Camino de Santiago (2022)
Inhalt/Content
Stage 12: Iria Flavia – Santiago de Compostela
The time had come: our last stage. Today we should reach Santiago de Compostela. No matter where you start from, this last stage is always something very special. We were both very excited when we suddenly found Santiago with the famous cathedral in the distance. Now you could also see some other pilgrims, even if it was still not very crowded, as it is supposed to be in summer. The excitement of arriving immediately after a long journey also infected the locals. On the 5 km milestone sat a retiree who cheered happily on every pilgrim who walked by: “5 km to go!”. It became more and more urban around us, the atmosphere became more and more heated and suddenly we were there. So there we were in the square in front of Santiago’s cathedral. Tourists were taking photos all around us, pilgrims were putting down their backpacks, some excited, others very still. We did it, we walked the Portuguese Camino from Porto to Santiago de Compostela. 250 kilometers in 12 days. There were ups, there were downs and most of all there was an unforgettable journey. It was a strange feeling to know that you’d arrived. We took the obligatory photos but left straight away.
The pilgrim office was somewhat hidden in a side street. We filled out a questionnaire (which was available online via a QR code in a very modern way) and then we were allowed to enter and take a number like in the citizens’ office. A short time later we showed our pilgrim passports, got a final stamp, and were issued our Compostela, our pilgrim certificate. Now we had received written confirmation from the Catholic Church that we really walked and made it this way. Back on the pitch, we wanted to take another photo with our certificate when someone suddenly spoke to us. We turned around and couldn’t help but grin: It was Li! As always, he had arrived before us and was now strolling a bit through the city. We talked a bit, he took pictures of us with our pilgrimage certificates, and then with a certain regret in his voice, he told us that tomorrow his flight would be to Barcelona from where he would fly back to Korea. His journey ended after a year. What kind of feeling must it be to come back to your familiar surroundings after a year? How is it to unlock your apartment, see your friends and family again, and be back at your job? So we said goodbye to Li one last time. It was really nice that we saw each other here in front of the cathedral for the last time since he was such a constant on our way.
Because we couldn’t estimate how full it would be in Santiago, we had reserved a double room in a private hostel the day before. This was a bit out of the way and we were actually the only guests, which is why the reception was not manned and we only received the code for the door lock from the owner by phone. Since there was no one here apart from us, the rooms were unheated and correspondingly cold, but we were able to warm our room with air conditioning (actually the standard heater on the Iberian Peninsula). We were also able to spread ourselves out in the well-equipped kitchen. However, we did not stay long here, because in the evening we went to the cathedral again, which we looked at in peace and then stayed for the pilgrim mass. At the beginning of the pilgrimage mass, a nun appeared in front of us and read aloud which pilgrims had arrived in Santiago today. She also read that two Germans had arrived from Porto via the Portuguese route. Yes, that was us. We have arrived.
