Day 12: Padron to Santiago

“Solvitur ambulando, It is solved by walking.” -- St, Augustine

We made it to Santiago!

The temperature dropped yesterday down into the upper 40s. We walked around Padron last night and decided to try a little café that had a sign up for lasagna. Pasta sounded good on a cold night. I have to admit lasagna made with manchego and goat cheese as wonderful, but they served it with a side of french fries. Something we've seen a lot of in Spain along the Camino.

In the middle of the night it started raining a little, and by morning it was just misting rain when we started walking. It reminds me of the rains in Oregon where it's gray and rainy all day and there's only a quarter inch of total precipitation. We walked out of the town in the mist and up into the mountains for a short 800 foot climb and then down to Santiago.

The total distance for the day was about 16 miles, but we added a little bit by taking a shortcut.

The Portuguese way enters Santiago from the south and winds it's way past dozens of tapas restaurants that that looked inviting, but we kept on walking to the Cathedral Square. It was a great feeling to be standing in front of the cathedral with about 300 fellow pilgrims lying on the ground sitting against the walls and taking turns getting pictures.

In 2016 we only spent a few hours in Santiago and were rushed to get into the cathedral to see St. James, go to the pilgrim office, get our Compostela, have dinner and get to bed. This year we have two days to spend in Santiago. There are dozens of museums and churches to view, so we will take full advantage of our time here. The city is also known from the quality of their food. We will test that out by primarily eating seafood served as tapas.

The Cathedral of Santiago is the most significant building in the town as it is the end for all the Caminos wherever they originate. I can't upload enough photos for you to see all the details. For example, the entryway has over 200 figures that represent the Apocalypse. Construction on the cathedral started around 1100 on the site an existing Church that was dedicated to Santiago ( St James in English) in appropriately 900. The construction took a very short time of 70 years (for Cathedrals). Part of the reason is that pilgrims would carry stones from the quarry into Santiago for extra favors at the church and some would stay to work on the Cathedral.

Main altar of Cathedral

scaffolding has been up for five years, but is coming down now