Day Six - Our Final Camino

Day Six, Friday, September 30th. Our final day on the Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James) before leaving for Barcelona. We started out early in the morning on the 16 kilometers walk from Sagüeiro to Barcelona. We felt excited.

The hike wasn’t strenuous, compared to those of days before – some uphill, but not steep over any long distance. Again, it was on trails through forests and along streams –

although for the first time we walked occasionally alongside the road. Sometimes we were very close and that was a little scary.

Despite the proximity to the main road, we felt the most like peregrinos on this our final walk – more connected to past pilgrims, more alone with our thoughts, more contemplative, more serene – although at times we gave in to the urge to sing (and a good thing no other peregrinos were nearby!).

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We have been hearing and reading about the film The Way, recently released, which takes place along the Camino Frances. It will be interesting to see it and compare it with our experiences.

Now, you may have been wondering from time-to-time what the medieval peregrino wore. Well – the costume included a brown long cloak, a broad-brimmed hat, a staff, and a scallop (cockle) shell, which was used for back then food and water. When we walked the Camino Francés four years ago, we sometimes saw a modern pilgrim dressed in the traditional costume

Our camino guide gave pretty good directions, although we didn’t rely on it too much – the waymarks were very good. So we walked and walked, trying to keep up at least a 3 1/3 kilometer/hour pace. (Now we know that’s slow but, in our defense, it takes into account stopping for photos, water, bathroom breaks, and all the uphill climbs. In any event, we just had to accept that we weren’t as fast as we’d like to be.)

So we kept walking and walking and looking at our watches from time to time – we’d started at 10:00 a.m. more or less, and we hoped to be in Santiago by 3:00 p.m. But by 12:00 noon the guidebook indicated we’d only come 4 or 5 km. Very discouraging.

Well, a trail miracle occurred. When we emerged from the woods at the first café, it turned out we had really walked 12 kilometers, not 8! Only 4 left. We’d make it in by 3:00 p.m. for sure. We were good to go for the remainder of the trail.

Walking into cities is generally less than pleasant because the route wends through light-industrial suburbs and areas of blight. But this camino had only a minimum of that. Before we knew it, we were in the medieval heart of Santiago de Compostela.



We caught our first glimpse of the spires of the cathedral,




then continued downhill through modern housing – where a marker announced we only had 1.635 kms to go – a park,

across a square where we had another pilgrim to show us the way, and






finally down a narrowing pedestrian path which emerged onto the Rúa de San Francisco.



We followed the rúa under the archway where a street singer entertained us with arias onto the Plaza del Obradoiro, where we gazed upon the magnificent Cathedral with its 18th century Baroque façade.


Entering through the Pórtico de la Gloria (Doorway of Glory), we followed the traditional pilgrim path.

First we touched the pillar beneath the figure of St. James in token of our safe arrival. (In fact, so many peregrinos have touched the pillar that finger marks can be seen worn into the stone.)







Second, we climbed behind the high altar giving that statue of St. James the traditional abrazo (hug) in gratitude for a journey well made. And third, we descended to his tomb to give thanks for everything encountered and learned during the journey.

We paused to look around at the Romanesque interior of the Cathedral (which dates from the 11th-13th centuries as differentiated from the façade).

And, then, finally, we went to the Pilgrim’s Office to receive our compostelas! We had done it!

Our passports were filled with sellos by the time we entered Santiago.

There is a Pilgrims’ Mass every day at noon in the Cathedral, and it was jam packed the day we attended (as was the city of Santiago itself). During the Mass (conducted in Spanish), a priest announced all the cities and countries from which peregrinos had arrived during the last 24 hours. It was quite amazing how far people had traveled – Australia, South Africa, Chile, to name only a few places.







At the end of the Mass, we were very fortunate to see the Alcachofa lit. Pilgrims gasped as this large silver incense burner swung higher and higher spitting out sparks and filling the air with incense. (Here's the link for the video. https://picasaweb.google.com/110847682186133122154/LaAlcachofa?authkey=Gv1sRgCNKv3oLeyfTfmQE#5657458501629526850. We tried unsuccessfully to put the video directly into the blog.)

Watching the Alcochofa was an uplifting end to our camino -- a journey more difficult and challenging -- on several levels -- than we had anticipated, and more rewarding. It was vale la pena (worth it)!

Much Love,
Elsa and Dale