Episode 6-Stage 24 Padrón to Santiago

Stage 24 from Padron to Santiago is 25.72 kilometers but it’s the final 25.72 kms so I adopted a slower pace.

I had a leisurely breakfast in Padron watching the Peregrinos as they set off, most of them more anxious than I to complete their Camino. The final stage has lots of natural paths and woodland trails but as you approach Santiago it’s black top roads and traffic.

I had a great day. I walked slowly, mostly kept to myself and paused often. I thought about where I’d come from and what might lie ahead, the things I had done, the things I had left undone, what difference it all might make, what importance, if any, it all might have and to whom.

It was mid afternoon and I stopped for a coffee and a couple of pastries in Milladoiro a small town on a rise where there’s a fabulous view of Santiago’s historic center and if you look close the spires of the Catedral are visible 8 kms in the distance.

Members of an adult band dressed in their matching uniforms gathered on the corner in front of me and practiced several songs before they set off marching.

All day as I got closer and closer, I felt less and less eager to move along. Am I the only one who’s beset with a sense of sadness when approaching the completion of a project or the end of a journey?

It was after 4:00 before I got to the Centro Histórico and I stopped for a beer a few hundred meters outside the Praza Obradoiro, lingered a while at the counter and took a selfie, then I walked the final few hundred meters and took another selfie standing at kilometer zero with the Catedral towering behind me.

All of the Caminos converge in Praza Obradoiro and hundreds of Peregrinos from all over were in the square, most but not all in a celebratory mood, some like me more melancholic.

This is a huge year for the Camino. I’m told more than 4000 Peregrinos are presenting themselves daily at the Pilgrim Office to receive their Compostela, the official certification that they have completed their pilgrimage. The modern day Compostela evolved from the Cartas Probatorias which were issued by the Church in the Middle Ages to Pilgrims as proof they had actually made the pilgrimage.

Today the Compostela is issued to anyone who walks a minimum of the last 100 kms into Santiago for a religious or spiritual purpose or with a sense of inquiry.

I was at the entrance to the Pilgrim’s Office early thinking it opened at 8:00 AM but it doesn’t actually open until 9:00. There were only 6 people in line so I decided to wait in line and see if it was true that the first 10 Pilgrims received a free lunch.

By 9:00 when the office opened the line stretched around the corner and sure enough each of the first 10 in line (including me) were given a certificate for a free lunch at the fancy restaurant at my hotel, the Hostal Parador Reis Católicos.

The hotel was originally built as a Pilgrim’s hospice in the 15th Century and the free lunch to the first 10 pilgrims continues the centuries old tradition of hospitality.

The Compostela Is written and issued in Latin. Jeffrey is translated as Gofridium although honestly I had always thought my name in Latin was Geofricus.

And the lunch was really fun. Two of the attendees were an English couple whom
I had met earlier on the Camino. Super cool. They were seasoned Pilgrims, had made pilgrimage from their home in the UK to Rome and had made the 3000 km long Olafs Way Pilgrimage in Norway.

And another attendee was a Spanish man from Cadiz who is a perpetual pilgrim and has been walking for the past 11 years.

And I was happy to learn that everyone is welcome to enter the Catedral through the Puerta Santa, in fact to gain access to Santiago’s Tomb you have to enter through the holy gate. It’s very beautiful and a special feeling walking through the Puerta Santa.

And the Pilgrim’s Mass at the Catedral was just beautiful. Many thousands attend and I was fortunate that they lit the Boutafumeiro at the end of the service.

The Botafumeiro is a huge incense burner. The one in Santiago is among the largest in the world. Once filed with coal and incense it weighs 80 kilos (180 lbs) and stands 1.6 meters (5 feet) tall. It’s suspended from the rafters of the cathedral with enormous ropes with a pulley mechanism and aloft reaches a height of 21 meters (70 feet) and swings in an arc of 65 meters (210 feet). The Botafumeiro is now only lit ceremonially when there’s a sponsor but historically it had an important utilitarian purpose.

The thing produces huge volumes of smoke which it disperses through the sanctuary. It’s use began in the 11th Century when it was believed that the smoke from the incense had a curative or prophylactic effect on plagues, pestilence, lice and epidemics as well as masking the stench of the huddled masses of unwashed Pilgrims. It’s really amazing to see the Botafumeiro in action.

But there have been accidents. During a visit of Princess Catherine of Aragon in 1499 the Botafumeiro flew out of the cathedral through a high window and landed in the Praza Prateriaras.

And in the evening I went tapa hoping. They have great tapas in Santiago.

And it was a full moon, a perfect setting to enjoy Tuna de Derechos de Santiago performing beneath the arches of Praza Obradoiro in front of the Catedral.

My Camino Portuguese really couldn’t have been better and now I’m on the adventuresome part of my adventure, riding horseback on the Camino Finisterre.

Lucera is a super sweet 9 year old mare, easy peasy uncomplicated push button ride and we are getting along like old friends.

Today we rode from Negreira to A Picota about 36 kms, give or take 7 hours, and tomorrow we ride to Muxia.

The weather is great, the Galician countryside is beautiful, I’m having just the best time!

Buen Camino!