Today we walked from Casa de Casal where we were staying in Lestedo to Santiago. It’s our final day. We wanted to get there quite early so we set out at 6am. It still takes us ages to get ready in the morning, so we were up at 5 and ready to go at 6, and we thought we would get some breakfast on the way.
My memory certainly fails me because the route seems to have changed a little bit as it often does, of course, and the breakfast spot that I was hoping to find within an hour or two wasn’t there anymore, so I thought, but we actually found it an hour or so later closer to Santiago and it was definitely the place I remember. So we managed to catch up for a good breakfast there before the final uphill into Santiago.
It was quite a warm day, and again my memory failed me a bit because I don’t remember the uphill into Santiago; it’s been quite that difficult. It’s a wonderful entry into Santiago from the Sanabres and you see the cathedral from about two kilometers out but then it’s a long uphill walk once you’re in the town.
So, of course, we entered into the Plaza del Obradoiro and milled about with all the other pilgrims who were arriving and took photographs, and it’s always a great feeling to finally arrive in the square. And then it was time, of course, to check in, and this time we were staying at the San Martiño Pinario, which is a converted monastery, as far as I know, and the top two floors are kept for pilgrims. They’re modest rooms, not as well renovated as the first two floors. But it was perfectly adequate. We had a double room and a private bathroom on the longest corridor you’ve ever seen. It felt like being on a cruise ship. But always, I mean the central location is fantastic there.
And then we popped down to Casa Ivar where we had sent our additional luggage and picked that up. And the shoe story continues because the spare pair of shoes that I had left behind or my proper Camino shoes that I had been left behind that were going to be mailed to Salamanca got mailed to Santiago. So, they were waiting there for me which was just as well because the older and smaller pair of shoes that I had been walking in just about to gave up by the time they got to Santiago. They’re starting to fall to bits and we spoiled ourselves with a dinner at the Parador. I’ve never really felt the desire to stay there. It’s an exorbitant price. But the dinner was absolutely brilliant. It was the degustation tasting menu.
So, we enjoyed that and then took a walk around Santiago in the evening. There was a fantastic local, I guess folk band, traditional band you would call it plays at the back of the Obradoiro Plaza every night from 10 o’clock. So, they were fun and then there was a couple of other buskers and it was really a nice evening to walk around and hear people having fun and the local music. And then it was off to bed and ready to get to Muxia the next day.
Congratulations Rob and Pat !!