After a lot of meandering and route re calculating, we got out of town and on our way, climbing up again.
Our site was a massive car parking area around a sports stadium, 3/4 hour walk mostly up hill to the Cathedral.
In 2016, 278,000 pilgrims visited the city. St. James the apostle was beheaded in Palestine in ad44 and his remains brought back here to Galicia and his tomb is in the Cathedral. His shrine has attracted pilgrims ever since. The Cathedral is Roman esquire from 1075, with Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque features added over the years.
The whole of the old city is stone! Big stone slabs on the road and walkways and all the buildings. After our long walk around, through a bustling fruit and veg market, spotted some fejoas, bought 6 for 50c, with bars and restaurants buzzing with visitors, passing several old churches and other buildings and statues, saying us this it. ..is this it.... we finally found the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
Very ornate, with lots of nooks and crannies, the statue of St. James was gold and surround by gold fittings which you could walk up and round the back of, his tomb was also gold. You were not supposed to take photos, but I got a couple before I saw the sign.....after a good walk around inside, we came out and in the square were a saxophonist and electric guitar player, so we got a couple of beers and sat and listened for a while.
Walking back down we decided to have some octopus with another couple of Estrella Galicia and watch the people go by. We could hear orchestra music and the exhibition building over the road had a youth orchestra rehearsing, so we went in and watched a little while, got a clip of rousing music on video, very good.
Ready for our long walk back to Bessie, the Very large parking area was getting green full with people milling about outside the sports stadium, sounded like a basketball game, with lots of chanting and cheering, good fun.
Grilled giant Spanish tomato for tea, a meal by itself.
No wifi again.
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