The Camino de Santiago de Compustela - Tre

Happy birthday Ariana, your birthday was celebrated with roller skating and parades as far away as Spain!

As we approached the town of Redondela we were greeted by parades; giant, spinning, creepy dolls; and a priest. We'd like to think that it was all for us. The locals say that it was a festival...but we're not sure if they're trustworthy sources.

Redondela is our third stop on the Portuguese Camino de Santiago de Compustela. We actually didn't know really know very much about this hike when we first started, so I guess I better remedy that.

The Camino de Santiago de Compustela is an ancient pilgrimage to visit the remains of an even more ancient saint—Santiago (Saint James). For those unfamiliar with Santiago's story (like us) here it is: 

Saint James, brother of Saint John, was born in modern day Israel. He, along with his brother, was called by Jesus to become an Apostle. He became part of Jesus's inner circle and did lots of holy and important stuff. After Jesus's death, Saint James went to Spain to preach, but was met with little success. He returned to Jerusalem to preach some more, but ran afoul of a persecution of early christians. He was beheaded, becoming the first of the Apostles to be martyred. The king forbade burying him, but luckily Saint James' two disciples returned his body to Spain. Now the question of how is where the story gets both important to the Camino's history but also rather convoluted. Some say his disciples carried his body in a stone (or marble) sarcophagus all the way back. Others say he was taken by sea. However, during the voyage the ship ran into a terrible storm and nearly (or totally) sank. Now, if you go the nearly route, stories say that a miracle occurred: the storm suddenly abated and a trail of sea shells appeared, leading the ship to safety. In the stories where the ship sunk it goes that a separate miracle happened: a while later Saint James’ body washed ashore, covered in sea shells. On a different note, others say that there was no storm and that instead a man who would have drowned floated up next to the ship that was carrying Saint James’ body (of course the man was surrounded by sea shells) and was welcomed on board. Anyway, these stories are the origin of the classic symbol of Saint James and the Camino—the scallop shell.

Whatever way he made it back, Saint James' body returned to Spain and was secretly buried in a beautiful field. Many years later, it was found and discovered to be the body of Saint James, which called people from far and wide to come and see the Saint. This became one of the greatest pilgrimages of Christianity.

Another possible origin for the scallop shell is that pilgrims would gather them as they walked the coasts towards Santiago, authenticating their journey. Today instead of scallop shells, we use stamp books, which we have to get stamped twice a day in order to receive the completion certificate at the end. Of course, the first thing I thought of when I saw the "pilgrim passports" (stamp books) was how best to forge them.

The Camino has taken us through both cities and small towns that we probably wouldn't have visited otherwise. We've had delicious paellas and stayed in beautiful seaside inns, but we've also stayed in some very small, terribly hot accommodations and eaten diner food. All in all, a good time. 

It's been really great getting to practice our Spanish, which is slowly getting better from all the practice we've had: talking to fellow hikers, trying to order at restaurants, and speaking to friendly Spaniards that awkwardly stop by our lunch table.  

Perhaps the most challenging thing about the Camino is the Spanish schedule—long afternoon siestas and late nights. Although it's not all bad since it means that we can have our “early” dinner without any competition for a table, most restaurants are totally empty until at least 10:00. We still laugh every time a waiter tells us "You will have to leave this table in three hours because we have a reservation at 10:30!" 

Well, there's my random loosely connected thoughts on whatever came to mind. Forgive my lack of structure—school's out and so is grammar!

                                            

In Spain many houses have special sheds for drying their corn—at first I thought they were crypts!

                                                        

Hotel Tres Carabelas was the first place we stayed on the Camino. The town it was in, Baiona, was the harbor that Christopher Columbus's ship, the Pinta, first landed in upon his return to Europe.

The Camino has taken us through beautiful woods, rural towns, and alongside busy highways. The terrain is quite variable!

Dad got to pose with Jules Verne in Vigo on one of our rest days. Jules was featured on our self-guided tour of the city, featuring the city's most important places: playgrounds, gelatarias, restaurants, and the occasional statue of a man sitting atop octopus.

Scallop shaped signs, yellow arrows, and stylized red crosses are some of the Camino's most prevalent symbols, pointing the way towards Santiago.

Redondela was celebrating a long ago dragon slaying in the town with a huge festival when we first arrived. This parade featured wheeled dragons, a priest, and huge, creepy, spinning dolls for some reason. We unfortunately didn't get a picture of those.

Our inn in Redondela was right above a disco place, luckily it wasn't operating at the time.

Springs and fountains can be found all along the Camino, providing fresh water for pilgrims.