Day 10 pics

Day 10: Santiago and Fisterra

Today our pilgrimage ended. We walked in the morning from the suburbs into the historical centre of Santiago de Compostela. We went to the Pilgrim's Office to collect our Compostelas, found out about the bus to Finisterre and where to leave our packs, talked to a man in the Dutch pilgrim office, visited the tomb of the apostle, hugged St James' statue above the altar, took pictures on the main square where I enjoyed the sight of the cathedral without scaffolding. We had a coffee and pan y tomata at the cafe on the corner. The owner even sent us over and extra portion.

Then I went to hold places in the cathedral for the pilgrim mass and the others went to look around the historic streets. I read my book and talked to a Scottish couple who were visiting as part of a cruise. The mass was moving and the botofumeiro swung over the heads of the congregation. Taňa slept on the pew. The cathedral wasn't as big as the one in St Petersberg, which reminded me of my dad sleeping at the Bolshoi Ballet.

Then we made a dash to the bus station and caught the bus to Fisterra where we have a small apartment with wonderful views of the sea and palms, just above the 'Riviera' beach. We had a beer on the sea front near the fishing harbour and the fish market. Zlatica and I went for a stroll around the town and had a lovely meal of sea bass fillet in a restaurant overlooking the harbour. Then we met up with the others and had a closer look at the fish market - a man showed us the razors and the woman

Day 9: Santa Irena to Monte del Gozo

Sun! A lovely morning walk through the woods and villages, up the hill, down to the river, sunny but not too hot, everyone in a good mood as Santiago approaches. We stopped for cafe con leche, then for pan y tomata and beer, then we paddled at Lavadora where the original pilgrims would bathe and wash their clothes before Santiago. Then we had a beer at San Marcos and helped some people with their blisters. The bird life was an interesting mixture of hens and peacocks.
Now we are in the big efficient barracks-style albergue at Monte del Gozo. Tomorrow we go to Santiago in the morning and then on to Finisterre in the afternoon.

Day 8 pics

Day 8: Arzúa to Santa Irena

A rather rainy day. It was raining when we got up, it rained as we left the albergue, it rained when we left the breakfast cafe. It stopped for a bit and then it rained some more - we were a line of figures wrapped in plastic. We met a few of the Texans from the pilgrim mass yesterday, and Zlatica helped an older Italian woman sort her pack out.
Finally, we checked into the municiple albergue in Santa Irene and discovered the local cafe bar is closed on Mondays, so we walked back up to a bar/restaurant about 1km back along the camino where we had a not very inspiring dinner though hunger helped us enjoy it. We also got to try cheese and membrillo - the quince jelly. We saw it yesterday in the deli and today it was a dessert option.
Later we planned the last stage of our time together and I had a chat with a nice German pilgrim who will finish tomorrow after setting off from St John.

Day 7 pics

Day 7: Melide to Arzúa

We got up at around 6am and had a kind of breakfast of bananas, cheese, bread and tuna with Taňa's magic tea. Amazingly the weather was dry and we set off in good spirits. Two other caminos now join with the Francés route and from time to time there was a carneval atmosphere. The sun shone for a while, it rained a bit, we walked over a hill and then down to the river and then up over another hill. We stopped for cafe con leche and freshly squeezed orange juice, I had a nice talk with Zlatica and finally we were in Arzúa.
We got beds in the Albergue Santiago Apostle, sorted our things. I did a washing load and luckily there was a drier too as it started raining again. At one point it just poured down and we had to hide under an awning.  We had lunch in a bar full of people getting ready to watch the Spain v Russia match. We had a simple but quite tasty 8 Eur menu - a cold platter, lasagne, or soup and bolognaise. Then we watched the first half with our team the only table to loudly support Russia. We went to another bar for the second half. The Spanish were pretty downcast by the result but they took Tana's jubilation with good grace. Then we all went to the pilgrim's mass in the church - we got called up at the end and  said which country we were from and received a blessing and a flick of holy water. The Zlatica and I went for beers in a bar/deli where we got brought lovely cheese tapas and a great bowl of nuts, seeds and corn.