July 4 to July 7 - Barcelona

First of all....sorry for the silence......we have been busy relaxing!!!

Having said good bye to Mum and Dad in Santiago we headed south east to Barcelona....what a contrast...from deepest darkest catholic Spain to the free thinking hedonistic Mediterranean. We suffered from culture shock as we headed down La Rambla at 1am looking for our hotel.....people in the street were offering us beer (sadly not free) as well as hash...again I doubt that was free!

After a fitful night's sleep being serenaded by trumpets in the street at 5am we switched rooms immediately only to find that those on the other side of the hotel overlooked the Boqueria - the central fish and meat market.

Sunday was all about orientation as we walked the streets in the gothic and La Rambla area searching out the Picasso museum and various little placas. We treated ourselves to a slow and sumptious lunch in the sunshine...the museums were packed as it was the first Sunday in the month meaning that they were all free entry...and did very little except sample the culinary delights of southern Spain, including Nick's first taste of Sangria.

Monday was Gaudi day and off we set to la Pedrera determined to see all of the famous Gaudi sights - blissfully unaware of how long it would take! The Pedrera was weird...and unfortunately we did not see it in its full glory due to the queues. The Batillo house was stunning but we found the Sagrada Familia jaw dropping! Certainly for me, having just walked through 700kms of Catholic paraphernalia, left relatively cold, I found this half constructed cathedral the most beautiful gift to God where, in my opinion, people would actually find God through sculptures and structures reminiscent of what he created - nature itself. We wandered around in awe at the size of it, and with every glance you would spot another creature sculpted into the facade - a lizard, a goose, maybe a duck...and a turtle....

Hunger drove us away in the end as we were still carrying a picnic which we wanted to have at Parc Guell...again created by Gaudi. We climbed the 100m or so up to the park - they had escalators going up - can you believe it! ...and eventually munched away on our insufficient sandwiches watching a pair of lovebirds perfect their nest in a palm tree. The park was alive with buskers and visitors alike and we were treated to a an all encompassing view of Barcelona.

That night Nick treated us to our celebratory dinner which we had in one of Barcelona¨s oldest restaurants called The Snail - apparently the speciality. We had snails (of course), suckling piglet and roast kid (of the furry vareity) - delicious.

July 7 - the day we were finally due to leave Spain after nearly 7 weeks!!! We set off to Mont Juic to look around the Miro Foundation (some unusual pieces which I had not seen before but Miro still does not rival Picasso in terms of diversity), the Olympic stadium and attempted to go shopping for a pair of much needed shoes. Well - the GFC certainly has not hit Barcelona as the shops were packed. Nick and I decided that eating ice cream was a better way of spending our time.

That night we finally arrived abck in London, delayed by 2 hours due to storms, greeted by a smiley and very good humoured barry with a cup of tea.

Days 33 to 36 – Santiago, Finisterra and Murxia

We had a day off in Santiago before heading off to Finisterra, attempting to go to mass but decamping because it was extremely busy. The pilgrims all seem to come in on a Sunday we realised later in the week....In fact we barely got to see the cathedral at all after queueing at various tourist offices to get info on Finisterra and Murxia (you had to go to the municipal one for bus times but the regional one for accommodation....hmmm).
The next day we got into a cab (!!!!) to get the bus (what’s that?) to Finisterra to walk to the lighthouse and then do a gentle two day hike to Murxia. Finisterra is the most western point of Europe and was considered “ the end of the earth” (as translated) until Columbus discovered America...and what a good description for the dark and dreary fishing port that it is. However we had a delightful walk to lighthouse with dramatic scenery amidst the sea mist that eerily weaved in from the Atlantic.
We found a very comfortable B&B situated above the town and had a fulsome brekky the next day.
We divided the 31k walk to Murxia into 2 days and thoroughly enjoyed the leisurely hike through pine forests, fields , and sand dunes highlighted by the most wonderful glimpses of the coast line that reminded both of us of Cornwall and Ireland. The main activity of this part of Galicia is subsistence farming it appeared very poor with little government money despite being the home of The Generalissimo (Franco) who ruled Spain for 40 years. We spent the night in a small estuarine village which was just inland from stunning surf beaches. The house e stayed in was a renovated stone cottage whose owners had been given a tourist dept grant. The only bar in the village provided supper plus folk songs from the local drunk which was entertaining, it also seemed to be the meeting place for all the surrounding menfolk and by 10pm it was abuzz despite being a week day.

The next day we walked an undemanding 17k, through similar landscape with moorlands with gorse and heather but this time the views were breath-taking and the comparison with the cliffs and coves of Cornwall, Ireland and Wilsons Prom in Victoria was uncanny.
By lunchtime we reached Murxia. Legend has it that Virgin Mary sailed here to assist St James in converting Galicians to Christianity. Murxia is a superb example of Soviet Bloc architecture and needless to say we did not waste time in changing our plans from staying the night there to catching the afternoon bus back to Santiago! We did feel for Terry who would be arriving in Murxia in a day or two after 1700kms and his welcome would be this.
We went to the Service the next day and again the cathedral was packed to the rafters with recently arrived pilgrims.We were amused to see the priest surrender the microphone to a straight backed german lady who informed the entire multi national congregation that there was to be a meeting after Mass for the German Camino society, an event not to be missed...
It was a moving church service and many pilgrims were moist eyed with emotion.

