently as a few years ago, all the personalized information on the certificate, like the pilgrim’s name and dates, was handwritten on the spot. So it was a little disappointing that the Compostela nowadays was entirely laser printed right in front of you. There was no separate stamp or raised seal applied to it. While I understand the need to mass produce these documents given the number of pilgrims coming through each day, it just doesn’t correspond to my romantic presumption. On the other hand, we were quite happy with the packaging tubes, which have beautiful designs celebrating the Jacobean Holy Year.

By the time we received our Compostela, the lines had swelled. In talking with fellow pilgrims, the staff on the main floor were far more meticulous when examining pilgrims’ passports. In comparison, the lady only checked our passport's first and last stamps. She certainly did not check every stamp of our last 100 kilometers. All our worries about dating the stamps correctly proved to be unfounded. We were secretly disappointed that the vetting process was not more rigorous. After all, all these rules and formalities added to the overall Camino experience.

There was a very long line for the eleven o’clock pilgrim mass.

With our Compostela in hand, we returned to Praza do Obradoiro for our obligatory photos with tour certificates. We ran into the English couples we shared a boat with yesterday. A few minutes later, the Estonian woman we saw in the last five days also showed up. Even though we did not quite click, we were still happy to hug and congratulate each other for completing the pilgrimage. I couldn’t help but wonder where her Danish companion was, as they were inseparable.

With our Camino officially over, we felt it was time to celebrate with a typical treat: Tarta de Santiago. The dessert is commonly associated with the Camino and is said to originate in the Middle Ages. Legend has it that a pilgrim brought in the cake, and it was called the “royal cake.” The cake is primarily made from eggs, sugar, and ground almonds. Depending on the bakeries, the flavoring could vary but commonly includes lemon zest and brandy. In medieval times, almond was regarded as a luxurious and exotic ingredient. Tarta de Santiago was a symbol of wealth and religious devotion.

To turn an almond cake into a legit Tart de Santiago, the cake must be decorated with a dusting of powdered sugar. A stencil shaped like the Cross of Saint James made it an undisputed dessert of the Camino. Judging from the omnipresence of Torta de Santiago, from supermarkets to artisanal bakeries, I could assume it is not purely catered to pilgrims or tourists. I admit that I usually do not like almond desserts, so we picked up a mini Torta de Santiago from A Tafona do Preguntoiro. Surprisingly, I found it to be quite delicious. Perhaps we should have bought a couple of boxes back home for friends and families.

Mercado de Abastos de Santiago de Compostela.

For lunch, I remember a tapas restaurant called Abastos 2.0, which was recommended to us by Francisco and Anna. Knowing their impeccable taste, we had no hesitation in ordering their multi-course lunch. Located just across from the municipal market, this is reportedly the best seafood restaurant in the city and has been awarded the distinction of Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide. All the dishes feature regional ingredients and are presented beautifully. The Galician iconic ingredients include cockle, octopus, and razor clams. Our meal includes three tapas, one seafood entree, an empanada, a fish fillet, and two desserts. It was shocking that such a magnificent lunch only cost €30 per person.

Funny enough, we have been in Santiago for about 20 hours now, and we only got around to paying a visit to the inside of the cathedral just now. I first learned about the Santiago de Compostela Archcathedral Basilica in my Renaissance and Baroque architectural history class. The building is a hodgepodge architecturally speaking. The main structure is constructed with granite in the Romanesque style. Therefore, the interior is quite dark and cramped by modern standards. It may not be technically “magnificent” as Saint Peter’s in Rome, but the ambiance here is more intimate and thought-provoking. The church was purportedly built on top of the tomb of the apostle James. It is just one of four churches built over an apostle's tomb.

The silver reliquary of Saint James is kept behind the gate at the crypt.

For generations of pilgrims, a necessary ritual arriving at Santiago was to take a “secret passageway” that sneaks behind a golden statue of Saint James right above the altar. The pilgrims would “hug the saint” from behind to thank him for a safe journey. But since the outbreak of the pandemic, this revered tradition has been sadly discontinued due to the safety protocol. I wonder whether it might be time to bring it back now that COVID-19 is in our rearview mirrors. Fortunately, they at least kept the crypt of the apostle’s relic accessible. Inside the crypt is an ornate silver reliquary holding James’s remains. Also buried here are the remains of Athanasius and Theodore, James’s disciples who brought the relic from Jerusalem to Spain. I was trying my best to put myself in the mindset of a medieval pilgrim.

