Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is a beautiful place.

It was my first time in Spain and I spent the entire weekend

being impressed by things like this:

Santiago has beautiful churches,

elegant arched arcades to walk along

& lots of lovely little streets.

It also has an amazingly impressive cathedral.

I loved the double staircase

view from the cathedral steps back towards the main square

But this is not just any old cathedral.

It's the final destination for those who walk along
the Way of Saint James,

a famous pilgrimage trail that you can read more about here.

We saw plenty of modern-day pilgrims in town.

Some had hiked the trail:

 

Some had used their bikes to travel:

 

Regardless of how they travelled, 

these modern-day pilgrims were thrilled 

to have arrived at their destination

& to be able to take a rest.

 

 

What else do you need to know about Santiago?

Well; as I mentioned the other day; the scallop shell

is the symbol of Saint James, who the pilgrimage path is named after.

The shell was amongst the cobblestones in front of the cathedral:

As well as all over town:

You could also find scallop shells on hats & walking sticks

which were on sale all over town.

FQ thought maybe he needed a shell-themed stick;

but I convinced him that he should wait

to have done the pilgrimage trail

before buying one.

I'd love to walk the trail one day.

It seems like an amazing adventure

with a beautiful destination.

And I'm sure I'd meet lots of interesting people along the way,
like these guys:

Saint James (on the right), his buddy & a couple tourists in front of the cathedral