Santiago de Compostela

On Friday we left Madrid for Santiago de Compostela, a 6 hour car ride. It is in the upper left corner of Spain above Portugal. Not only did we hear that it was a very interesting place, but it is very cool and green.

The Way of St. James has existed for over a thousand years. It was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times. Legend holds that St. James's remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where he was buried on the site of the Cathedral.

The most popular route is from Southern France, across the northern border of Spain to Santiago, because the trek on foot is about 4-7 weeks (and most Europeans have 4 weeks of vacation each year). This year, more than 200,000 will arrive at this cathedral.

In the 12 and 13 century the town had its greatest importance when Pope Alexander III declared it a holy town, like Rome and Jerusalem. Pope Calixto II declared that the pilgrims who went to Santiago in a Holy Year should be free from all their sins. Al Ano Santo (Holy Year) is celebrated each time when the Apostol's day (July 25 is a Sunday).

Little did we know that when we arrived on Saturday July 24th... we were not only going to be accompanied by 10,000 other people... BUT WE ARE FREE FROM OUR SINS!!!

On Sunday we drove to the Portugal border, to the Spanish town of Vigo and went to church with some of our missionaries. Vigo is a port town and was beautiful and cool.

In the background you can see a Roman wall, built several hundred years BC, surrounding the city.

And that beauty, sitting on the wall is ME...