With our walk concluded we actually didn't have tons to do in Santiago. We made a celebratory dinner on the night we arrived, accompanying it with several celebratory bottles of wine.
This, combined with my somewhat sore feet's need for a day off meant that aside from a couple of short shopping outings, we didn't really leave the hostel on Tuesday.
The following morning we were pretty much back in tip top shape. My feet hurt only when I stepped on my jandal strap in just the wrong way, and Sarah was feeling so good that she once commented that she kind of missed walking! We went for a stroll around old Santiago, and took the time to visit the inside of the cathedral that was officially the destination of or pilgrimage. It was under heavy renovation, so the daily pilgrims’ mass was being held elsewhere, and a lot of the interior was covered in scaffolding. But the building actually still looked very pretty to my eyes. And the silver statue of Saint James that sits above his tomb was still accessible for pilgrims to hug (yes, that's a thing you're meant to do). And the tomb itself, which sits beneath the statue, was still open for visitors. It's surprisingly small and (compared to the huge gilded main altar above it) simple. Whether you believe these are actually the remains of the apostle or not, it's still a pretty special place due to the centuries of devotion by those who did/do believe so.
Outside of the cathedral and nearby pilgrimage related sites, Santiago actually isn't much more than an averagely pretty medieval Spanish town, with a much higher concentration of lodgings and souvenir shops. Between this and the fact that we had only two days before we needed to be in Oporto, we decided to hit the road and explore a little more of Galicia and northern Portugal with our remaining time.
So before fully putting our Camino to rest, a few final thoughts:
The prettiest bits were probably the ones in Portugal. The Spanish sections were nice, and visited some lovely towns, but it felt that the pathway in Spain made a very concerted effort to take you to nice places, while in Portugal the path just went along the most convenient route, which was lovely because everywhere was lovely.
While the scenery and history were great, the best thing about the Camino was the sense of community. The locals whose homes you were passing by, the hosts at the Albergues and probably most of all, fellow pilgrims always seemed happy to greet you and share a smile, a Buen Camino/Bom Caminho. Even after arriving in Santiago it was great to walk around and see familiar faces from our walk and the glowing faces of strangers who were obviously just finishing theirs.
The walking really isn't that tough. As you're regularly passing through towns, you just need to carry a light sleeping bag, changes of clothes and food and water for the trail. You could probably keep your pack under 5kg if you wanted. Likewise, no special equipment is really required. Just a pair of comfortable shoes and a raincoat (though an awful lot of peregrinos walk with heavy hiking boots, trekking poles and even in a few cases, ridiculously unnecessary gaiters).
April seems a lovely time to walk. The weather can be a bit wet, but its not cold and wet, and you'll have little or no trouble getting spots at the municipal Albergues (which I gather may be an issue in July or August).
So there we have it. Camino complete. We will shortly be returning to our regularly scheduled an formatted blog.
