End of the road for pilgrims, not for us

It was brighter this morning so we were able to take some photos of last night’s parador: an impressive fairly modern hotel built inside the ramparts of an old fortress overlooking Baiona’s bay.

After breakfast, we checked out, loaded the car, and then took a walk around the fortress walls, which was a delight, with the sun getting quite warm.

Then it was off to Santiago de Compostela, the end of the famous pilgrim’s way, the Camino de Santiago. This was a big deal in the Middle Ages, but then fell into disuse until revived in the seventies or eighties, so that now many hundreds, or even thousands of people undertake the grueling, month-long walk. They included the Germans we met in a TukTuk in Lisbon.

Traditionally, on arrival, pilgrims would sit down in the square in front of the cathedral, to contemplate their achievement, I guess, but also rest their feet. No shame having shoes and socks off here.

The square also houses the parador, in and old royal hostel for well-heeled pilgrims. We felt we had made the right decision in passing it up.

The cathedral itself is grand, but undergoing a major restoration so that there is quite a lot of scaffolding on the facade. This has also limited visits to the interior, and there was a long line, which we joined, only to be told that nobody would be let in for an hour. And it was not at all certain we would be included. So we jacked out.

After a little more wandering round the town, including an encounter with a busking Galician bagpipe player in traditional costume, we felt we had seen enough..

We decided to head off in the general direction of Ribadeo, our destination for the night. The first interesting looking place on the way was Lugo, which we had never heard of. But the guidebook told us its three claims to fame were magnificent Roman walls surrounding the old town, a fine cathedral, and, mostly important of all, excellent tapas bars.

After passing through the walls and finding a car park, we located tapas street and settled in. We found one that offered a free tapa with every glass of wine. Not a bad deal. So we had a tapa and a glass, then another glass and another tapa, and a racion of croquetas, and felt much better.

Then it was off to the cathedral, which we liked, though the extremely ornate baroque main altar was blocked off so we could not photograph it. The best we could do was this remarkable rendering of the last supper on a trailer, presumably for some festival or other.

The we took a stroll around the walls, before returning to the car south to investigate the Camino de Santiago. We identified a stretch through the high sierras, up to 1,300 metres, where the pilgrim’s path crosses the road several times, and in places runs alongside it. We saw a few walkers, but we not tempted to join them.

Finally we headed off to Ribadeo, and found our Parador quite easily. It is a modern hotel, overlooking the bay again, and interestingly our room is three floors down from ground floor level!