Santiago de Compostela - Day 2

I got up early and went to the 7:30 Pilgrims Mass at the cathedral. My brother stayed in his bed in spite of my urging to avoid the sin of slothfulness. It was an impressive ceremony, even though they did not do the incensor swing. I did go through the crypt holding the remains of Saint James, see photo.

We went back to try to get our Compostela certificates, only to find out the numbers didn’t continue from the day before and we had to get new numbers and start over. That was a disappointment. Dale decided the certificate from his first Camino was enough for him, but I went ahead and started the process again.

While waiting for my number to come up at the Compostela office, we went to a museum at the cathedral. It had a lot of exhibits ic the history of the cathedral and on Maestro Mateo, the main man who made it happen. We got to go up a ways in the cathedral and look out over the square.

I went back to the Compostela office in the afternoon to wait and make sure I got my certificate. I kept running into people we have met on the trail, which was nice. Eventually it was my turn, and after a brief interview I walked out with my Compostela in hand.

We have been staying at an old monastery right across from the cathedral. It’s huge and has been converted into an upscale hotel. They kept a bunch of rooms for pilgrims at reduced price however, which is cool. The pilgrim rooms are very basic monks quarters, but the price is right and the location can’t be beat. We turned in early, we are taking a 6:30 AM train to Barcelona tomorrow morning.Read more