Day 26 – Santiago De Compostela – Rest Day – 02-Jun-2018
Today is one of our rest days, time to kick back, relax, give the aches, pains and niggles some time to recouperate.
So we got up at 6:30 to give ourselves the best chance to get ahead of the queue for getting the “Compostela”, which is the official document recognising that you have officially walked the Camino, as per your “credential” which is the document which records your journey as you pass through each town, village, city or church.
We had heard from other Camino friends yesterday that you had to wait up to two hours in a queue for the document, and we didn’t want to hang around, wasting that sort of time. So off we went to the office and reaching there just before 7:00am. Whilst in line, it was an excellent opportunity to talk to other pilgrims who had done different caminos about there experiences – again exchanging of stories and experiences. It was also great to catch up with other people whom we had walked with over the last days and weeks.
The office opened promptly at 8:00am – we were processed in a matter of 15 minutes. To our pleasant surprise we were each given a free lunch voucher for being amongst the first 10 pilgrims in the line. The voucher was for lunch at The Parador dos Rei – an upmarket hotel in the centre of Santiago De Compostela. We had sort of heard about this practice of giving the first 10 pilgrims the free lunch, but had not really paid much attention to it, so it was a real bonus.
Back to the hostel for breakfast, which was most welcome, as the place was warm and buzzing with people who had completed their Camino over the last few days.
After breakfast we headed out and had a further look around the town. To our absolute delight we came across a mother and daughter from Germany whom we had traveled with quite a few days ago, but had lost contact with recently. Michael, Jose and I were a bit concerned about whether the mother would be able to make it because she did have a few issues and looked to struggling. That, and knowing the difficulty of the terrain that they were about to traverse gave us concern for her well being. So it was to our absolute joy that we spotted her and the daughter in the square. When we saw her we just embraced and congratulated her. She was very emotional, but extremely happy.
At 11:00am we attended a tour of the cathedral which took us up on the roof of the cathedral itself. The tour guide took us through the history of this massive construction, the key dates, the major players in the construction and reconstruction, the various uses of the building – it also acted as a fortress in times of attack. There was lots of other fascinating information about the cathedral, far too much to mention here.
Suffice to say that it was a tremendously interesting hour of knowledge sharing.
Lunch at the Parador was very pleasant, and shared by the 10 pilgrims, 3 of which were us. It was interesting to meet the other pilgrims, most of whom had done the French Way. It appears that the French Way is a lot more social and travelled. Most of the 10 were Australians.
The meal itself was pretty good as well and an enjoyable meal was had by all.
The afternoon was spent wandering around the town, catching up with fellow pilgrims and enjoying some refreshments. Michael had done some catching up on laundry and later went to Mass. He was fortunate enough to witness the famous ‘Botafumeiro’ in action – this is essentially a giant incense burner that is swung up and down the length and breadth of the cathedral aisles. In the old days it was done to rid any nasties that the pilgrims had brought into the church after their long and arduous journey. These days it is done primarily for show.
We didn’t actually have a formal dinner tonight, as lunch was quite lavish and we were not all that hungry, so we bought a few items from the supermarket, and satisfied any hunger that way.
Jose and I partook in some Camino culture this evening – there was a singing performance by 3 different coral groups at the monastery next door to our hotel, so we went to that. The event was to raise money for under privileged children in Lima, Peru, so it was a good cause, and the performance was of a good standard. The church at this monastery was extremely ornate with all the statues made of gold, most likely from Latin America.
Michael caught up with some old Camino friends. Today we would say goodbye to a number of acquaintances, as we are going on to Finisterre, but a lot of people do not.