The Santiago Cathedral was initially founded back in the 11th century (if I remember correctly), after someone saw a vision that directed him to the remains of Saint James the apostle, whose remains had been brought to the area after his martyrdom. The original cathedral was built to encourage both devotion and pilgrimages to his remains, and over the ensuing centuries, the cathedral was expanded and renovated several times to support the growing numbers of pilgrims. Today, thousands complete the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James), following the footsteps of pilgrims of old from Pamplona to Santiago. I saw a fair number of them, easily identifiable by the scallop shells that have become a pilgrim symbol. Technically I rode the pilgrim route, so I felt ok in buying a Camino sticker for my bike, albeit one of the less overtly religious ones 🙂