A more private moment inside the cathedral.

The church interiors have just been recently renovated and look sparkling. Because of the Romanesque construction, the barrel-vaulted nave is relatively unadorned and narrow. This lack of decoration leads all the attention to the massive golden altar. Maybe because of the number of visitors, there were plenty of informational plaques around the church. I could only imagine how this place might be a candy store for a hardcore Catholic. Speaking of devoted Catholics, we soon ran into Pedro, whom we had walked with from Combarro to Armenteira three days prior. We looked forward to meeting all our fellow pilgrims on our last day on Camino.

As a non-Catholic, I was excited to walk through the cathedral’s “Holy Door” (Porta Sancta). The “original” holy doors are the ceremonial entrance to Rome's four major ‘Papal Basilicas’’. These doors are typically sealed off and only opened during the Jubilee Year, designated by papal decree. Gradually, four more churches were also granted coveted holy doors, including here in Santiago, by the decree of Pope Alexander III in 1178. Unlike the holy door at Saint Peter’s, the holy door here is not located at the front of the cathedral but at the side of the apse. The actual door in Santiago appears to be quite modern; the design reminds me a lot of the paintings of the Russian-French modern artist Marc Chagall.

Doctrinally, pilgrims who enter this door with pious intent would be granted plenary indulgences since the time of Pope Calixto II. While that may sound nice, it was “redundant” for those who completed a Camino. We could have just flown into Santiago and passed through this door. That would be way easier than a two-week Camino. Perhaps getting two plenary indulgences is more powerful than just one?

Among the pilgrims, the most iconic element of the cathedral here would be the Botafumeiro, which means “smoke expeller” in Galician. This type of giant incense burner is very specific to Galicia. The device is suspended from a pulley mechanism supported under the dome at the crossing. The censer (or thurible) is a common liturgical device in Catholic worship. Besides its religious functionality, the Botafumeiro also had practical purposes in medieval times. With so many unwashed pilgrims gathering inside the cathedral, the giant censer helped mask all the body odor and make the mass more tolerable.

This alter is definitely over the top, wouldn’t you say?

During the mass, the Botafumeiro is swung across the transept by a team of eight men. At its peak, the 170 lb censer could reach the speed of 40 miles an hour and produce a lot of smoke. As you can imagine, swinging a giant metal bucket at that speed could be a dangerous business. Accidents did happen from time to time. One famous incident occurred in 1499 when Princess Catherine of Aragon, the future wife of King Henry VIII, visited the cathedral. The rope supporting Botafumeiro snapped and sent the censer flying out of the window!

According to the information I gathered during our visit, the swinging of the Botafumeiro was halted because of the ongoing renovation. But other sources claimed that it could still be swung for a donation of about €500. While that may sound like a money-grabbing scheme, the amount is the actual cost of undertaking one performance. Of course, Brian and I would not be forking out that amount of money, but hopefully, we might catch a performance because of a generous donation from a visiting tour group or pilgrims.

Needless to say, the main post office of Santiago is very busy with pilgrims shipping or picking up their baggage.

After spending an hour inside the church, Brian returned to the apartment for a well-deserved nap. I took the opportunity to explore more of the city. I quickly realized that pilgrims walking different Camino routes arrived in the city from different directions. It was fun to explore different parts of the city and see how all the pilgrims converged into one spot from all directions. While Santiago is inevitably tied to the Camino, it is also a vibrant city of a hundred thousand residents. The city is a picture-perfect Galician city with a great collection of traditional architecture.

Oddly enough, my favorite monument in the city is not pilgrimage-related. Duas Marias (The Two Marys) is a life-sized statue of two local women from a family of prominent activists who resisted the tyranny of the Franco era. The sisters were known locally for their eccentric fashion style and a little “mad.” Often dressed in bright colors and full makeup, the sisters are sometimes called Santiago's “most photographed citizens.” Every afternoon at two o’clock, the sisters would take a walk in the city’s public park to flirt with young college students.

