Santiago de Compostela
When our Ryanair flight dropped below the clouds over northwestern Spain, I was shocked to see the greenest of green rolling hills and pastures, covered in patches of evergreen forests. It looked like Ireland for a moment and I wondered if we had boarded the right plane.
We had a four-day weekend with a break from school and work and I wanted to make the most of it and fly with Ryanair somewhere new. We got super lucky with 15€ fares to Santiago de Compostela. I had no idea what would be there, but I knew I loved Spain from our visit to Barcelona in November so I booked our tickets and then got to work on the details. Santiago de Compostela is a destination I didn’t know I needed, or expected I would love so much.
A little background in case you’re hearing about this city for the first time, like I was. Santiago de Compostela has drawn millions of faith-filled pilgrims since the ninth century when the burial site of James the Apostle were allegedly discovered. The New Testament records James being killed by the sword at the command of Herod the king (Acts 12:2). It was long claimed that the disciples at the time took the body of James onto a boat and sailed to the west coast of Spain where he was buried. About 850 years later, a shepherd saw a bright light over his fields one night. Following the light, he found three tombs covered in scallop shells. He raced to the nearest bishop to report he had been led to find the remains of St. James and two of his disciples.
Recognizing the importance, they built a church over the tombs and began welcoming pilgrims to the site. By the 10th century, the site became so important that a cathedral was built. In 1492, Pope Alexander the VI officially declared that the Camino de Santiago was one of the three great pilgrimages of Christendom, along with Jerusalem and Rome.
Since this time, millions of people have made the Camino de Santiago a spiritual journey. Over 300,000 pilgrims hike/bike the Camino each year. when your journey is at least 100km, you can register as an official pilgrim and make confession when you arrive. While January is definitely not the busy season, I loved that we still saw many pilgrims with their walking sticks, rain gear and muddy shoes arriving in the plaza at the end of their journeys.
These are all the different trails leading to the cathedral. You can see the sign of the scallop shell in cities across Europe marking the Camino. As you get to the city of Santiago de Compostela there are brass shells in the pavers on the ground to guide you all the way to the cathedral.
The front of the cathedral is covered with a baroque-era facade devoted to St. James, his parents and his disciples. He is shown with a large hat fixed with a scallop shell on the front. He is also portrayed as a knight on a white horse — one legend has him showing up like this at the battle of Grenada in 1492 to save the Christians from being conquered by the Muslims.
Santiago has as many as 30 historic churches. They were built throughout the centuries thanks to the Archbishopric's orders or because of the initiative of the religious orders of the city and the richest people of Santiago.
We toured the cathedral museum with its treasury and troves of art, clothing, and tapestry.
This is Michael slaying the dragon. We see this symbology everywhere here in Europe and my kids find it everywhere we go.
This is Master Mateo. He was given the special dispensation along with a pension for life from the Pope in the 12th century to build a magnificent cathedral for the relics of St. James. His sculptures and design are truly astounding.
The first cathedral dedicated in 1120 had an incredible Portico of Glory (above) showing the life and mission of Jesus, with James in a supporting role. The years of exposure to the elements were starting to take their toll as early as the 1600s when the baroque facade was added to protect the original.
Look at the colors! In 2018, a ten-year restoration project was completed to reveal the original paint and colors on the portico. It was breathtaking to see up close.
This level of carvings represented the prophets of the Old Testament.
This is St. James, seated below Jesus. The carvings on the right are of the original Apostles.
This is an angel seated next to Jesus at the top of the portico with the blessed to the left.
You need a special ticket to see the portico and they only allow a few people at a time to preserve it as much as possible. A Mass was taking place as we entered so we were told in broken English to be as quiet as possible. We stood there, studying the portico for a good fifteen minutes before my kids started asking if we could leave, so I approached the security guard to ask where to exit. She whispered, “No! Don’t leave yet!” I wasn’t sure if there was a point we needed to wait for in the Mass or if we had to wait until the end. She leaned in close and told me in broken English that I would absolutely not want to miss the Botafumiero (massive incense expeller).
