There was no breakfast available at Kilometer 15, so we headed out without eating at 6:45 AM. Temperatures were forecast to reach 89 degrees today, so an early start seemed advisable
even though we had just 10 miles to go. The trail takes a big curve around the Compostela airport before heading downhill and into the city itself. Everyone on the trail was moving at a fast clip;
it seems every pilgrim had "finishing fever".
We soon found an open cafe and stopped there to get breakfast. We ended up talking to a solitary hiker from England. He said that he had done the entire Camino in
32 days. Since there are 33 stages, he must have doubled up two stages in one day, and also he must not have taken any rest days. He also told us that for the first two weeks of his pilgrimage that it rained on him
every day. We have been fortunate with the weather, only a couple light showers on our entire walk.
When I passed the 10.000 Km milestone marker, Lil was already up ahead of me - even she had "finishing fever"!
The hill Monte do Gozo is just outside of Santiago de Compostela - it is from this hill that pilgrims can get their first glimpse of the spires of the cathedral and
rejoice knowing that their pilgrimage was a success. There is a famous sculpture (the Monument of the Walker) here of two pilgrims waving their hats in joy. I thought this sculpture would be right next to the Camino and so almost walked
on down the hill without seeing it. But Lil guessed that we were at the right spot, and so we ventured a few hundred yards off to the left (following a few other pilgrims) and found the statues. We could
indeed see the spires of the cathedral from that hilltop.
We entered Santiago de Compostela and walked through the city streets. At 11:15 AM we arrived at the plaza that sits in front of the cathedral and the town hall. After a few
celebratory photographs, we inquired where the Pilgrims' Office was. Fortunately, the line to collect our certificates was not too long - I was pilgrim #422 to complete the Camino that day. A total of 5288 would finish today,
so we were well ahead of most of the walkers.
We checked into our hotel, got cleaned up and went back to the cathedral to explore. There is a museum there as well, and we got a "pilgrim discount" on our admission fee.
Lil really wanted to attend the 7:30 PM pilgrims' mass, so we got there very early. Even so, we ended up with seats at the very back of the pews. People who arrived after us
had to stand the entire service, which was of course all in Spanish. Because we happened to arrive on a Holy Day (The Feast of the Ascension), they fired up the huge incense burner at the end of mass. The incense burner
hangs at the end of a fifty foot rope and it takes a contigent of altar boys yanking on the rope to make it swing in a huge arc over the mass attendees.
As we left the cathedral, we happened to bump into our friends from the Canary Islands again - Nestor and Gabi. For me, one of the best parts of the Camino is meeting people from all
over the world and sharing the same long walk with them. They suggested we should go out to eat octopus with them, but we declined that invitation.
Next day we flew back to Paris, and the following day we flew back to the States. Our trip had gone marvelously well. No injuries or illness. No bad weather. We didn't get lost. No confusion with our reservations.
The luggage transport service worked perfectly.
Everyone we met was friendly and welcoming. It was a great trip.
Buen Camino!
Panorama Photos
Still Photographs
