Day 33, October 13, 2017, A'Rua to Santiago De Compostela, 14 miles
We were unable to leave before 8:15 a.m. and were dropped off to A'Rua. We stopped at the bar that we had gone to the previous afternoon for a stamp and then we were off. It was incredibly foggy and we were walking slowly because we wanted to make sure that it would be clear by the time we got to Monto de Gozo to see Santiago for the first time. We stopped at Amenal (3.5 kms.) for coffee and continued on. The paths were very comfortable with only gentle slopes and shady paths.
It was a very pleasant walk but there were a lot more people and bikes today. We walked on until Vilamaior (11kms.) and took a break there. We kept meeting Marta and Aram and a few others. Shortly after Vilamaior, we heard what sounded like a plane taking off. Then we realized that the camino passed right by the Santiago airport. Just before we hit San Marcos (17.6 kms. ) we saw the headquarters of Television de Galicia. We continued on climbing until we hit Monte de Gozo. They have a huge sculpture at top.
We took pics. and walked over to look at our first view of Santiago.
We could only see some of the commercial areas and not the old part of the city. It was a little disappointing. We walked on to enter the city shortly after that. It was a very awful way to enter the promised land - very industrial and uninspiring. Still, we were finally here and we kept following the Camino. It took us nearly 2 additional miles to get to the old city. We decided to stop at the bus station to pick up a ticket for Lisa to head to Porto on Sunday. After this little detour, we headed off to the Cathedral. We went to the old part of the city and were reminded of Pamplona. It was very pretty and we passed through Cervantes square and finally came up to the Cathedral. It turned out to be the back part of the Cathedral. We also found out that we needed to go to the pilgrim office for our final stamp. We decided to go to our hotel first and then to the pilgrim office. We are staying at the Parador Hostal de Dos Reios de Catolicos.
It used to be a pilgrim hospital. It is a lovely building and we headed to our room to stretch etc. Then we headed off to the pilgrim office. Once there, we discovered that the line was HUGE and that it would take us more than 2 hours to get our compostelas. We decided to come back later and headed out to dinner. We walked over to the Cathedral area and checked out the entrance. We found a nice restaurant and had sangria and our dinner. Then headed to get our compostelas. We stood in line for a little over an hour and got our compostelas!!!! We got both our spiritual compostela and our distance one. We found that we had walked 773 kms. or 480 miles!!!
We are both very proud of ourselves. I'm very grateful to Lisa for walking with me and being such a fun companion. I'm happy to say that we are still friends and talking to each other :-) This has been a fabulous experience and I'm glad that I did it. We will be heading off to the pilgrim mass tomorrow at noon and look forward to experiencing the botafumerio. Goodbye all!
It was a very pleasant walk but there were a lot more people and bikes today. We walked on until Vilamaior (11kms.) and took a break there. We kept meeting Marta and Aram and a few others. Shortly after Vilamaior, we heard what sounded like a plane taking off. Then we realized that the camino passed right by the Santiago airport. Just before we hit San Marcos (17.6 kms. ) we saw the headquarters of Television de Galicia. We continued on climbing until we hit Monte de Gozo. They have a huge sculpture at top.
We took pics. and walked over to look at our first view of Santiago.
We could only see some of the commercial areas and not the old part of the city. It was a little disappointing. We walked on to enter the city shortly after that. It was a very awful way to enter the promised land - very industrial and uninspiring. Still, we were finally here and we kept following the Camino. It took us nearly 2 additional miles to get to the old city. We decided to stop at the bus station to pick up a ticket for Lisa to head to Porto on Sunday. After this little detour, we headed off to the Cathedral. We went to the old part of the city and were reminded of Pamplona. It was very pretty and we passed through Cervantes square and finally came up to the Cathedral. It turned out to be the back part of the Cathedral. We also found out that we needed to go to the pilgrim office for our final stamp. We decided to go to our hotel first and then to the pilgrim office. We are staying at the Parador Hostal de Dos Reios de Catolicos.
It used to be a pilgrim hospital. It is a lovely building and we headed to our room to stretch etc. Then we headed off to the pilgrim office. Once there, we discovered that the line was HUGE and that it would take us more than 2 hours to get our compostelas. We decided to come back later and headed out to dinner. We walked over to the Cathedral area and checked out the entrance. We found a nice restaurant and had sangria and our dinner. Then headed to get our compostelas. We stood in line for a little over an hour and got our compostelas!!!! We got both our spiritual compostela and our distance one. We found that we had walked 773 kms. or 480 miles!!!
So proud of you both!!!! And glad you still like one another :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!! Thank you for sharing your journey through this blog - it's been awesome reading about your walk through Spain. Very proud of you both!
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