Monte de Gozo statues

[sillydoll]

I had a look through the Google images of Monte de Gozo and found this photograph which clearly shows the towers of the cathedral from the statues on the hill. If you click on it, it will enlarge and you will have a better view.

http://24.87.77.102/camino/CaminoImages/Camino776.jpg

 

[Peter Robins]

yes, that's a good photo, tho the haze is typical. The last time I was up there it was so murky you couldn't see the city at all - just about make out the ring road and the football stadium. Not things to inspire much joy!

I don't know that it was ever wooded. It was more small fields where locals grew their vegetables. Abbé Bernès' guide from the 1980s says 'The chapel of San Marcos and 3 simple wooden crosses mark the solemnity of the site.' Sic transit . . .

 

[Peter Robins]

you get better views from the Camino Portugues, though you have to wait for gaps in the trees to get more than glimpses of the cathedral

 

[vinotinto]

statues on the hill.

As someone else has also asked on a different but related thread: where are these statues? I never saw them - I only encountered the big monolith on top of the hill located above and to the left of the big albergue, and the view of the cathedral from there wasn't so grand (I'd insert my photo, but I'm not totally sure how).

Indeed, after taking a photo on the hill (and getting my picture taken there), I continued around to the left (along with two Slovakian women), and ended up walking right through the main drag of the mondo albergue towards Santiago. Perhaps my glasses were foggy due to sweat, but I didn't zero in on the church towers until I wandered into a park (they need better waymarking, by gum) and asked some elderly ladies for directions to the cathedral.

In the end, I suppose my expectations were a bit too high. I guess I expected to see the main cathedral big as day from the hill - not barely-discernable tower tops fighting for attention with modern buildings - and through a haze no less. Anyway, no big deal - it was nice just to walk through the final gate to the tune of bagpipes and see the whole edifice from the plaza in all its glory... :arrow:

 

[Peter Robins]

On the actual hill, Monte de Gozo 42° 53' 9.53"N 8° 29' 38.77"W (unless my memory is playing tricks, which is entirely possible )
Same on Google Maps

There's another photo on santiagoturismo

 

[sillydoll]

The statues are on the hill as you leave the complex. The artist was Jose Maria Acuña and they were erected in 1993. There is another one of his sculptures, called "El Peregrino" in front of the Parador San Marcos in Leon. Jose Maria Acuña lost his hearing at the age of four and pioneered an organization of the deaf in Galicia. He graduated at the College of the Deaf and Blind of Santo Domingo in Santiago de Compostela and his works include sculptures, drawings and paintings. I think that the statue at the Alto de San Roque - "Fighting against the wind" is also one of his. Perhaps one of our Spanish members can confirm this?