Santiago de Compostela

22nd of February we spent in Santiago de Compostela.

Santiago de Compostela (also Saint James of Compostela) is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the north west of Spain in the Province of A Coruña.

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One etymology for the name "Compostela" is that it comes from the Latin phrase campus stellae, i.e. "field of the star", making Santiago de Compostela "St. James of the Field of the Star". This would reflect the belief that the bones of St. James the Greater were taken from the Middle East, to Spain and then buried where a shepherd had spotted a star. A church was eventually built over the bones, and later replaced with the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela.

The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James (Spanish: Camino de Santiago).