Mazur Images

We walked 800 km's to see this.

Here's some photo's of the Santiago Cathedral.

The Botafumeiro From Wikipdeia........ The Botafumeiro is suspended from a pulley mechanism in the dome on the roof of the church . The current pulley mechanism was installed in 1604. The present Botafumeiro is made of an alloy of brass and bronze and is plated by a very thin 20 micrometre layer of silver. The current Botafumeiro was created by the gold and silversmith José Losada in 1851. It has a golden sheen.... Silver censer The Santiago de Compostela Botafumeiro is one of the largest censers in the world,[2]weighing 80 kg[3] and measuring 1.60 m in height. It is normally on exhibition in the library of the cathedral,[4][5] but during certain important religious occasions it is brought to the floor of the cathedral and attached to ropes hung from the pulley mechanism. There is another large thurible used in the other masses carried out in the cathedral, called "La Alcachofa" (literally, "The Artichoke")[6] or "La Repollo" (literally, "The Cabbage").[7] La Alcachofa is a silver-colored metal censer. It was created in 1971 by the sacred art artisans working under the craftsman Luis Molina Acedo. The ropes typically last about 20 years before they have to be replaced. However, recently a thicker rope than usual was used, and the extra rubbing produced premature wear of the rope. Therefore, this thicker rope had to be replaced sooner than had been expected, in 2004.[8][9] Before 2004, the ropes were woven from hemp,[10] or a type of grass called esparto,[6] and made in Vigo, Spain. Since 2004, a rope made of synthetic material has been used. Shovels are used to fill the Botafumeiro, or the Alcachofa, with about 40 kg of charcoal and incense.[11] The thurible is tied to the rope with elaborate knots. The censer is pushed initially to start its motion. Eight red-robed tiraboleiros pull the ropes, producing increasingly large oscillations of the censer. The turible's swings almost reach the ceiling of the transept. The incensory can reach speeds of 68 km/h as it dispenses thick clouds of incense. At the top of the swing, the Botafumeiro reaches heights of 21 meters. It swings in a 65-meter arc between the Azabachería and Praterias doorways at the ends of the transept. The maximum angle achieved is about 82. The maximum can be reached after about 17 cycles, and requires about 80 seconds of swinging. It costs about 250 for each thurible "performance" at the cathedral. Although this is expensive, the swinging of the thurible is very popular with pilgrims, tourists and visitors. The Botafumeiro produces large volumes of smoke.

Day 31. Only 10 km's to Santiago. One month ago today we started with our first step leaving Saint Jean in France, tomorrow morning we will walk into Santiago having waked 800 km's across Spain. I can hardly believe it.

Trail a Story of the day........"The Last Story" Well......this is it......there's so many more stories to tell, but this is the last one. Tomorrow when most of you folks are going to work in the morning we'll be walking into Santiago on our final leg of our journey. Everyone we have talked to has told us that walking into Santiago is an incredible experience, the guide book says, "As we get nearer to the city, asphalt and crowds begin to take over as bus loads of pilgrims j...oin the route for this one-day into Santiago. Be prepared for large crowds and try to create an air of compassionate detachment, be patient and prepare for a long slog up to Monte Gozo." We are both very excited for tomorrow to come and to finish what we have started. It really has been an incredible journey. We feel very fortunate that we've been able to walk the Camino. We hope through our pictures and stories you were able to get a little insight what it's like to walk the Camino de Santiago. It's been more than both us had expected when we started. Buen Camino! See more