Day 34 - Arzua to Rua to Santiago de Compostela (in one day)

Today we awoke early in Azua and started walking and, as Forrest Gump would say, once we started walking, we just kept on walking until there was no where else to walk.

Down went the 30km mile marker. Down went the 20km mile marker. Down went the 10km ... no we could not find that one.

We got to Rua, where we were supposed to stay today before 9am and passed straight on without even trying to find our hotel.

The walking was great and we saw very few people on the road until we reached Monte de Gozo which is some 4km from the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. 

After that point there were a cast of thousands but we also had plenty to look at with the monument at Monte de Gozo and statues and monuments peppered along the way to the Cathedral. I especially liked the statue of the Templar Pilgrim above.

Some 38km after we started walking this morning at 5:30am, we were at the steps of the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela and it was still only 1:30pm.

The Cathedral is breathtaking from afar, from up close and from within. 

While briefly inside the Cathedral, we ran in to Father John, a Ugandan priest living in Sydney who was walking the Camino at the same time as us. Late last week Father John decided that he wanted to do mass on Sunday and therefore did the last 3 days at +40km/day. He looked very refreshed after a few days in Santiago de Compostela.

We then went to the Pilgrim's Office to get the final stamps for our passports and to receive the Compostela, the certificate given on completion of the Camino.

We then had a welcome lunch of bread, deep fried calamari and Chirizo cooked in wine to recharge the batteries after today's long walk.

This was our longest one day walk on the Camino. Not only was it long but we also had many hills and, in total did 680m of ascent.

Vicki has been sitting in the bath the last hour writing out her shopping list and after I finish the blog, we will head out to do shopping and more sight seeing and to stand in line at the Cathedral to visit the tomb of St James.

The benefit of arriving today, instead of tomorrow as originally planned, is that we have an extra 24 hours to do all the above before we fly out on Thursday morning at 9am.

In Santiago, we are staying at the Parador Santiago de Compostela and have a fantastic, extra large room, more akin to what Martin Sheen enjoyed in the movie, The Way.

We will blog once more, tomorrow, with sightseeing shots of Santiago de Compostela and to reflect on our journey over the past five weeks.

The church below which we encountered about 8km from Santiago de Compostela was interesting  as the guy in the bell tower appeared to ring the bell every time a pilgrim went by. We need to research this to determine whether it is tradition or coincidence.