On Sunday, June 23 we arrived in Santiago de Compostella and spent our last official day as pilgrims. Coming into the city was the absolute best feeling and I could not have been more excited to finish our 37 day long journey.
That morning we woke up (with most of the albergue) at 4:50 AM. We knew we had 20 KM to do and we wanted to be sure that we arrived in the city in time for the Pilgrim Mass at noon. We also had to have time to grab our usual second breakfast and cafe con leche. We got all of our things together and had a quick snack before rushing out the door at around 6 AM. Not many people were on the street at that hour and we ended up following a couple who seemed to know where they were going. Unfortunately, we came to a Camino marker that was pointed in the direction we had just come, and we knew we were going in the wrong direction. The couple apologized for leading us the wrong way and together we were able to backtrack and find our way back on the Camino.
Eventually we reached the point where the city met the woods and the sun had still not risen. Abe got out his headlamp (mine was buried somewhere in my bag and I couldnt find it) and we began to make our way through, what everyone is now calling, "The Black Forest". I followed Abe's footsteps and he walked slowly enough that I could see the light. I was terrified that I'd either 1. Fall in a hole 2. Trip over something OR 3. Step in a giant pile of cow poo (these are all over the trail in Galicia).
We survived the several KM trip through the woods with no injury and finally at about 7, the sun came up and Abe put away his headlamp. We tried to take as few stops as necessary and we constantly checked the time. Most of the walk was uphill and through forest that looked similar to what we had walked through before.
We walked through a small town where, in Mideval times, Pilgrims would stop and bathe in the stream that runs through the city and follows the Camino. For some this may have been their first bath in weeks (imagine the smell!!). We joked that we could use a bath since we were both very sweaty from walking so quickly.
Finally we came upon the marker that was officially 5 KM away from our final destination. It was on the top of a hill and we were able to look out over Santiago in awe. It was such an exciting feeling to be able to see our end goal. Abe suggested running the rest of the way, but I quickly shot down that idea.
Here we are entering the city limits. After coming upon this sign, we still had to walk 30 minutes to get to the cathedral.
At this point, we were hurring down the streets and passing Pilgrims without a backward glance. Some of the "Pilgrims" we passed had been dropped off outside the city limits and were walking the 3 KM to get to the cathedral. It was easy to distinguish the Pilgrims who had walked for days from these poser "Pilgrims".
Finally we fot our first glimpse of the cathedral.
As we got closer my heart began to pound and I began to feel many different emotions...elation, sadness, exhaustion, a little bit of everything. We made it to the back of the cathedral and thats when we heard the bagpipes. I had read many times about these bagpipes but never understood why Pilgrims put such an emphasis on the sound they make. As you travel down the street below, you go through an arch, and usually there is a street musician playing the bagpipes. The music really makes you feel like you've reached the heart of Galicia, and the sound totally overwhelmed me. As we rounded the bend, I saw the front of the cathedral and burst into tears. I was so glad to be done and I knew we wouldn't have to wake up and spend another day walking KM after KM. I stood there looking up, Abe hugging me, just trying to take it in. We had walked over 800 KM and we had reached the finish line.
We attended Mass and then went to the Pilgrims office to get our last stamp in our passports and our Compostellas.
We then left our bags in our hotel and, since we couldn't check in, we wandered around the city and ran into tons of friends!
This is M from Australia. We lost her in Fromista after she got the Australian flu!
The two on the left are S and S from Germany, and on the right is B from the States. (V is for Victory)
This is M from Ireland! She's the one who bought me my birthday chocolate!!
We them met up with E, B and J and had a celebratory dinner and last ever Pilgrims meal!
Later that night, we stumbled on a street festival. This festival was for San Juan and it involves jumping over bonfires (which we didn't do, haha).
There we saw J (the Camino orphan) and a new friend S.
We consumed many beers (I also discovered that beer+lemon juice is delicious) and Abe had a flaming drink that was totally disgusting. We stayed up all the way to 12:30 AM (way past our usual Pilgrim bedtime)!! All in all, it was the perfect ending to a long and hard journey.
Now we are relaxing and eating lots of food in Santiago. Today we explored the cathedral a bit more ane I'll give you a full report in a soon to be published post!
Buen Camino!
