Being Pilgrim Tourists

Oh dear, we've been typing throughout the day committing all the exciting events of today to keyboard, and, in a slip of a paw - no idea what we did - it's all gone, and we're just left with a capital T on the screen. Absolute growls of frustration have been let loose!

So what had we been saying? Firstly we'd commended the excellent breakfast at our B&B. Bread & honey, salami and ham , juice, coffee and fried eggs and toast were provided in abundance
and, when we tried to pay our host, he would have none of it, telling us to pay when we return for our second night tomorrow. How trusting!

We made our way from our B&B to the cathedral, arriving an hour early so we could get a good seat in the pilgrim area. We ended up in the second row in front of the altar. By the time the midday service started, the cathedral was packed out, with standing room only for many pilgrims.

It was a good, simple service, with 3 critical phrases in English which made all the difference. Singing was led by a nun with a lovely kind face and we were pleased to recognise the Taize chant of 'Ubi Caritas'. We were also pleased to recognise the priest from Rabanal who had led the compline service we had attended. Sadly, not only was the botafumeiro not swung today, it had even been removed. Perhaps this was because it was Friday.

The numbers of pilgrims arriving from each country are read out, along with a list of starting points. We definitely heard Le Puy and we think it was 26 from the UK, although we were listening out for England, not the UK.

After the mass we spoke to
lots of pilgrim friends who had kept us company on our journey. We were also reacquainted with our friend from Amsterdam zoo and we know his name now, it's Artis de Parvis (picture to follow -taken on wrong camera!).

We then had a coffee and bocadillo before heading for the station to catch a train to A Coruna, for a change of scene an to see the sea. On arrival we gave A Coruna the lead paw award for lack of maps and direction signs. We had no idea which direction to take and, after asking for directions, ended up in the commercial port area. We eventually found a map and made our way towards the centre/marina area, only to find the 2 Tourist Information offices closed, even though they should have been open.

By chance we found ourselves a nice Hostal then headed for the marina, noticing that everything was closed. As we sat having a beer, the reason soon became apparent: it was a festival day. The police closed the road in front of us and we heard sounds of a marching band. We went to investigate and found a procession complete with the carriage of Our Lady of Fatima, patroness of the city. We had never seen anything like it. There were 2 bands with drums, trumpets and bagpipes, ladies in black mantillas and high heels, a full choir, police, church officials and Mary on her trolley being steered by 6 men. It was fascinating and a real Spanish experience. We followed the procession for a good half an hour and it was still going strong when we left it.





We then walked round the marina and timed our arrival with the departure of the biggest cruise ship we had ever seen. The city had suddenly become a whole lot more interesting and we were really glad we had come.

An excellent Italian meal this evening has further given us a good opinion of La Coruna.

Time for bed now.

Love from the Compostella bears xxx