July 1
Having recovered from food poisoning, I was very excited to walk with my family again yesterday (June 30th). The miles flew by and I was so grateful to take in the scenery of the Camino once again.
Today, we woke up early and ate a hotel breakfast to fuel for our FINAL day on the Camino! We tackled 16 miles from Padrón to Santiago de Compostela. For the last 13 days, we’ve had mostly outstanding weather, and that continued to be the case today. Our mornings are cool and it only warms up in the afternoons when we’re close to finishing the day.
One of the best parts of walking together is all of the quality time that allows us to film funny videos, play on playgrounds, and sing songs from our childhoods. I would describe it as the perfect journey for the inner child.
After about 6 miles of walking together, I began to slow down as my left quad began to feel strained. On this final day of walking, I earned my NINTH blister and my first muscular injury (the quad). Mom slowed down to walk with me as the rest pushed on to the lunch spot. I already had lots of KT tape on my feet and added much more to my left knee and thigh.
The tape held up and we eventually made it to the top of our first major hill for the day. The rest of the family were sitting at a cafetería playing cards as they had already eaten lunch. Mom and I joined in and before long, we were walking again.
With only 4.5 miles to the Cathedral, the temperature began to increase and we were all eager to wrap it up! As we approached Santiago, we caught our first glimpse of the Cathedral which was like seeing the light at the end of a tunnel that is 170 miles long.
Our final climb into the city was rewarded as soon as we stepped into the square in front of the Cathedral. This is the place where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims complete their journeys each year. We found shady places to sit and watch as groups hugged, celebrated, and photographed their joy.
At the pilgrims office, we received our official certificates of having finished the Camino Portuguese de Costa. We picked up our bags at a local hostel and took a 10 minute taxi ride (which felt like a dream) uphill to our beautiful AirBnB home.
After lots of downtime, Alastair found us a delicious celebratory dinner at a Michelin recommended restaurant near the Cathedral. The highlights were some baby scallops, braised pork cheek, and my dessert French toast.
After dinner, some of us walked by the Cathedral again. There was a group of musicians playing and the music filled the square as the sun set on a magical day.
July 2
As today was our first day off of the Camino in two weeks, all four of us kids slept in until 10am. We had breakfast and coffee and a nearby cafe before walking back to the Cathedral for the pilgrim’s mass at noon. We waited in a LONG line and the Cathedral was packed, but we were able to squeeze into our own pew for the service.
The mass was given entirely in Spanish, so I was the only one able to appreciate what was said. Mostly I enjoyed the shout-outs given to different groups of pilgrims that had arrived in Santiago.
The highlight of our mass was the giant “Botafumiero” incense that was swung violently across the church, and over the heads of all of the pilgrims. Someone had made a 600€ donation in order to see the spectacle, and we were grateful to be there when it happened.
After service ended, we descended some steps to see the tomb of St. James before making our way out to the Cathedral to find lunch. We had drinks, played cards, and shared appetizers and ponchos before heading back to our AirBnB.
All 6 of us went into this summer having very little planned. On the Camino, that meant that I organized our plan for mileage, accommodations, and luggage transfer on the fly. This often led to some chaos and late night phone calls asking for help from complete strangers. However, the Camino (+ Mom and Dad) provides. When Mom and Dad leave to go home in two days, the four of us will continue to travel Europe together for another month. As of this morning, we had nothing planned and nowhere to sleep starting in 3 days.
We spent the afternoon frantically booking the dwindling, coveted Eurail train seat reservations that we could find, along with some AirBnBs and hostels. It took approximately 4 hours of chaos, overlapping conversations, negotiations, and teamwork, but we now have ~2 weeks worth of a plan.
We went out for a steak dinner and were all so exhausted that we hurried home to get back into our pajamas. Tomorrow we will all travel to Madrid, and the following morning, Mom and Dad will fly home.
This Camino has been a blessing in so many ways. As we all grow older and our lives become more full, it is a miracle that we are able to take the time to walk along the ocean, side by side, encouraging each other along the way. I am forever grateful to my parents for the gift of travel which they have given to our family time and time again. I don’t know many people who would willingly use their vacation time to earn blisters, sunburns, and muscular injuries, but my parents were always eager to join in.
This Camino was a blessing, my family is a blessing, and I can’t wait to see where the rest of the summer takes us.
Stay tuned!
Adelaide
