Day 33: Santiago de Compostela - Padrón

When we asked for information on the Camino Português at the tourist office a few days before, we were told that backwards it wasn't very well waymarked, specially in Santiago de Compostela itself. Nevertheless, we should be following the blue arrows that led to Fátima, a major sanctuary in Portugal. So as we started walking towards Oporto, we found out that what we were told actually meant it is almost impossible to walk backwards without a GPS track to guide us, or at least without having done the camino beforehand in the right direction.

It was a bit stressful start, feeling kind of lost for a while. At least it was the Friday before carnival, what meant that there were masked kids everywhere on their way to school. So being lost made it possible for us to enjoy the very ingenious masks of some teenagers, the funniest of all being a full body sanitary pad (with fake blood and all). How I would love to have a picture of it, but unfortunately it was raining at that time! Eventually, we were able to get a GPS track after stopping at a café to get a wifi connection, so it took us a long while to leave Santiago, but finally we were on our way.

It was a very cloudy day, but fortunately it didn't rain all that much. It felt great to walk backwards. People smiled at us as we walked by, but it was a distinct smile from what we had seen the days before: it felt like amazement and a little bit of pity for our insanity, mixed together! But it made us feel very proud on our decision.

There were little facilities on the way, not many places where to stop for a bite. We decided to stop at the restaurant of Hotel Scala, about half the way to Padrón. We weren't able to share a menu, but it wasn't too pricey either way (8,5€ for a menu). And the food was great! No wonder it was full when we got there.

After a few more kms we reached Padrón. There we have discovered another difficulty: to find the albergue when the sign is meant to be seen on the opposite direction. So we asked a older woman on the street. She told us where it was and delighted us with a couple of stories about Santiago himself at the village of Padrón, that he visited both during his life and after death.

Day 32: Olveiroa - Finisterra

We had 30km ahead of us, with an additional problem: we wanted to get to Finisterra in time to catch the 15:00 bus back to Santiago.. What a day this was!

We started walking at 5:40. We pretty much walked over two hours in pitch black darkness. Crazy enough, right? Plus, it was raining the entire time, which made for one of the most horrid experiences ever. But now that we look back to it, it was kind of an interesting experience, as long as we don't have to do it again!

Initially we stuck to the road. Mainly because it was easier not to get lost this way, and also because we would be missing out on the view anyway. After the first few kms we got back on the natural pathways of the Camino and started playing a game we called "don't step on the salamander". Seriously, we were walking with a not so powerful headtorch which made it very hard to see the many salamanders that were just sitting on the way at this hour! We counted a total of 14 until dawn, by the time there was sufficient light to see them properly there was none to be seen.

By that time the rain finally stopped ans the sky started clearing up. That was also the moment we got to see the ocean for the first time since we started this journey. With a new boost of energy after this sighting, we speeded up til Finisterra. By the time we got there, many pilgrims were already sitting by the beach, enjoying the view of the ocean. I took my boots off, walked to the water and let the waves touch my bare feet. I also took the opportunity to bathe both our shells in the salty water once again. It felt great! But we couldn't take too long, as we were on a tight schedule.

The municipal albergue was closed until 15:00 (the same time as the bus would be leaving), so we couldn't get our last stamp there. Still deciding what to do, we started ascending by the road to the lighthouse at the end of the world. We walked as fast as we could. We got there, walked to the cape itself, sat for a moment, took some photos and said our goodbyes to the sea. It was time for us to get back!

I did a quick browsing on the tienda next to the lighthouse and bought a bracelet with a scallop shell for myself. We started descending, only 45min left to get on the bus! While going down, we passed by every pilgrim we had seen at the beach, and everyone of them asked something like "are we there yet?". We were almost running down the road, cheering them up as we went.

By the time we got to the village it was 14:40. We made a quick stop at a supermarket to buy something for the way back. We ran a little more. Finally, we got to the bus stop, 14:45. As we had a little extra time, I went into a bar and asked where we could get the final stamp. At the ayuntamiento, I was told. It was about 300 meters from the bus stop. Can we do it? Of course we can!

