It was a bitter sweet start to the day. We were sad that this amazing pilgrimage and journey had come to an end so quickly. 118kms actually isn’t that far when you break it all up into bite size chunks.
This would be our last day walking with our group of new antipodean friends. We took a not so successful photo at the monument - you just can’t trust strangers with this stuff!
Reaching Santiago was quicker than expected. After crossing a huge bridge over a river we walked through the modern part of town still following the shells to guide us all the way to the finish.
Entering the central square through this spectacular arch was like a right of passage
the central square and hone to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela among other important buildings
We smashed the 10kms to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. We were in by 9am, quickly found our accommodation and headed straight back to the church. It was Sunday after all.
Sunday midday mass in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
We got to attend the Pilgrims Mass at 12.00. It was beautiful. The multi-storey organ with its flying cherubs was unbelievable. And the organist was ridiculous good! The entire service was in Spanish (of course) but I did recognise the Apostles Crede in Spanish.
The old town is stunning! There are so many alleys and turn we would get lost so we took a free walking tour with a group of other tourists. Devon from Melbourne, joined us too.
I’m a sucker old architecture and this town is a brilliant example. Santiago is filled with jewellers selling silver and jet. It’s found in abundance here and you can get a good deal of you shop around and haggle a little.
The street markets brought a bounty of quality leather goods, beautifully printed scarves and most other home crafted wares.
I got a little silver bracelet that said Ultreia which means to go beyond, surge ahead and keep moving forward. It was the description used by pilgrims on the journey to the end of the known world... in those days this was that place and we had traveled the same roads of thousands before us.
Best of all I got to do this with my sister who has MS. She soldiered on, pushed forward and never gave up.
Since this trip Jade has done another leg of the Camino and we are currently planning a 200km route from the start of the Camino in France and walking into Spain.
We spent our final morning in Santiago watching the park and people crossing the road from a seat in a coffee shop in the sun. It was a glorious day and life was good.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey with us. 12 days of walking and travelling and now the nostalgia is killing me. Maybe 2022 will be the one where we get to do it again. Spain we are coming for you!