*As Duas Marias* (The Two Marys) memorializes two of the city’s most colorful citizens.

In 1994, a local artist, César Lombera, created a sculpture to keep their memory alive. Naturally, the sculpture is situated in the park where they used to stroll. It is now one of the most beloved sculptures in the whole city. Tourists and pilgrims alike love to pose with the two Marys. To reflect the sister’s diverse and bold fashion sense, the sculpture is repainted every few years in different colors. Of course, I am not certain just how many visitors know the story of the two sisters. According to Wikipedia, this spot has since become the gathering point of local demonstrations. Now, thinking about it, I wish I had taken a selfie with these two ladies.

Officially, two daily pilgrim masses are held inside the cathedral at 11 am and 7 pm. We did not try the one in the morning because of the long line of people waiting outside. To our disappointment, there was still a line when we arrived at 6:30 pm. Assuming that they wouldn’t be swinging Botafumeiro for the day, I had second thoughts about attending the mass. Because Brian attended twelve years of Catholic school, he was happy to skip the mass. Instead, we decided to visit a museum opposite the cathedral: the Museum of Pilgrimage. The museum traces the history of pilgrimage and Camino de Santiago. I am surprised that not many pilgrims wrote about this place, and I did not know about it before today. Best of all, they offered free admission on this particular day.

There is something very contemporary about this display.

The exhibits cover four floors and include a great display of the evolution of the cathedral through the centuries. The museum provides a great contextual history of the rise of the pilgrimage. I did not know that the word “pilgrim” derives from the Camino de Santiago and is historically associated with people on the way to Santiago. Those going to Rome are called “roamers,” and those journeying to Jerusalem are called “palmers.” It was interesting to understand where these terms came from. It also illustrates the importance of Camino de Santiago in the history of Christian pilgrimage. My favorite part of the museum is the exhibit on the evolution of Camino “gears.” It was funny to see how “high-tech” modern Camino gears are nowadays. You can’t help having enormous respect for medieval pilgrims.

As dusk began to descend upon us, we felt a little melancholic. After lingering around the square for quite a long time, we did not get to meet up with some of our favorite pilgrims, such as Peter, Anna, Francisco, Nichole, and Robb. But among them, the ones we missed the most were our Canadian friends: Maria, Manuel, Leslie, and Ray. Although we never walked together for any considerable distance, we clicked. We would see them just about every day, and we all seemed to befriend the same groups of pilgrims. The only downside of taking the Variante Espiritual was missing our daily encounter with them.

The glory of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral.

Brian told me he thought we could run into our Canadian friends as we left the square. I told Brian you never know what Camino will throw at you; we might see them around the corner. Oh well, it was time to get our final dinner in Santiago. Since we had no dinner reservation, we relied on Google Maps reviews. After passing on several restaurants for one reason or another. Eventually, we ended up at a restaurant called O Piorno, which specialized in traditional Galician cuisine. Just as we were led to a table, I saw a group of familiar pilgrims in the back of the room. It was our Canadian friends!

You can imagine our excitement. On the way to this restaurant, I told Brian there was no reason to be sad about not seeing them again. Camino always works its magic by bringing people together. It was conceivable that we would run into them; I even joked that we might see them at dinner. Even in my wildest dream, I did not expect my prediction to come true! Brian and I were very happy that the Canadian gang was equally excited to see us again. We all marveled at the serendipity of this encounter and had a chance to exchange contact information before bidding farewell. Since Maria and Manual live in Washington, D.C., nowadays, we promised to meet up in either Washington or New York City!

Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to Santiago and the Camino.

After dinner, we walked back to the main square. Because we were scheduled to leave Santiago for Porto first thing in the morning, I insisted on seeing the cathedral for one last time and bid our goodbye. For a grand landmark, the architectural lighting at night was not the best. The blue-colored lights made taking night pictures not quite ideal. But regardless, we can’t help feeling emotional about saying goodbye to our first Camino. As if to celebrate our pilgrimage, there was an impromptu musical performance by a local musical ensemble. The locals and tourists gathered around the band under the arcade of the Palace of Raxoi. It was a convivial scheme and such a wonderful send-off.

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Camino Portugués: Day 13 - Santiago de Compostela

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