Later that evening amid much excitement we were joined by Ken and Christine Nikki’s parents who were en route to Portugal. We both thoroughly enjoyed their visit and had 2 days of exploring Santiago together which included a medieval fair set up for the weekend, lute playing, suckling pigs on spits,jugglers, market stalls, fortune tellers etc. We also ended the two days with a Tapas crawl which involved 6-7 different venues sampling the various snackaroos on offer.

And so ends our pilgrimage........A Dios Santiago...

..but there are more adventures to come....

Day 29 to 32 Sarria to Santiago 110kms

Hello here we are again, apologies for the radio silence since the last blog.


We walked 27k to Sarria which is located a strategic 100+ k from Santiago and therefore is a popular start point for the minimalist walkers who can qualify for a Pilgrim´s Certificate by completing 100k minimum. We stayed above an italian restaurant and fell into conversation over dinner with 2 elderly ladies whom we had often seen on the Way. It transpired that they commenced their walk from Nancy in France and to date had walked 2000k they were so unassuming and modest we consider them to be the Amazing Pilgrims.

The next day saw us elbowing our way thru the 100k starters which was reminiscent of a sponsored walk, however having a clear way in front of us we had a delightful day covering an easy 22k through ups and downs, thru small farmyards, lots of cows, yapping dogs, clucking chickens,suspicious cats and silent farmers, the countryside was very green the fields and meadows on an english scale. Nikki kept searching for a place where she had breakfast last time she did it - we found the place 2 days later...and had to endure a gruelling 12 kms without breakfast in the mean time. We bumped into a German couple along the way a 38 year old lass(Manuella) and her dad (Harald) whom we had exchanged pleasantries with a couple of evenings previously and together we covered the last few K into Porto Marin. A curious town which had been relocated due to the building of a dam which flooded the original village, the church had literally been rebuilt with each stone carefully numbered. The next day we set out for Palas de Ray a town some 25k away.

If planning to walk 25k,Here is a clue, do not drink 4 double grappas and a bottle of wine each the night before...Here is another clue, pack all your clothes properly in waterproof bags do not shuff everything willy nilly into your backback in the morning as it rained and rained and was cold and blustery and reminded us why we had left England/Melbourne.

On our last legs at Lunch we had hardly anything to eat and were still suffering from the night before we came across an isolated bar with dark interior and stone flagging floor and there we discoverd the delights of the local Galitian speciality a hearty vegetable soup - "caldo gallego" with crusty fresh bread mmm - delicious it should be bottled.

We stayed in a very quiet hotel (but warm!!) in Palas de Rei which itself is a rather disappointing town...

The next day (day 31) we walked to Arzua (which is close contender for the most horrible town on the walk apart from the "fluvial depression") the day´s walk was beautiful with lots of woodland and hills and farmyards. We saw (again!) the 2 french guys whom we had befriended along the way who made a habit of stopping every 2 hours in a bar and sharing a bottle of red wine together... we think it is the only way they were able to combat the muscle pains. The Amazing Pilgrims were floating along as well - they seem to cover the ground with no effort at all.

At dinner that night all of the pilgrims seemed to congregate in the restaurant of our little hostal and it was a party atmosphere as most had at the maximum only 2 days to go before absolution (so to speak) - with only 40kms to go the mood was light, little rain was forecast, and the pilgrims knew that the end was in sight, manageable and actually quite easy if walked over the next 36 hours.....We dined that night with Steve and Terry - the former a 67 year old Irish Catholic lawyer from Connecticut and the latter a 68 year old ex Merchant Navy sailor from Norway who had covered over 1600kms from Le Puy...two lovely guys who made friends during the camino and walked together for most of the way through Spain.

Day 32 dawned (supposedly our second to last) and we had a leisurely morning having breakfast before we left - as usual witha few drunks in the bar! And off we went at 8am....by 10am, having walked the first hours with a hoard of pilgrims through the woods, we decided we would try and walk the full 40km in to Santiago rather than stop half way as planned, as long as we could book ourselves into a hotel room....

At lunchtime we did precisely that and gritting our teeth off we went at 1pm for our last 4 hours of walking.....And actually it was not so bad as we were mostly alone and it was a lovely afternoon.....we ambled (well marched actually) through more villages, past the airport (wow - we were getting real close now), found a very popular local where heaps of pilgrims were lunching with wine and huge steaks at 4pm (what on earth were we walking for!)....by 5pm we had reached Monte del Gozo - a small hill around 5kms outside of Santiago where the Pope had addressed the masses back in 1989 when he did the pilgrimage (presumably he was a 100km - er) and one was meant to see the Cathredral (nope - never saw it...) . We also passed the biggest refugio along the way - capable of housing 800 pilgrims....a few of our fellow pilgrims stayed there so that they could amble in for mass at noon the next day......somehow the 800 bed barrack did not appeal....

The last 5kms were the most painful as ever....we played hide and seek with the Cathredral as we walked in - it felt as though we were walking in circles and really would never find it when suddenly it appeared tall and overpowering right next to us....and when we entered the square and headed to teh shell in teh middle..guess what...the cyclists beat us to it...argh....

So off to get our Compostela (the certificate for our`pilgrimage)...and guess what...we beat the cyclist that tried to push in front of us...you´d think that after 30 days walking against 10 days cycling (if that!) they allow us the privilege of going ahead just this once....