The Camino, Stage 22 — June 19, 2025: Lestedo to Santiago de Compostela (13 km)

18 - 25°C — Misty

By Jim

After an impressive breakfast, provided by Patricia at Casa de Casal, we headed down the road at 8:00 am.  A late start for us to be sure, but we only had 13 km to walk today.  The path was misty which was refreshing but limited our views.  We liked the approach into Santiago:  forest paths, country lanes, village streets, and secondary roads.  Before we knew it, Santiago lay before us, up, up, up through the maze of passages, all interconnected and leading to the Cathedral, the endpoint of this and every Camino.

We saw only four other pilgrims today and they were all strangers to us.  Most of our cohort had finished yesterday and were now on their way back to Holland, France, Switzerland, Barcelona, and other parts of Spain.  They had texted us celebratory pictures of their completion and we wished we could have been there as well.  But that was their Camino and ours will end today. Tony (Slovakia) texted us about an hour before our arrival and said he had finished and would wait for us in the square to make plans for a meal together.   

After high-fives, hugs and numerous photos in front of the Cathedral, we agreed to meet up in a couple hours at a restaurant nearby.  Laurel and I dropped our packs off at Pilgrim House, a rest area and resource center in central Santiago, and then went to Pilgrim’s mass at the Cathedral.  The lineup followed the perimeter of  the church then snaked around the Fuente de Los Caballos (Fountain of the Horses) and through Platerias Square.  I was amazed that this crowd all fit into the church, but we did.  The pews were full so Laurel and I sat at the base of a pillar with views of lectern, pilgrim congregation, and the Botafumeiro.  The Spanish service lasted nearly an hour, which time I spent mostly surveying the other pilgrims and reflecting on our Camino.  Only about half of the pilgrims participated in Holy Communion but the entire congregation was there to share in the community and fellowship of this special time and space.  At the end of the mass, eight monks (tiraboleiros) hoisted the Botafumeiro, the gigantic incense burner, and swung it the entire length of the transept (~ 60 meters).  The display is accompanied by dramatic music and, of course, the smoke and aroma of the incense.  Altogether it is was contemplative and yet captivating experience.

During lunch with Tony, we shared Pilgrim stories from our Camino.  Laurel and I retold the story of the Pharmacist in Xunqueira de Ambia who had walked the Camino ten years ago and met a woman from Brazil.  They finished the Camino together and decided to get married.  We also related Natalie’s tale (our host in As Eiras).  She had been restless in her youth in Spain and so spent many years traveling and searching.  New Zealand, Canada, Peru, and Mexico provided no answers.  She returned to Spain to walk the Via de la Plata and when she stopped to rest beside the ruins of a house and barn in As Eiras, she had found what she was looking for.  With the help of her father and countless friends, she transformed the glorious pile of stones into Casa Terra Alma, a wonderful guesthouse and her ultimate purpose.

Tony related a more personal story.  A few years after his wife had passed away, he met a woman from Spain walking on the Camino Portuguese.  Tony could speak Slovakian, English, and French, but not the Spanish or Italian the woman spoke.  Despite the lack of words, they managed to communicate that they liked each other’s company and have been a couple since (and Tony now speaks fluent Spanish).

As Tony put it: “The Camino provides what you need, not necessarily what you want.  If what you want is what you need, then that is happiness.”  I decided at that point not to share the story of how happy we felt when Laurel found a 10 Euro note on the Camino.  

The Camino Sanabres exceeded our expectations and now tops the list of our favourite Caminos, just barely nudging out the Camino Primitivo.

Some of the pilgrims that we met and whose company we enjoyed along the way 

Pilgrims begin lining up about one hour before the Cathedral doors open for a special mass celebrating the pilgrims completing their Caminos 

Before leaving Santiago de Compostela, we returned to Praza do Obridorio for one last look at the Cathedral