Santiago de Compostella and How I feel in love with Spain - Again

Santiago = St. James (Patron Saint of Spain)
Santiago de Compostella is a famous pilgrimage site. If you were to actually walk the entire ancient pilgrim's path (known as the "Way of St. James") it is upwards of 800km depending on which historical starting point you choose and starts in France. Starting in Medieval times pilgrims would go on foot or on donkeys to the Cathedral of St. James as penance for sins and to remove themselves from the world.
The weekend I spent there and the small piece of that route I walked also provided motivation to think on the importance of sacrifice and what I want in life. I think it wold be amazing to walk the whole thing someday. My pals and I arrived and felt like we were in the most beautiful place on earth. The gardens are amazing, the sunsets unbelievable, and the experience unforgettable.

Here are just some of the things we saw:
The Cathedral - I swear they just keep getting prettier. We spent so much time around this Catholic temple meandering, admiring, attending mass, and taking a tour. It is going to keep showing up :)

More awesome doors

Trees with beautiful roses everywhere

This is at night after we had walked a small portion of the pilgrim's trail all day. Katy had the camera and caught me in my moment of reflection looking at the cathedral.

Monte Gozo (Mountain of Joy)- This is a stop a little way outside the city just before you can see the cathedral.

Other beautiful pieces of nature we stopped for.

Here I am ecstatic and Katy flying with the bat-wings to meet me. Good times :)

I really love this pathway. It was too perfect to pass up so naturally I instigated a photo shoot. Luckily my amazing friends are willing to put up with this kind of common occurrence.

I saw this and thought of Robert Frost. Don't worry, we took the right one.

Olive trees are everywhere in Spain and this one particularly made me think of the Bible. I was just cool and beautiful tucked between some buildings.

No European experience would be complete without pigeons, so I decided we should sit on the steps of the cathedral and throw crumbs down to make them flock to us so I could take pictures. They came en masse and it was one of the most hilarious and fun picture taking experiences I have had.

I am not certain what these stones are for, but I saw them and it made me think of the small alters that people have made in caves and marking areas of devotion for centuries. 'Construct an altar so that you will always remember what happened'. It seemed appropriate for this place.

Nuns. Not only did we see nuns walking about, the mass we atteneded was conducted in part by a nun who sang the prayers. It was one of the cosas mas hermosa de me vida. She was a small elderly woman completly dedicated to her belief and it made me feel like there is so much we can learn from them.

Chelsea

St. James covered in shells. The symbol of St. James (and the pilgrimage) is the shell based on the legend that the boat bringing his body to the ancient cathedral was lost at sea, but his body miraculously arrived on shore undamaged bu covered in shells. It also has symbolic significance for baptism and that all paths no matter where they start coincide at the end showing God's hand directing our path.

The Oculus

My pilgrims feet at the last shell marking the path

Santiago welcoming the travelers

T saw these and had the song about "The steps of Notre Dame" stuck in my head. Wrong Cathedral and wrong country.

This is the path to our hostel.

The street of our hostel

The stairs in our Hostel

We had to do shutter speed assignments for our Photography class and I was Katy's subject using my camera. Here are some cool shots she got.

I about died when I looked over and saw that.

So there you have it, I fell in love again. I reccommend this visit to anyone, anytime. It will change your life.