Asturias, Euskal Herria & France Cruise - A Coruña Page

It had been a little rough overnight & the Captain had had to slow down. Just as well, as I had forgotten to put the clocks forward & we did not have much time to get ready. However, the coach was inevitably late. It was cloudy in A Coruña, as it was last time but did not rain, although this time, we were well prepared. Our lady driver took about an hour to get us to Santiago de Compostela, which has quite a big ‘new town’ before we halted in the “Pope John XXIII Car Park”!

Pilgrim tat

St. Francis Church

St. Francis

To the Main Square

Then, we walked in to the main square, which is surrounded by important buildings: the Cathedral; Palace, now a hotel; the Town Hall & an early University building.

Town Hall

Cathedral

Old University building

We were taken on what amounted to a circuit of the cathedral, which involved a lot of steps up & down the other side, finally getting back to the main square, where we were left. We went into the cathedral but there was a service on & some superstitious morons complained about Ken taking photos.

We left the Cathedral but Ken went back while Avis was having a rest. He went back to see round the altar & the alleged tomb of St. James but there is so much nonsense attached to this story (e.g. his bones being brought back from Jerusalem in a stone boat) that the idea that it contains another local saint’s bones has more credibility. Catholics will swallow anything.

The service in the Cathedral	A side chapel	Jim in a tin (St. James' Coffin)
Behind the altar	Ceiling of the left picture	Gross gilding above the altar

We had coffee & local cake in the hotel, which is a posada converted from a 16th Century palace built to intimidate the locals, who were keen to join Portugal.

The University...

...& its founder

Coffee in the Posada ex-palace

The drive back was uneventful but we were famously late, not just because of the late start but because the port area was partly blocked off for a Triathlon.