Santiago de Compostela (from Vigo)

Tuesday 22^nd October

Our ship docked in Vigo, which is about 90 minutes by coach from Santiago de Compostela, the second most important place of pilgrimage for the medieval church since the 9^th century. It is supposedly the place where the bones of St James (Santiago) are buried. (Compostela means field of the star, talking about the star that supposedly guided a shepherd to the resting place of St James.) Even today people walk the camino, the way to Santiago. In order to obtain a compostela, one must walk for at least 100 km or cycle at least 200 km. It is well-organised, with cheap hostels (6-10 euros per bed) along the way to provide accommodation, and a credencial (passport) that is stamped at each hostel or village.

I love old towns and cathedrals and had wondered about visiting for a few days. However, the only direct flight here is through Ryanair, and they ceased operating the route at the time I was looking at it. It therefore seemed a good opportunity to visit from Vigo.

The plan was to spend 90 minutes travelling in the bus, 2 hours on our own wandering the town and then 90 minutes returning. We did not have much time so I was frustrated by our tour guide who kept talking even after we arrived there, cutting our time down to closer to 90 minutes alone. If I’d wanted that, I could have booked the guided tour! (The other coach had a guide who showed them toilets, where to meet  up again, and then left them, having done all his talking on the coach. Much better!)

I was glad that I had a friend on this tour with me, so we could chat and could wander together.

Another problem was the weather. It was pouring with rain! We would get occasional breaks and manage to wander around and take photos, but then the rain and the wind would start up again. If we tried to walk in the rain, the umbrellas would be blown inside out. Not a good day.

The cathedral was magnificent inside. We did not join the line to see the bones. We thought that would take over 30 minutes just standing waiting! We enjoyed looking around and taking photographs. After that we wandered outside, frequently sheltering under cover. It was very wearying, and we ended up finding somewhere warm for coffee for the last half hour.

My impression was of greyness: grey sky, grey stone, very few people around to add colour. I am sure my impression would have been different if the sun had been shining!