The Big Walk

To Santiago de Compostela – Day 4

Thankfully the rain has stopped. We soon reach Puente de Macera, the first conventionally attractive village we’ve come to, its old stone houses with carved coats of arms lining each side of a river with a weir and waterfall. This is spanned by a graceful arched bridge, built for the early pilgrims and still cobbled. The villages are slowly beginning to look more urbanised and modern as we get closer to the city of Santiago. One friendly guy comes right out of his garden to shake hands and pat us on the back – he doesn’t seem too disappointed even when we explained in our halting Spanish that we’d only just started walking at Finisterre and were not pilgrims on the way back. We’re already getting tired of trying to explain this to the real pilgrims coming the other way – it’ll be good when we’ve got to the Pyrenees and no longer require detailed justification. Explaining that we’re walking to Istanbul when we’re only a couple of days from the start does not sound very convincing!

Across a green valley we get our first view of the city of Santiago, looking straight towards the famous west front of the cathedral. It’s an inspiring sight – and encouragingly close. There are no suburbs to walk through; we’re immediately passing through ancient streets. Richly carved stonework crowns every door and window. We enter a huge square and are stunned by the exuberantly over-the-top Obradeiro façade of the Cathedral opposite. A double stairway leads up to the doors, above which a fabulous array of columns, balustrades, corbelling, arched windows and statues tower up to the apex, where St James himself stands framed by the topmost arch, resplendent with his pilgrim staff and gourd. On each side bell towers rise in a succession of narrower tiers, all embellished with the most elaborate of decorations. It’s the masterpiece of Spanish baroque architecture, and was built onto the front of the old cathedral in the eighteenth century, a worthy end to any pilgrimage. Several minutes pass before we can pull ourselves away. We find a room just off the square for a couple of nights – we’re going to have our first rest day here. Our plan is to keep fresh by walking for four or five days in a row and then have a day off to recover in the larger and hopefully more interesting towns.

After relaxing, we go to explore the cathedral itself. Behind the great Obradeiro façade is the original Romanesque doorway, the Portico de la Gloria. Carved in the twelfth century by Maestro Matteo, beautifully realised saints encircle the three archways, whilst above is a frieze of musicians so realistic that you can almost hear them play. It all looks incredibly fresh for its age – perhaps the newer façade has protected it from the damaging acid rains of modern times. At the base of the central marble column is a large, deep indentation with five fingers – the imprint of the hands of the millions of pilgrims who by tradition kneel and press onto the stone here. It’s a strange feeling to press my own hand into it, wearing away a few more grains of rock. Beyond, the vast interior is dark and gloomy – there are none of the great stained glass windows of English cathedrals, the light being provided instead by chandeliers. In the centre the high altar is a mass of gilt. We climb steps in the back of this, where another statue of St James, painted and bejewelled, is hugged by triumphant pilgrims. Back outside, the light of the sun is blinding.