The End is in Sight...

Thursday, May 31 -- Lavacolla to Santiago de Compostela -- 10 km / 6 mi

Although the remaining distance to Santiago was short for some of us, there was a deadline of arriving at the cathedral by noon for the pilgrim mass.  And, because part of the group had stopped earlier on Wednesday at Amenal, we chose to leave A Painza at 6:45 on the bus to drop that group off.  The bus took the rest of us to Lavacolla.  Our first activity was to have our breakfast of cafe con leche and tostada (toasted bread).  The other interesting thing about yesterday was that it took the bus about 40 minutes to drive, on a pretty direct route, the distance that we had hiked the day before.  On foot, it didn't seem that far.  On the other hand, in just 7 days we had walked a total of    about 155 km / 96 miles.

Unlike the three previous mornings, there was very little fog or mist when we started walking.  The temperature was just a little warmer, in the mid 50s, but the sky was clear blue.  The walk into Santiago was quick, the first hour was largely in the suburbs along tree-lined roads but the second hour was mostly along city sidewalks and we had to watch for traffic and traffic lights and crossing indicators.    Just before entering the city proper you climb to the top of Monto Gioso (Mount Joy) a high point east of the city from which the medeival pilgrims could first see the spires of the cathedral.  Today, it hosts a large statue which commemorates the visit of Pope John Paul II during a previous "Ano Jacobeo" -- a year in which the feast day of Santiago falls on a Sunday.   That conveys special value to the pilgrimage in that year.

As we walked into the Cathedral Square, there was a young man playing the Galician pipes -- a relative of the Uillean pipes, the small bagpipes common in  Celtic lands.  Like the Celtic crosses on the horreos (corn cribs) this was one other reminder of the Celtic heritage of Galicia. We arrived at the cathedral just at 10:00 and there were already some pilgrims in the square.  After a couple of quick pictures, we went to the pilgrim office to turn in our "credenciales" (pilgrim passports) and receive our compostela, the certificate that a pilgrim has walked at least the last 100 km of the Camimo.  Some of our group was already in line, as well as other peregrinos with whom we had walked in the last few days -- the 5 spanish women who were medical students in Pamplona, a couple from Norway, two  guys from Germany.  In fact, throughout the day and evening, we continued to encounter folks who looked familiar from the past 7 days.

After the pilgrim office, we stopped directly across the street for our cafe con leche y tostada.  After all, it was well past our usual break time.  After coffee, a few of us walked to the hotel to meet the bus and unload the luggage.  We got the luggage into the rooms, freshened up a bit and then went back to the catherdral for the pilgrim mass at noontime.  Even though we arrived about 11:40, most of the 1,000 seats were already filled so many people were standing.  In addition to the peregrinos who had walked the camino, there were also busloads of European tourists who had made a pilgrimage to Santiago.  The pilgrim mass lasted about an hour and was conducted entirely in Spanish.  There was not printed liturgy but a Spanish nun taught and led all of the songs.

After mass, I ran into our Italian friend, Enzo, in the nave.  He had smile from ear-to-ear and gave me a big hug.  He asked for Roy and we tried to communicate that Roy would be out in the plaza, our designated meeting place for the group to take a picture with the Calvin flag after mass.  After the picture, Ricardo took some of us to the local market to the seafood buildings.  He purchased a variety of mariscos from the fishmongers and then took us to a little restaurant that cooks the seafood for you and serves the meal.  The restaurant provided bread, a salad of tomatoes and onions, wine and beer, and  the tarta de Santiago for dessert.  Here's what we ate for dinner--
  -- Percebes: goose-neck barnacles
  -- Navajas: razor clams
  -- Mejillones: mussels
  -- Almejas: clams
  -- Vieiras: scallops
Each item was boiled with very simple seasoning, but was incredibly delicious.  

After lunch, we walked back to the hotel and had a siesta.  Even though we had walked only a short distance today, everyone expressed how tired we were.  I think that the adrenalin drive that had kept us going for the last few days was starting to subside. And, the temperatures were in the high 80s with direct sun so that contributed to our fatigue -- it hot and tiring just standing around.  Roy and both hit the pillow and conked out immediately.  We slept solidly for about an hour and then got a shower before heading back out again about 5:30.

Our first stop was back at the cathedral to visit it more fully and better understand the art and the architecture.  Unfortunately, the grand portal of the nave was under renovation and they had roped off the traditional place at the entry where the pilgrims would touch the column and bend down the touch their foreheads with the forehead of a statue of St James.  We did walk up into the back of the high altar where one could embrace the statue of St James -- I did not --and we also went down into the chapel in the crypt which contains his reliquary.   Finally, we spent some time viewing an art exhibition of paper icons of all of the saints who are represented in the parish churches in Santiago de Compostela.  These were very elaborate icons with an explanation of each saint's life, their feast day, and the group for whom they are the patron.

After the cathedral, we did some souvenir shopping. One of the local specialities is azabache (jet), a semi-precious black stone often set in silver.  We visited various little shops and poked around.  By 8:30, it was too early for dinner so we stopped for a caña and tapas for a while.  Roy had gone for a walk and came back about 9:00 so we found another place for dinner.  After the big mariscada (assorted seafood meal) at noon, we had a simpler meal at dinner.   I had just a salad and some soup, and of course, the great Galician bread.  We all commented that we felt exceptionally tired, somehow reaching the end of our Camino walk left us more weary than previous nights.  We were asleep by 11 with little difficulty.