Days 25 to 29: Astorga to Santiago

"I have got to find the river,
Bergamot and vetiver,
Run through my head and fall away.
Leave the road and memorize
this life that pass before my eyes"
                                 -REM

Jan 14, 2011:
Sorry I haven't posted in a while...I've been keeping quite busy, but mostly I really didn't feel like it (so sue me).  The next day in Astorga, the weather was pretty much the same as the previous two days, and the chest cold that I had caught in León wasn't getting any better.  So I made the decision to stop this camino then and there.  If I ever decide to do the camino again (and that's a big if), I'll pick it up from Astorga.  Also, if I ever decide to do the camino again...it won't be during the winter.  Having said that, I still had the urge to go to Santiago and see the cathedral and reliquary where Santiago's remains are kept.  The last time around, I never seemed to be there at an appropriate time to visit the remains, so I ended up leaving town without seeing the one thing that pilgrims over the ages had come to Santiago to venerate.  That's something that I wouldn't pass up this time around.

The train ride from Astorga went through some incredible countryside. The route between the two cities is somewhat roundabout, turning south into Ourense before finally heading to Santiago.  All along the route were signs of the recent spell of bad weather.  Rivers overflowing their banks, waterlogged fields, etc.  Made me wonder what would have been in store for me if I had continued walking.  In Ourense, I made the acquaintance of Lucia from Segovia...we hit it off immediately, partly because I mentioned that I had always wanted to see Segovia, but mostly because she was having a tremendous fun at the expense of my broken (but passable) Spanish.  

Arrived in Santiago at about 10:00pm.  It didn't feel quite right entering the city this way, but I consoled myself with the thought of how it would feel to enter the city after being rained on for 10 days straight.  That notion made it much easier to accept my decision. I had booked a room at a pensión near the cathedral, but for the life of me, I could not find the place.  Even after wandering the city for four days, I still haven't come across it.  So I wandered by two or three hotels (one closed, one full, one very iffy).  Eventually, my wandering brought me to the Hotel Monumental San Fransico.  The hotel was a former monestary, and has been restored to probably-better-than new.  It's evident that the rooms in the hotel were the former cells for the monks, although they've all been expanded and re-formed into something the former residents could only dream of.  Visited the cathedral the next day, and finally managed to visit the reliquary.  One disappointing thing in the cathedral...over the centuries, a pilgrim tradition has devloped.  When a pilgrim arrives at the Santiago cathedral, they place their right hand on the central pillar of the Portico de Gloria and give thanks for a safe arrival.  So many hands have done this rite, that you can clearly see where the stone has been worn away, in the rough shape of a hand.  I did this back in 2006.  I wouldn't have done it this time (I'm more tourist than pilgrim now), but I didn't even have the option.  The central column has been fenced off, presumably to prevent people from touching it.  I hope this is is temporary...it would be a shame to erase centuries of tradition, even in the name of conservation.  

While I was at the cathedral, I also took the cathedral museum tour, which was fascinating...it's not quite as spectacular as the Burgos cathedral museum, but given my attachment to the camino, it was certainly more meaningful to me. On the way out of the, I bumped into Lucia again, and we ended up spending the next few days touring the city together (hence the lack of blog updates).  I have to say - tourism is so much better when you have company.  We had a ton of fun, and with the exception of one questionable dinner of pulpo (octupus), we also ate very well.  What I just said about tourism with company is doubly true for dinners, etc.  Lucia was scheduled to leave town two days after I planned to, but she convinced me to stick around and return to Segovia with her so that she could show me around...but that's another blog entry (which will hopefully come more quickly than this one did).