Top 10 Places: Santiago de Compostela

To many, Santiago de Compostela is a simple, unremarkable Spanish town. But for the thousands of pilgrims who arrive each day on its doorstep, it is the momentous completion of a journey – for some of days, others of months.

I arrived in Santiago twice – the first time after walking 1,600 kilometres, the second after a mere 600. My affection for this place would obviously not be what it is if it were not for the journeys which led me there - but to write about the whole pilgrimage would take far more than 365 words (in fact it’s more along the lines of 105,461 words).

Santiago is, on its outskirts, a drab, non-descript city. But its heart is a maze of narrow cobblestone streets which converge into asymmetrical plazas then jut off at odd angles to squeeze between rows of tightly-packed three and four storey buildings. If you know where to look, you can find little metal plates in these streets, each one marked with a scallop shell. Follow them and you arrive at the grand plaza and the majestic cathedral of St. James.

For pilgrims arriving in Santiago, there are celebrations, music and laughter in the streets, reunions of old friends. And one of the most beautiful parts of this celebration is the pilgrims’ mass each day at noon. At the end of the service, a giant incense censer is brought out. More than a metre in height and weighing as much as eight men, it is attached to a thick rope that reaches the rooftops, filled with incense and lit by the priest. Eight men grip onto the rope’s opposite end and together give rhythmic pulls which sends the censer ever higher, trailing a stream of sweet smoke. Organ music surges from innumerable pipes, a nun joins in a clear, high song. Above faces upturned in awe, the huge censer swings higher and higher, almost touching the lofty ceiling; a plume of sparks and smoke fills the cathedral with a sweet aroma. I returned each day I was in Santiago, and each time my eyes teared up and my heart leapt.

At the end of a long journey, Santiago is a beautiful reward.