Santiago Today is my daughter Livy's birthday. Despite not being able to speak through FaceTime, there were big smiles from us both and sometimes that conveys all you need to know. Jon, Alex and Livy have all sent me texts which mean a great deal to me. After collecting my special 800 year anniversary Compostela from the San Fransiscan church, it was time for the pilgrims mass at noon. It was a beautiful and moving ceremony with the announcement of the nationalities who had completed the Camino on the previous day, and uplifting music and sermon. The organist pulled out all the stops to provide a rousing musical climax to the mass to accompany the swinging of the huge incense burner called the botafumeiro. For me, it has been worth walking 500 miles to experience this ceremony which has been performed for centuries. The original reason for the huge incense burner was to rid the cathedral of the smell from hundreds of pilgrims each day and now it is a truly spectacular ritual. The trip up on to the roof of the cathedral was excellent. It is a vast building complex - the largest original Romanesque cathedral in Europe. It has had other architectural features added over the centuries including, baroque, gothic, Renaissance and Islamic designs