I thought it must be our luckiest day ever because the Botafumiero is only done on special days like Easter or Christmas! The guard explained that this Mass was for group of American pilgrims who had paid a special price to have the Botafumiero done for them. You can see how smoky the altar is in the picture above! The priests at the front were putting all their weight and effort into swinging the Botafumiero high and wide through the cathedral. It’s over 100 kilos when it’s filled!
The altar built over the relics was beyond ornate and like nothing we had ever seen before. You can walk down a few stairs underneath the altar to see the actual tomb of St. James. It is small guilded silver box.
We took a walking tour of the city with a well-known oil painter and artist, Isabel Rey, who shared some of the history of the city and had us stop at some of the sites to teach us how to sketch what we see. The kids loved doing something a little different and I think we will be taking our black moleskin sketchbooks everywhere we travel now.
This is a park above a monastery that used to be a cemetery. Families and individuals were buried inside the walls, and in the ground, but the city relocated all the remains and now hosts community concerts and events in this area overlooking the old city.
I loved hearing the bells everyday from this tower of the cathedral.
One of the first things Emme noticed were the water spouts on the tops of all the old buildings. They looked like cannons on ships, which naturally led to us watching “Pirates of the Caribbean” while we were there.
Matt and I and Nola went out late one night looking for a specific souvenir and stepped inside an old church that had been closed every time we had passed before. It was dark, silent, and kind of creepy (according to Nola). As we turned to leave Matt noticed a small box with digital numbers on it and a coin slot, and we were curious. I fished a 1€ coin out of my purse, dropped it in and instantly the whole building filled with light! You can see the night and day difference! On the top left below you can see St. James represented on a white horse.
I stopped in an antique jewelry shop because I saw this tiny violin in the window and just had to ask about it. It is sterling silver, plaited with gold and real strings and hair. I loved the tiny case, but with a price tag of 1185€ I had to pass since I have to buy two actual violins for my kids who are progressing with their lessons.
Perfect travel pic of us. Checking maps, taking it slow and soaking it all up.
Favorite things about Santiago de Compostela:
Bagpipes! I had no idea that this area of the world was originally settled and civilized by the Celts. You can see Celtic knots and design everywhere and hear the bagpipes playing in the old city all the time. I loved that.
Late dinners. I was noticing how everything felt like a ghost town — no one in sight, all the shops and restaurants closed — and then I remembered that siesta is a serious part of life in Spain, especially the smaller cities. Everything closes around 1-2pm, or 4pm for restaurants. Shops open back up around 5-6pm, and restaurants don’t open for dinner until 8pm. Even the churches don’t open up until 7-8pm at night. You could miss so much if you didn’t adjust your schedule to when things are open. We also learned that many restaurants and shops close for the whole month of January as a break after the busy holiday season.
I loved stumbling upon a group of men in traditional clothes and old instruments at a bar, singing and having a good time together. It was fun to peek into normal, local, life.
Our B&B was truly a gem! Right in the old city, modern finishes, the kindest hospitality, great traditional breakfast, and the kids were in love with the 3-person elevator that opened directly into our room, like a penthouse suite.
View from our rooftop windows. The kids absolutely loved it. Just to the left was the cathedral, about a three-minute walk.
Tips for flying Ryanair:
Book 2-3 weeks in advance for low fares. If the fares are about what the other airlines are, then don’t fly Ryanair.
Checkin on the app and take screen shots of your checkin confirmation and boarding passes just in case the app doesn’t work for you at the airport…we’ve heard lots of horror stories. If they have to check you in at the airport you have to pay around 60€ a person which means your super cheap flight just changed to being not super cheap.
You can totally do a vacation with just one backpack full of what you need. I had never done this before, or even tried, so it sounded daunting, but we all had a small backpack and that was it. It’s totally doable and worth it for the cheapest fare. For four days away we even had extra space to bring home souvenirs.
Book your own airport parking. Don’t do it through Ryanair. I’ve heard sometimes the Ryanair site and app don’t work to book the extras so you could end up paying for those extras and then find out it didn’t go through on your day of travel when you need it.
I can’t wait to see where we go next with Ryanair. It’s usually smaller regional airports so it’s a different kind of getaway, but it’s exactly what we love to do. On my watchlist is Sicily, Venice, and Dublin for upcoming four-day weekends.
Overall, this short weekend getaway went better than I could have hoped for and I cannot wait to explore even more of Spain. ♡
