Day 29: Arzúa - Santiago de Compostela!

Before we started walking today, we had planned to stay at the municipal albergue in Monte do Gozo, just 5km before Santiago, so that we would get there early the next morning. But seeing our goal so close, we couldn't wait any longer and ended up walking the 42km that separated us from it.

After about 20km we reached Pedrouzo, and since from that point to Santiago we wouldn't find much where to eat, we settled for a restaurant on the main street. Although they had a menu for 9€, the waiter said we couldn't share a menu (house policy, I guess). So instead of a full menu (two course) we each had half menu (one course, plus water/wine, bread and dessert) for 6€. However, we soon found out that one dish would have been more than enough for the both of us, they served HUGE portions! As we struggled to finish our meals, we watched in awe as everyone else around us ordered full menus.. The food wasn't great, but it wasn't the worst we had also. We left the restaurant totally stuffed, but desire to reach Santiago pushed us forward. We were almost there, we could feel it in our bones! Reaching the top of Monte do Gozo we finally got to see the city for the first time. A few kms afterwards we were entering the busy city life.

Just as we got closer to the center, we were stopped by a man who look homeless. He showed us a laminated newspaper article with his picture and told us his story: he was a special education teacher who saw his life turned upside down when an autistic child left at his guard fell from a window, went into a coma, and later passed away. He then started walking the camino, searching for answers he that, by his speech, he probably didn't find. He talked about an over-commercialized Camino with no point at all besides extirpating money from believing pilgrims. And he has a point there, walking the camino isn't for the poor. We've met people who did it without any money, but hardly. Some spend some time working where they can to earn sufficient to carry on with the journey. There are few places/people fully and truly hospitable, that give whatever they can to aid the pilgrim in his/her journey, but they exist, nonetheless. And despite the money we spent, it was everything but pointless, as he stated. We've met incredible people who showed us there are still good things to expect from this world and discovered that the smallest gesture can make a difference. We've heard the singing of the birds and enjoyed nature as we never did. We have learned our own limits and that we can surpass them. It was an incredible journey, and it was worth every cent. We carried on with our walking, which led to the albergue Estrella de Santiago. A piece of advice to anyone considering staying there: don't. It had a very shaggy look to it, the hospitalero was kinda lost in his job and had no notion of hygiene; the women toilet and shower were disgusting and there were no pillow cases or covers on the mattresses other than the typical disposable ones. Overall, not recommended! A little while after arriving at the albergue we found out that the pilgrim office closed at 19:00 in winter time, the current time being 18:40. So he had to run to get our compostelas on the day of our arrival! Luckily we got there on time. Then we hit the tourist office (that also closed at 19:00) to get some information on the next stage of our camino: Finisterra. Coming out of the tourist office, we were addressed by a young woman: "Sorry, are you speaking portuguese? Are you Portuguese? Finally, I've been looking for portuguese people for ages!". Basically she was doing an enquiry about Santiago and Galicia in general to foreigners, which we were glad to take part of. We were enquired for about 20min and then we went our separate ways. We don't really know why she was so eager to find Portuguese people, but maybe it was because she also spoke portuguese very well and wanted to practice! After the interview we hadn't much time for sightseeing. We went to visit the cathedral and called it a day, as we needed some rest before heading to the end of the world.