Camino: Day 34

Distance: 16.4 KM (10 miles)

Weather: rain, 50-61°

Time on trail: 4 hours with few stops

It’s official, we walked into Santiago today.! The forecast showed rain all day & that’s exactly what it did.

But, a little rain is not going to stop people who have already walked over 475 miles.

We were on the trail at 8:40 wearing all our rain gear.

Fortunately, today was a short walk. An hour into our walk, we saw our young friend from Italy. She stayed with us the rest of the way.

The count down begins.

It is hard to explain the feelings you have when you reach the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela. Pure joy & disbelief are just two.

Pictures never do justice to this church. It is incredibly large & you can feel it’s all encompassing presence. Experiencing it justifies all the time spent to reach it.

After we arrived, we watched trail friends arrive. Many hugs & big smiles were included in the greetings.

We also had hugs with several Koreans who had been walking with us from the 1st day as well.

Our next stop was inside the cathedral.

Next we went to the pilgrim office where you show your pilgrim passport with all the stamps collected on it since the start. You need at least one stamp each day which are collected from hotels, churches, restaurants, & volunteer stations.

Once you show your passport stamps to the official at the pilgrim office, you are issued the official completion certificate.

Our hotel adjacent to the cathedral was once a 16th Century Monastery.

In the square next to the cathedral is the world’s oldest hotel started in 1489 by Queen Isabella & King Ferdinand to accommodate pilgrims.

We celebrated at our evening meal with a Torte de Santiago.

What a day!!!

Tomorrow, we head for what was once believed to be the “end of the world”, hence its name Finisterre. I hope my knees, feet, & legs can handle walking another 90 KM. It will be interesting to see if we know anyone from the Camino Frances on the trail or make new friends along the way.