emilyonearth

Well, we made it! We arrived at Santiago Cathedral, the end of the Camino de Santiago, at around 12:40pm this afternoon, thus ending our wee wander across the top of Spain. It’s a little crazy to think that it’s all over – I’ve wanted to do this for over 15 years, and now, all of a sudden, it’s done. I wish I had a before and after of my shoes for you!!

We left early again this morning, knowing that we were walking further today than we were used to. Luckily, it wasn’t forecast to be nearly as hot as in recent days, with a high of just 25°C today. We had a little misty fog this morning, with most of the afternoon remaining overcast, and just a little sun later in the day. Not having to walk under the sun helped a lot.

There were a few hills along the way, but we managed ok. At the top of one of them we ran into Amy, and we walked with her a little way, before parting ways and then meeting again just was we walked into the centre of Santiago.

Once we arrived, we spent a little time in the plaza in front of the cathedral, then headed down to the pilgrims office to have our credencial documents checked and to receive our Compostela and distance certificate. The Compostela is written in Latin, and as such, translates our names into the Latin version too, while the distance certificate has our proper names on it. We then stopped for lunch, before heading the check in to our accommodation.

After showering and sorting ourselves out, we headed out again to visit the cathedral. Underneath the altar we could look through a barred off section where a silver box could be seen – supposedly the remains of Saint James, and the whole purpose for the existence of this pilgrimage. We then could go up into the altar to “embrace” Saint James’ statue. As we approached, there was a sign advising us to try to avoid kissing him, which, luckily, I managed to avoid! Afterwards, mum said she had a good look at the jewels in his cloak – apparently she was most impressed!

After visiting the cathedral, we had a wee wander through some of the tourist shops for some wee souvenirs of our walk. I didn’t buy anything, but will return tomorrow, and mum bought herself a T-shirt, though she really is on the lookout for some earrings.

We have tomorrow to continue to explore Santiago, and then we’re off to Porto for a few days’ holiday before heading off on our next adventure: Dubrovnik to Athens (but this time in a motor vehicle!)