Santiago at last!

You may well be wondering if I have made it.  Yes I have.  I arrived in Santiago on Tuesday, looking , and feeling, like a drowned rat!  There were numerous blessings along the way, not least of which was the fact that the forecast rain did not arrive until around midday. However it made up for it from then on!  Sustenance was the other blessing. I had a hearty breakfast, and then also managed to find a bar open where I could have lunch at a reasonable hour.

The drowned rat arriving in the Praza Obradoiro......

.......and about to enter the Parador!

I was expecting many people at the last albergue that I stayed in at ARCA, because of the fact that it is generally considered  a comfortable days walk to get to Santiago from there,  but when I returned after dinner there were still only the four of us - a Korean man, a Spanish man, a French man and me!  Even so these men got cracking early in the morning, and so I too was up long before the light arrived.  I left well before dawn, and stopped at the first bar open for brekky and to wait for the daylight to arrive.  This meant that I eventually hit the road just after nine, and then got caught up in the school start and all the traffic, as my way went past the school.  The poor kids were arriving, ready for a days school and it was only just light, and not properly at that!

The way goes through an ancient forest, and if I had to choose a site for a magic forest this would be the one!  Ancient, gnarled, moss covered trunks bent and twisted, interspersed with just as large, but not so ancient, eucalypts.  Still plenty of water and mud, just to remind me on this final day what it has been like.

Walking through the "magic forest".

It is hard work on this last day.  One walks with anticipation of getting there, but also with a touch of sadness because the journey is coming to an end, and the purposeful, but itinerant, life one has led for weeks on end will change.

It is also hard because after walking through the forest, and up the hill past the airport, one sees for the first time a sign saying Santiago.  So close, yet so far. After seeing this sign there is still another 11 kms to go, and a lot of that through suburbia!

Signs that we are close, but still 11 kms to go!

The last half of the day was spent in rain and fog.  Supposedly I should be able to see the cathedral spires from Monte de Gozo, but I was only able to see about 50 metres ahead due to the fog!

Still about 8 kms to go!

The is the little chapel at Monte de Gozo, and in the background, through the trees and fog, you can see  the sculpture/monument (below) that sits on the top of the hill.

The first thing I did on reaching my room was to run a deep bubble bath and loll in it. Luxury!  I must say I did enjoy staying in the Parador, complete with antique furniture in the corridors and wall after wall of paintings.  

Below are various views of places and things on show at the Parador, including a couple of cloisters and my room.

A pestle and motto in the medical part of the building.

I didn't get to the pilgrim office till the next day as they were shut by the time I surfaced!  There for e it wasn't till yesterday that I heard at the pilgrim mass "one Australian from St Jean-Pied-de-Port"!  That was me!  At that mass I also was fortunate to see the botafumeiro swing. I was sitting with a Dutch pilgrim and an Australian woman and her son, Deborah and Sam, right in the front row, with a birds eye view.  No jostling, because there were so few people there.

Swinging the botefumeiro.

 


    

The cathedral, which is now partly clothed while it is cleaned and repaired.  It is likely to look like this for some time to come.

Looking at the tree of Jesse and behind, down the cathedral.  You can no longer put your hand in the hand print of millions of pilgrims who have gone before, like you once could.

  

I am now in Porto having left Santiago last night.  I am here for another night before heading to Paris and from there I will be home on Monday.

I have learnt many things on this journey, and I definitely have got strong ideas on which of my gear will stay and which will get the chop for the next winter journey!

This is my last post.  I must close with a word of thanks to all who have encouraged and supported me with emails and comments.  Reading your words has often cheered me on a tough or tiring day.  Thank you all.

Some of you who don't know my email may want to contact me.  Substitute the word dot and at for the symbols.

jlmagpie at gmail dot com

I am off now to explore Oporto!  Signing off till the next journey and the next blog.  Hope you've enjoyed the journey like I have, despite the trials!   Janet