One Year Ago: Santiago de Compostela

(from my journal)

Santiago de Compostela
02 May 2013

Praise God, at about 3pm we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. On the way into the city, we kept running into people we knew – people who had shared some portion of the walk with us – probably a dozen reunions before we even reached the Cathedral.

Entering the plaza in front of the Cathedral was an experience like no other. The emotions were overwhelming: gratitude, relief, wonder, the childlike excitement of Christmas morning all rolled into one.

I have a feeling that heaven is a lot like that: constantly meeting old friends in an overwhelming place of wonder and delight.

We visited the Cathedral, of course. The traditional entry of the pilgrim is through something called the Gate of Glory. Unfortunately, it was covered in scaffolds due to reconstruction work.

The central image of Christ, however, was visible.

We prayed. We clambered behind the high altar to hug the statue of the saint. Then we descended to the tomb and prayed before his remains.

I’m still overwhelmed by the whole thing.

In the evening, tapas!

All the photos from day 31!

There will be one more entry in this series, I think, and then we’re done.