Santiago de Compostela - my Galician homeland

I LOVE THIS CITY. Adore it. It's not my home anymore, but Santiago de Compostela will always have a special place in my heart, especially after this week. This past Saturday was Tara and Jorge's wedding, which was beyond beautiful. Tara and Jorge are so in love and so perfect for each other - check out this photo of them from the wedding!! Eliesa Johnson, super bosslady from Photogeninc.com, took that picture and I'm guessing a few thousand other amazing ones (check out her personal photos from Santiago de Compostela). She was the wedding photographer, and it was SO much fun and such an awesome learning experience for me to watch her do what she does. She has a real gift and a talented eye for photography, and I cannot WAIT to see the rest of the pictures from the wedding! My new friends Matt Brue and his wife Faith Brue were also in attendance, Matt was taking care of the videography. Make sure to check out his website Capture Studios to see what he came up with from the wedding and to see his awesome work in general (looking at the site makes me really wish I had had a videographer at my wedding)!

So one special thing about this city is that it is a pilgrimage destination (I think I mentioned this before?). Supposedly, the apostle James was charged with converting the Iberian peninsula and made his way over here and died in the northwest corner of Spain known today as Galicia. The construction of the cathedral over his tomb began in 1060 and ended in 1211. Thousands of people walk and bike to Compostela every year using five main pilgrimage routes, the most popular being the Camino Francés which is the one I took three years ago. Pilgrims have to walk 100 kilometers to be officially considered pilgrims - each one gets a 'passport' at the beginning and has to get a stamp at every albergue, or shelter, along the way to prove they completed the proper distance. Bikers have to do the same but for 200 kilometers. My friend Carol and I did 110 kilometers in 2007 when I was doing research for my thesis. It's an experience I'll never forget and highly recommend it to anyone who loves hiking and being outdoors.

Another particularly notable thing, perhaps not as pleasant, is the weather in Santiago. It's RAINY. and gray. I remember when I lived there during the month of February I thought I'd never see the sun or have dry clothes again. I didn't have rain boots and the wind broke about 2 umbrellas a week. It can get really old, but it's also something that characterizes Galicia, and you learn to live with it. Also, it means that Galicia is green green green and absolutely gorgeous. It's reminiscent of Scotland, and the bagpipes and celtic tradition that somehow found its way to Galicia helps this impression.

The photos below are from my trip to Santiago de Compostela. Please, please if you ever go to Spain, take some time and visit this place. You'll fall in love like everyone else.