Rest Day.
Weather - Cold and sunny
We had a wonderful rest day. Firstly, it was sunny and this made all the difference.
Our first task after a slow, enjoyable buffet breakfast was to get a Certificate of Distance which is different from the Compostela. It is issued by the Pilgrims Office and this time the office wasn't busy as we arrived earlier in the day. Obviously, today's pilgrims were yet to arrive in the city. We then walked to nearby Church of San Francisco to obtain our special certificate. We now have three certificates and our stamp book to show we have walked the Camino!
When we arrived at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela it was already quite busy with pilgrims and tourists. You can pick the pilgrims as they are the ones wearing sandals and socks! There is a lot of scaffolding both inside and outside the cathedral with the renovations so our view of the entire cathedral is incomplete.
We wanted to attend the Pilgrims' Mass at noon and had heard that it can become very crowded. The Aussie, LooLoo, from central NSW, who we met two days ago was sitting with her three friends on the south side transept. She suggested that the view of the proceedings would be better from that vantage point and we heeded her advice had an excellent view. We estimated there were about 600 people attending the mass with majority of them being pilgrims.
An older nun with the voice of an angel sang throughout the service. It was very moving. We didn't think that the mass would include the swinging of the thurible known as the 'Botafumeiro'. To our surprise the thurible was swung.
It is the largest censer in the world and weighs about 80 kgs. Six men in rich red robes pulled the ropes and swung the censer so high across the altar to the transepts that it looked like it would touch the high ceilings.
It went over our heads and it was very impressive. If Neil stood up from where he was sitting we were sure it would have hit him. We were very excited to see it. When it finished swinging the priest clapped and everyone joined it. It was very joyful.
Straight after the mass we returned to the large square outside the cathedral. Along the path a few days ago we agreed that the people who had kept us company along the way would meet at one o'clock. It was good to see everyone again including Dublin Paula, Aussies Kate and daughter Erin, Manchester Billy and NZ's Odette and Tony. Kate's back is much improved (thanks to drugs) and they arrived on Monday as well.
We had a lovely long lunch together and it was a good way to catch up and have some finalisation to our frequent meetings on the path. Emails were exchanged.
After lunch we came across Hawaiian Sartya. We really liked her as she was a practising Buddhist and was a positive energy on the path. We frequently crossed paths with her since Day 25 at Calzadilla de Los Hermandillos. Sartya was walking gingerly in slippers on the cobblestones not because of the long walk. After arriving yesterday she had a tattoo of a shell applied to the bottom of her foot as a token of her walk.
As arranged on the path to Rua we met with Americans (North Carolina) George and Peggy for a wonderful seafood dinner at a small local restaurant. On Neil's recommendation we tried the octopus which was tasty and very different. We won't see George and Peggy again but we have enjoyed their company as we came across each other on our walk.
It has been a lovely day meeting up with all the wonderful people we came across. The Camino is certainly about the people you meet along the way.
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