On the northern coast of Spain’s Galician Province, there is a rock formation that gives the Beach of the Cathedrals (or Playa de las Catedrales in Spanish) its name. For a boy from the mountains of North Carolina it was a weird combinations of sites — ocean, beach, cliffs, grass, cows grazing and corn fields. I’ve seen all of those things in my life but never all of them within a quarter-mile.
After a brief stop at the Playa de las Catedrales, we made our way across the Cantabrian Mountains to the city of Santiago de Compostala. The cathedral in Santiago is the ultimate destination of the pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago, so we decided we needed to visit even though we were not pilgrims. If you first enter through the south door, it does not strike you as an especially ornate cathedral, but, once you arrive at the alter, you will realize that this cathedral isn’t a plain as you first thought.
