Karaoke, Santiago de Compostela 2011

I am learning more and more with this whole 'blogging' thing! I just figured out how to post a link from one of my Picasa Web Albums to the blog! Weee!

Thursday we went to Santiago de Compostela. It is a five-hour bus ride west of Oviedo. It is the end of the Camino de Santiago. It is said that the remains of the apostle St. James are buried there. We were able to go into the church and see the crypt of the remains. We also attended the pilgrim's mass on Friday.

The history of the city, church and pilgrimage is fascinating. Originally, the route was a Roman trade route called the Milky Way. The story of the remains of St. James says that when the remains were discovered by a hermit. King Alfonso II ordered a church to be built on site. King Alfonso II made the first pilgrimage from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela. As word spread, more people made pilgrimages to Santiago and stayed there creating a city around the burial site. One of the first things to be built near the cathedral was a hospital because many pilgrims arrived wounded. But this wasn’t until the 15^th century. This hospital is now a hotel and is considered to be possibly the world’s first hotel. The most popular route now starts in France and drops down below Oviedo to Leon. But people have made pilgrimages from as far away as Istanbul.

We arrived in the afternoon on Thursday and ate our lunch in a park that overlooks the city. Then we walked into the old center and toured around a bit. We went into the church. We walked around the church which is in the shape of a cross as are the majority of Catholic churches in Europe. On the highest point of the ceiling is painted the 'Eye of God'. I asked some students if they recognized it and they said they knew it was on the $1 bill! A while back, the pilgrims used to sleep in the church and the air would have to be purified with incense. So one of the common symbols of the church in Santiago de Compostela is the cage that holds the incense that hangs on a pulley just in front of the altar. It is a fairly large pulley system that swings to get the incense into the majority of the enormous church. We were able to walk down to see the crypt of St. James and also to his statue where you place your hand on his and touch your forehead three times to the shell he is wearing to ask for good luck. The shell is the primary symbol of the route. One of the routes pass through Oviedo and shell tells the pilgrims where to go.

Thursday night, we took the students to sing karaoke. We had quite a bit of fun and the link to my pictures is above! Once Robert finished his pictures from this trip, I will put a link on the blog!

The following day we went to two museums: the History of Pilgrimage and the Modern Art Museum and then to the Pilgrim’s Mass. We ate, shopped and then hopped back on the bus to go home.

Today we are going to an organic farm where Colleen and Rachael live to celebrate Colleen's birthday and to learn a bit about organic farming!