As we entered the plaza and looked up, we finally saw what we had been walking toward as we navigated the stone-paved streets of Santiago de Compostela, a city of some 81,000 people located in northwest Spain.
There it was right in front of our eyes — the massive Romanesque church that was built between the years of 1075-1211.
Santiago de Compostela’s cathedral is the heart of the city, but it is the tomb that rests inside the church that draws hundreds of thousands of souls there every year. St. James the Apostle’s tomb is located beneath the cathedral’s main altar.
For me, there was a sense of déjà vu as I stood in the plaza and looked up at the church. I had been in this exact same spot five years earlier after a friend and I had completed a 500-mile pilgrimage by walking from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France, to Santiago de Compostela.
For many, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is the starting point for the Camino de Santiago — The Way of Saint James, a pilgrimage to the cathedral in Santiago that houses the remains of Saint James, one of Jesus Christ’s disciples.
In the 9th century, a hermit living in northwestern Spain had a vision that led him to an ancient tomb. A bishop later determined that the remains were those of James. As news spread of the discovery, people began to take a pilgrimage to his remains. Church officials later built a cathedral in Santiago de Compostela for Saint James’ remains.
Multiple routes across Europe lead to Santiago de Compostela, including the 500-mile Camino Francés that my friend and I completed over the course of 35 days as we walked between 15 to 20 miles a day through the Pyrenees and other mountains, small towns, lovely cities, hills, vineyards, open spaces, fields of wheat and sunflowers and more.
There are a myriad of highlights along the way with one of the final ones being the walk into Santiago de Compostela, where you almost always hear the sound of bagpipes playing as you walk into the plaza and marvel at the cathedral before going inside to explore and see Saint James’ tomb.
It was July 2022 and was our first day in Galicia, a region of northwestern Spain that is home to some 2.7 million people. I first visited this part of Spain in 2015, and it has become one of my favorite parts of the country due to its delicious food, green mountains, 750-mile coastline, beautiful beaches, stone villages and more.
My wife and I spent almost a week in Galicia visiting our dear friends who have lived there all of their lives. It was the first time my wife met who I consider my Spanish family — our friends Julio and Montse and their extended family.
We biked, hiked, explored several of the cities and beaches around Galicia, and consumed calorie after calorie of delicious Galician delicacies including Spanish omelettes, steamed mussels, ham croquettes, fried squid on a toasted bun, and more desserts than I can begin to mention.
It can be easy to overlook Galicia as a travel destination, as most people who travel to Spain visit Barcelona, Madrid and the southern cities of Seville, Córdoba and Granada. While each of these destinations is a must-see, Galicia is also worth a visit to experience a part of Spain that most people miss.
If you would really like to take your time getting to Galicia, consider letting your feet take you as you hike from one side of Spain to the other on the Camino de Santiago.
The views along the walk coupled with the lovely people you’ll meet along The Way will stick with you forever — so much so that you might be like me and name your dog (Santiago) after the experience.
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