Day 35 - O Podrouzo to Santiago de Compostela

 

We made it. Walked into the square to kilometre zero at about 12.15pm after a very pretty walk. We were both a little surprised, bemused and disbelieving.

It was the perfect day for a walk. A cool eight degrees when we started out, but with clear skies.

We were  expecting more pilgrims on the trail, but apart from the odd episode of noisy school groups, we were able to have quite a peaceful walk.

This morning's view from Pension Arca.

Just an extra note about last night's Pension Arca. As well as the great living space they served a delicious breakfast. I was so pleased to see cereal, fruit and yoghurt that I skipped the toast, pastries, meat and cheese. But winding back to our arrival there yesterday, as I took things out of my suitcase I dropped the little shot glass I bought in Bayonne. Of course it shattered on the tiled floor.

Speaking of glassware, one of my favourite beer glasses at home is the Estrella Galicia glass I took home with me in 2019. It's great to have souvenirs you use every day. We had two coffee stops along the way today. The second was at quite an upmarket bar about 6km from Santiago. Cathie was gone for quite a long time washing her hands before she tackled the huge chocolate croissant we'd ordered. She finally arrived looking smug with the beer glass above. She'd asked at the bar if she could buy one as a souvenir and eventually they brought her one nicely wrapped in newspaper as a gift. Wasn't that nice?

We wandered past the aeroporto, from where we'll fly to Barcelona and Amsterdam in two days, then on through pleasant paths descending in Santiago.

It was a reasonably long walk into town, but not unpleasant and soon we could see the cathedral spire ahead.

As we approached the cathedral square we could hear the bagpipes under the entrance archway - I had to do the tourist thing and get a video. I tried to post it here, but it didn't want to happen. With luck it'll be accessible on today's photo album. It was all a bit unreal, but after 2019's solo entry it was great to share the experience. Our treat for the next two days is to stay at the Parador, one of the oldest and most luxurious hotels in the world, right next door to the cathedral, so we checked in.

Our bags hadn't arrived, so we took a wander to the pilgrim office to see if perchance we could wait in the queue for long enough to get our pilgrim certificates. We walked straight in, and became fully accredited pilgrims. When we came out, there was a huge lineup of people waiting. From there we dived into various gift shops coming away with not one, but two shot glasses, one of which appears in the photo higher up.

Our bathroom has a shower and a bath (as well as two handbasins and a bidet), so we utilised most of it, then went shopping for essential beer supplies. 

And here we are. We couldn't possibly close without remembering all those we've walked with. Already we've had a beer with Don from Toronto and had a quick hug with Patrick and Tammy from Iowa. In spirit we're with Donatella, from Florence, whose foot put a halt to her pilgrimage at Leon, but we promised to remember her when we arrived. Marianne from Texas is a day or two behind. Scott and David from Melbourne will be here - if we have the stamina and if we can find them we'll have a final knees-up with them. Many, many others - who knows who we'll see before we leave.

There'll probably be a debriefing blog tomorrow and possibly one or two from Holland and Singapore before this adventure draws to a close.

Here's today's Relive video: https://www.relive.cc/view/v1vj7XwjgYO

This is a real earworm. I woke in the middle of last night with some of the very clever lines of this song circulating in my head. All day I've been remembering fragments. Here's the whole thing, from 1955, when I was old enough to love it: https://youtu.be/KMLq68cMMNk

Today's photo album. With luck the entry video will work here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VEwU5abnT5xQCdzL6