We ran to the ayuntamiento. The clerk said she could stamp our credenciales and offered to photocopy them and send us the certificate of Finisterra by mail, all we had to do was to get a ready-to-go envelope from the post office, that was next door. I ran to the post office. Closed. They photocopied our credenciales anyway and said they would try to mail them to Portugal. We thanked them and ran to the bus stop once again, and just in time. The bus was about to leave! I slept almost all the way to Santiago, otherwise I would get carsick as I usually do on buses, but Luís very much enjoyed what he said to be a lovely ride by the seashore.

All this running around made for a very hard day, but it was great to get to Santiago early enough to enjoy the narrow streets and buy some recuerdos and regalos. And to have a little rest, as our journey has not ended just yet. Seeing that we would get to Santiago earlier than expected, we had decided that we would keep on walking.. Back to Portugal. Yep, that's the reason of all the crazy 40km long days, to have sufficient time to get to Oporto until March 7th. That's how much we enjoy walking! :)

Day 31: Negreira - Olveiroa

We didn't expect it beforehand, but this day was terribly long, boring and tiresome. The 31km seemed to last forever, and most small places we passed had no facilities at all, so it was hard even to find a place to have some rest and a hot beverage.

Luckily, as I was reaching the point of desperation at about 20km in the day, we found a place called Casa Pepa in Santa Mariña, conveniently advertised. In low season they didn't had much to choose from for lunch, but the menu included lentejas and veal steak. We asked to share a menu and were happily surprised. They first bring a big bowl of lentil soup that basically was prepared as their own lunch.. So it turned out to be one of the best dishes we have tried on the Camino! Absolutely delicious, and they told us to eat as much as we want! The veal steak was also nice, bit by then we were stuffed with this lentejas goodness! Highly recommended!

Day 30: Santiago de Compostela - Negreira

We woke up to the sound of heavy rain outside. We had slept in because there were only 20 something kms separating us from Negreira so we didn't had to rush. As left the albergue, at about 10:00, it started pouring over our heads. We were really anticipating a bad day to walk.. We headed to the cathedral to hug the statue of Santiago before leaving and, soon after that, it stopped raining and the sky turned blue!

After the rainy start the day wasn't so bad, with some heavy showers followed by sunny moments. The municipal albergue in Negreira was 1km away from the village center, but at least it had nice facilities. Searching for WiFi we found a great place there: Cafeteria/Bar O Cotón. They offer a little plate with homemade chips with a little piece of veal with every beer you buy, and something sweet if you order a cup of tea. And the owner of the place was extremely friendly, we loved it! Had we known beforehand and we wouldn't have bought dinner just before getting there!

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.

Day 28: Eirexe - Arzúa

As we got closer to Santiago we started seeing more pilgrims on the way. Some were older, others younger, ones with backpacks and some with none, but all headed the same way.



After crossing a little hamlet, we passed by an old man that was slowly climbing a small hill with his cane. We said hola and kept on going. On the top of the hill we stopped for Luís to take off his jacket, and while we were there the old man caught up with us and said very seriously to Luís: "You've got to take it easy!.. You have very long legs, but she has not! And the Camino must be walked with patience". Here's a little bit of the wisdom of the Camino!



We were already getting hungry by the time we reached Melide. And being famous for its "pulpo", that was what we were looking forward to eat. On a corner were the Camino joins the main street, we saw a bunch of people lining up to get "pulpo" take out at a restaurant, and if the locals go there, it must be good.

And it was! Very tasty and with a wonderful texture, accompanied by a big basket of bread to soak in the olive oil. Very good indeed. To finish it off, we asked for "tarta de queso" for dessert.. BEST TARTA DE QUESO.. EVER!! It was sooo delicious.. We keep thinking of it while we walk! That alone could make a good reason to visit this restaurant!




Later that day (and still thinking about the "tarta de queso"!) we reached Arzúa, were we stayed for the night. Some one on the street was kind enough to tell us that in half an hour there would be a carnaval parade. And why do they celebrate carnaval in Arzúa a week in advance, you might ask? Well, because next weekend the local cheese festival would take place, and you don't want to take any prestige out of that by celebrating carnaval at the same time, do you? No, not in Arzúa they don't!