Who would have believed it?

[J Willhaus]

Walked around Santiago yesterday to go to Mass at noon, get my Compostela, and do some research for return with my students this winter.

I got a blister! Same shoes and socks as the Camino this last week when I got no blisters! Only a small one and in the same place as one of my 2016 blisters. It is better today, but I put a piece of paper tape on it and switched from Darn Tough to Icebreaker socks. Waiting for a bus to Finesterre today in the Intermodal Station. The new station is really a step up from the old bus station!

If you are looking for some out of the way architecture, Phil and I visited the Colgiata del Sar near the bus station and our AirBNB this morning. National Historic site. A Romanesque Church and monastery. The church has buttresses on both sides as it was in danger of collapse in the 17th century. Small museum, beautiful cloisters.Church is still in use and the inside columns are tilting crazily outward hence the outer buttresses on each side.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

Oh! Thank you for the photos from the Colgiata! When we were there in May (walking up the hill to the Centro de Cultura (is that the name? It’s very early here, and my memory is a bit sputtering these days)… we stopped at the Colgiata, but there was a (very full) mass being celebrated and so we did not go in.
Am I correct in recalling/understanding that the structure sits on an alluvial plan and that this is why it was compromised?

 

[J Willhaus]

As I understand it, there was frequent flooding and the church actually sits a good 3 feet below what is now the surface of the street so possibly. It was built in the 12th century and reinforced with buttresses with help from the order at San Martin Pinero in the 17th century. It has been a parish since the 1800's and is actively used for local services. It was declared a National Historic site in 1895, I believe. It was a Augustinian monastery.

There is a Montessori school in the rest of the building according to the signs posted although we saw no children today. There is a large playground and soccer goals in the back next to the river.

 

[wisepilgrim]

The best view of the cloister is from the school on the second floor. I get to sneak a peek after every parent-teacher meeting.

And hiding in the ground floor rooms are a baffling collection of old carved stones. I've looked at them closely but cannot fathom where they are from as nothing seems to be missing from the Colexiata itself.