Santiago de Compostela

The day after arriving in Santiago de Compostela was quiet. I got up and went to collect the certificate (€5 with the km walked indicated, and a case) for completing the Camino de Santiago from Porto and along the Coastal Way, which apparently is 280 km in total, not counting the spiritual variant I did and all the walks in my free time around the places I passed through and stayed overnight. In total, and going by what Natalie said from the app she had, it came to 417 km.

Certificate in hand, I went for breakfast at the café Gaiola. Then I went for a walk through the streets of the historic centre of Santiago around the Cathedral.

I took the chance to buy and write a postcard for my friend Cécile, with whom I usually swap postcards. She had also recently sent me a postcard from her last trip.

Then I went to the post office to buy a stamp and on the way out a bottle-cap race was being set up, which I watched.

In the afternoon I took Bus 7 from Praça Galícia to the Monte do Gozo Park, on the outskirts of Santiago, to see the Pilgrim monument. From there I could also see the city and the towers of the Cathedral of Santiago.

Then I went back to Santiago by bus and went to get my bag at the Mundo Albergue, where I had stayed the night before but which was full today, and took Bus C11 to the Albergue Fin de Camino, which was further from the centre.

The afternoon was about saving my feet, the bus in Santiago costs €1 per trip so I made the most of it. Luckily my feet are fine, I had no problems, I can't say the same for my trainers, which are covered in tape.

Already on the bus on the way to the hostel it started to rain and I had to put on my rain gear, which I had only taken out of my backpack once for a mini rehearsal and which I basically used now to cross the street from the bus stop to the hostel, about 100 metres. Once we'd settled in we went back to the city by bus and the rain had already gone.

We arranged a last dinner with the pilgrims who were still here and went to the Bar Corunha, where we had calamari, for which the bar is famous. To end the night, one last alcohol-free beer on a terrace in the centre of Santiago.