This was a long stage between O Cádavo and Lugo so we walked to Castroverde
and got a bus to Lugo, the largest city
on the Camino Primitivo:
Lugo is famous for the Roman wall
and the Cathedral of Santa María
It is the only city in the world
to be surrounded by completely
intact Roman walls, which reach a height
of 10 to 15 metres
The
Catedral de Santa María is a
basilica erected in the early 12th century.
We set the alarm for 6, had a quick breakfast and went off at first light. We had intended to take an alternative to the main camino, but missed it somehow, which was lucky because we got to Castroverde quickly on a mixture of new prepared tracks and old walled paths. Once there, we had coffee with fellow pilgrims (including Sela and Lena) and got a stamp from the council office, but more interestingly a stamp from the photo shop where lady opened the church for us and showed us around. Santiago is also the patron saint of Castroverde, and there was a statue of him on horseback putting muslims to the sword! Apparently it is carried around the town by six men on the saints day,
We made our way to the bus stop by the pizza bar and had coffee and chocolate pastry, before squeezing onto a packed bus to Lugo.
We were glad we had taken the bus when we saw the long busy road the bus took through built up areas to get to the edge of the old town.
We got there just in time for Sue to go to mass and Angus to check out the tourist office and sit in the shade to do some planning. Then we went together to the exhibition above the tourist office about the origins of the town and its roman walls and its history to the modern day. Hungry after all this activity, we found a pizza restaurant, a rarity in this part of the world and enjoyed a meal. This strengthened, we walked round the 2km on top of the walls on a broad track, meeting monika an Estonian lady we had met earlier on our camino. We had been wondering what had happened to each other! Then time for a coffee and cider before taking an audio tour of the Cathedral, a fascinating place with it's own unique style.
Deciding that we had done enough sight seeing,
we headed down to our very basic room in a hostel
by the roman bridge. We went for a stroll to by
some provisions and do some Qi Gung exercises,
ate a delicious supper of cold left overs and
collapsed to sleep.