¡Buenas tardes! I'm somewhat behind on my posts, but hopefully I can catch up before anything else exciting happens. This past weekend, a friend, Veronica, and I went to Galicia with Ángeles. She is originally from a small town around 40 min. away from Santiago de Compostela and returned to visit her parents this weekend. Located in the north-west, right above portugal, Galicia is mountainous and green-- more akin to northern Europe than the rest of Spain.
Contrast the above pictures with those below, nearer Toledo:
And here's a picture of former mosquitoes, moths, flies, crickets, maybe a butterfly or two. Oh, and a sunset in the background:
Galicia was originally occupied by Celtic tribes, and the traditional music clearly reflects this. The gaita, a form of bagpipe, is perhaps the most characteristic of Galician instruments. This fellow demonstrates his gaita-playing skills and either a traditional hat and vest or a Christmas present from great-aunt Gertrude:
Anyways, the Celts were conquered by the Romans, who built a lovely wall around the city of Lugo (by the way, the name Lugo comes from the name of the Celtic god Lugus, cognate with Lug in Ireland). Then came the Visigoths and the Moors, though the latter never really had much control in the north. In 739, Alfonso I incorporated Galicia into the Kingdom of Asturias, and there it remained throughout the reconquista. An interesting historical note: the Moorish conquest of the Visigoths took 5 years. The Christian "reconquest" of Spain took around 750 years, ending in 1492 with the fall of Granada to los Reyes Católicos (Ferdinand and Isabella). Another distinguishing factor of Galicia is it's language, Galego (or Gallego in Castellano, or regular Spanish). Very similar to Portuguese (and Spanish, for that matter), it is spoken by most inhabitants of Galicia. Ángeles apparently spoke only Galego until high school. But, on with the story. We drove to Lugo (six hours!) with Ángeles on Friday. After we found a hostel, she continued on to her hometown. This is what you get for 10€ per person:
A room,
A bathroom sans toilet (it was down the hall... but we did get a bidet. Go figure),
And the Hallway of Sketchiness (it looked a lot more horror-movie-esque in real life).
In spite of the general dilapidation, we weren't killed, tortured, or sold into sex slavery (stop worrying, Mom), and Saturday morning, we took the Greyhound of Spain to Santiago.
Santiago de Compostela may well be my favorite city in Spain. It is the capital of Galicia and the destination of a pilgrimage route that has existed since the 9th century, as, supposedly, the bones of Saint James the Apostle are underneath the cathedral. In the middle ages, it was the third most popular pilgrimage sight in Christendom, after Rome and Jerusalem, and many people still walk El Camino today. To be officially considered a pilgrim and earn an official certificate upon reaching the cathedral, one has to walk at least 100 km. A credencial, or pilgrim's passport, allows pilgrims to stay in refugios (basically hostels) along the way. Someday, I plan on walking the Camino. The scallop shell is the symbol of the route; the various lines converge at the base of the shell, just as the various pilgrimage routes converge in Santiago.
Some peregrinos:
There are two theories concerning the origin of the name Santiago de Compostela. Sant Iago = Saint James, obviously, but the Compostela part could come from the Latin "Campus Stellae" (field of stars) or from the Vulgar Latin "Composita Tella" (burial ground, referring to the interment of St. James there). Regardless, the "discovery" of the bones of St. James was as much a political move as a religious one. During the reign of Alfonso II of Asturias, they were officially recognized by the pope. At this time, the majority of Spain was still under Muslim control, and the bones gave the Christian minority a legitimacy to their cause. Clearly, God was on their side against the Muslims, and the Iberian peninsula was meant to be Christian. I met St. James while there, actually:
Here are some views of the cathedral (and the university, in the picture below):
Other than the cathedral, Santiago is a great place to buy silver, jet, and chocolate con churros. Churros are kind of like fried doughnut sticks, and the hot chocolate is nearly as thick as pudding.
It was a rare sunny day when we were there, and I must say, I think the city is prettier in the rain. This year is a Jubilee year (when the feast day of St. James falls on a Sunday), so a ton of people walked the Camino or just came to Santiago as tourists. We had to hurry to find a hostel before they were all full. This one was nicer than the last and not picture-worthy, unfortunately. The line to see the bones (which, by the way, are in a box and rather far away) was incredible:
And it kept going around the corner! I ended up going to the pilgrim's mass and seeing the Botafumeiro swing again. The Botafumeiro is a huge incense burner that is hoisted up on a rope and swung through the cathedral aisles by several priests. It apparently came into use during the middle ages because of the smell of the pilgrims. Considering the personal hygiene of the middle ages, I'm surprised every church didn't invest in one.
Saturday night, there was a free concert by Carlos Núñez and the Galician Symphony Orchestra (or something like that) in the plaza right in front of the cathedral. Carlos Núñez is probably the most famous gaitero out there--which isn't saying much, granted, but he's pretty big in the folk music world.
Anyway, we met up with Ángeles and her friend, Fernando, who also happens to be a professional gaitero. They met when she took gaita lessons from him. Anyway, we had amazing seats. Amazing. The front row behind the VIP section.
However, I decided to run back to our hostel and grab my jacket, as it was getting cold and we still had half an hour before the concert started. When I got back, the police had barricaded all of the entrances to the plaza. I tried to explain that I had a seat, but they wouldn't let me in. Ángeles tried arguing as well, to no avail. I wormed my way to the front of the crowd and asked the security guard why we couldn't enter. He said, "because the administration says so". Nice. My new view:
People started chanting "fuera" and "podemos entrar", and yelling about "damn the government" and such. Several people made a run for it, and the guards chased them with their batons out. At this point, I was thinking something along the lines of "Oh my God, civil unrest! I'm going to go to jail in Spain!" Nothing really came of it, though, except that they called more guards and erected another layer of fencing. I could hear the music, though, which was what was important. The title of this post is a bit misleading, because I actually did get to see part of the concert. About halfway through, the administration apparently had a change of heart and we were let in.
Somehow, things always work out.
Some guy behind me climbed up the fence in front of the cathedral to sell cervexeña fría (galego for "cold beer"), and judging by the dancing of the people around me, I think there were a lot of takers. In all seriousness, though, it was a great time. After the concert, I finally found everyone else, and we meandered over to Hostal de los Reyes Católicos (once free housing for pilgrims, now the ritziest hotel in Santiago) so Fernando could chat with Carlos. Apparently they're buddies. So, I suppose this post should be more appropriately titled "The time I almost met Carlos Núñez" or "I was five feet from Carlos!", but oh well. After I almost met Carlos, we went out with Ángeles and Fernando for drinks and tapas. I had some great octopus. At night, part of the cathedral casts a shadow like that of a pilgrim:
Fernando, octopus, and a horrible picture of Ángeles and I:
The next morning, we headed back to Lugo to meet up with Ángeles for the ride home. We wandered around the aforementioned Roman wall for awhile, and found a book sale where Veronica bought Harry Potter in Spanish. The scenery around Lugo is stunning; it reminds me of pictures I've seen of Austria and Germany.
All in all, a good weekend.
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