¡Buenos Dias!

Welcome back to Europe! This is my first visit to the Province of Galicia, and La Coruna is its 2nd main city, with a population of 250,000 people. The main regional centre is Vigo to the south near the Portuguese border. In the Galician language, the name is ‘A Coruna’. The city was built on a small peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean, so with water on three sides, fishing is an important industry; the local fish is Hake and it is the largest producer of mussels in Spain. As we exited the Port, we passed an extensive Fish Market.

The other industry important here is the textile industry; indeed, the Fashion House, “Zara,” opened its first store here.

In 1588 Spanish Armada ships set out from here and fought with Francis Drake’s fleet in the seas off the coast. In more peaceful times, Celtic navigators sailing south to the Mediterranean used a Coruna as a refuelling stop. Hence there is a strong Celtic influence here.

The tour today was actually to visit the Capital of Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, about 70km south of A Coruna. Santiago is known as the culmination of the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) pilgrimage route since the 9th Century, and the alleged burial site of the Biblical apostle St. James. His remains reputedly lie within the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela, consecrated in 1211, whose elaborately carved stone facades open onto grand plazas within the medieval walls of the old town. In 1985, the city's Old Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. James was an important disciple of Jesus and he was beheaded by Romans in Jerusalem, under King Herod.

Recognising this ‘martyrdom’, catholics started the visit Santiago, making it one of medieval Christianity’s three great pilgrimages, alongside Rome and Jerusalem. In 1215 Francis of Assisi did this pilgrimage and founded an order of Monks at Santiago, which exists to this day.

The Cathedral was erected to provide a monument for them to focus on and a place to give praise. It hosts the dramatic botafumeiro — when a massive incense burner is swung across the transept during pilgrim masses.

Over 530 thousand pilgrims per year do one of the many walks that end in Santiago. The different walks are signposted with markers showing an arrow and a scallop shell, and are:

• Camino Francés — the classic route, ~780 km from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France, takes 4-5 weeks and was developed for first timers through better infrastructure and more fellow pilgrims

• Camino Portugués — from Lisbon or Porto, about 400km and gentler and increasingly popular

• Camino del Norte — hugs Spain’s northern coast, more rugged and scenic

• Camino Primitivo — the original, oldest route through mountainous Asturias

• Camino Inglés — shorter, from Ferrol or A Coruña, originally used by ship-arriving pilgrims.

At completion a scallop mark carved into the stone floor tile of the courtyard marks ‘kilometre zero’ i.e. the end of the Pilgrimage. During our short visit, we witnessed many teenage pilgrims, armed with backpacks and hiking poles, rejoicing in their accomplishment, by placing a stone or a shell into the ‘scallo’; and of course, nowadays, having a ‘selfie’ taken here. Indeed the best seasons to do the pilgrimage are between May-June and September, the weather is warm but not scorching and there are fewer crowds than in the peak July-August.

Along the way, pilgrims carry a Credencial (pilgrim passport), which is stamped at albergues (budget pilgrim hostels), cafes, and churches along the way to prove your route, which is a souvenir of their pilgimage. Provided the pilgrims walk at least the final 100 km (or cycle 200 km), with religious or “spiritual” intent, they can receive the ‘Compostela’, a certificate awarded at the pilgrim office in Santiago.

We walked through the bustling Square and along the Medieval streets. The Cathedral had a Mass at 12 noon, and the queue to get in was snaking around the streets; the Cathedral can hold over 2000 people, so I think they were going to be OK. It wasn’t a good time to tour the church, so it was free time for shopping, and then lunch at the Parador Hotel, handily situated on the Square. We had salad, Paella with meat, later identified as rabbit, followed by a Spanish milk tart. The afternoon was to visit the Cathedral interior. There was a bit of a ‘stuff up’ here, in that our softly spoken guide, had an issue explaining to a Korean group, that the queues were too long to go into the crypt to see where St. James was allegedly buried. The queue was long, and the guide said, that if you wanted to see this, you needed to move out of the tour group into the queue, and catch up afterwards; another few people did this, but the Koreans didn’t. The guide kept on with the roving commentary, and then, as we were heading towards the exit to meet the group who went to the crypt, the Koreans decided that now was the time to then decide to join the queue. They tried to cut in quite a way forward, but the security caught some of them, and pulled them out, but not all of them; so the rest went to the back of the queue. And so, whilst missing out personally, we had to then wait for them all to come to the exit.

Had this not been a Princess Tour, we could have found ourselves in a bit of strife. We were an hour late back to the ship, which was obliged to wait for us (or find an alternate way to repatriate us at the next Port). The only thing was I missed my Dinner reservation, so ‘roughed it’ in the Buffet. I texted Ross, who was already at Dinner, that I would meet him at the 7pm show, a Comedic Juggler (better Juggler than Comedian as it turned out), and I managed to reserve our ‘usual’ extra legroom seats. Unfortunately, Ross didn’t get the message and was waiting for me in the Cabin; I went to the cabin after the show, and we swapped – I went to bed, and Ross went to the repeat 9pm show (I thought I’d let him work out the comedy:juggler ratio for himself) – he came to the same conclusion!

Our European cruise sector continues with Le Havre in Normandy, France, where I am doing a tour which finishes on the D-Day events that turned the fortunes of the Allies in World War 2.