The botafumeiro

The swinging botafumeiro is one of the major attractions here. But it is very difficult to know when it's on.
There's a lot of hearsay with inconsistent info, such as:
They swing it all the time in summer
They swing it every day, but you never know at what time (after a mass, but no one knows which one)
They swing it every Sunday
They swing it every Friday

They never announce when it will be on, you have to be lucky. The official website of the Cathedral lists a few special dates of the year when it is used, and says that anyone can request it for any other day (for 450€).

On our day of arrival I made some enquiries and finally got a hot tip, from a source I can't reveal, that they would use it at a special service on 25/8 at 5pm. The info was given to Jan and I, because we came across as nice people I guess, but we were summoned to secrecy!

Jan and I were planning to start walking to Finisterre on 25/8, but given this info, we decided to spend an extra day in Santiago.Read more