Visiting the Cathedral in Santiago

Hello, everyone. Today we paid our respects at the Cathedral. Many things have changed since the immense cleaning and refurbishment. 

The many confessionals--which were in traditional Spanish format, a sort of closet for the print to sit in with a window and kneeler for the penitent--have disappeared from the side aisles. Instead the priests have been put into the many side chapels. It is hard to figure out which ones are in use now, and it's also hard to figure out if the priest inside that chapel understands your language. Plenty of completely empty chapels had the sign "Confessions" but no one at all there, the metal grille being closed, and little or no indication of when there might be a priest there. I decided to make my Pilgrimage confession at home after our return.

The administrators have consolidated two of the other famous Rites of the pilgrimage: the visit to the relics in their casket and the hugging of the statue behind the Altar now have one shared line that snakes slowly through the Confessio and around to the stairs to the statue. This makes sense, as everyone who visited the relics was probably going to hug the statue as well. It worked out well overall, even though they "forgot" to return the kneelers that had been there in the past. There are a couple of steps at the opening, just outside the protective grille, and they're the right height for kneeling on for a quick prayer.

One of the cleaned side chapels.

This was also in that chapel. Our Lady of Le Puy en Velay?