March 14 – We woke up at 8 am and Maria our hostess at the Albergue was right in her concern for us. The rain was pelting down hard. We had agreed the night before that she would drive us to the bus station to take a bus to Santiago.

After our breakfast at the Albergue Camino Do Sar, we gratefully rode in Maria’s car to the only one bus station in Padron.

After the drop off, the rain came down harder and I took a video recording from the bus stop window. I cannot see anyone walking in this weather but having met a few tough walkers, I am sure there will some hardcore pilgrims risking it and walking it anyways.

The bus arrived at 10:15 am and our fare was €2.20 per person. The ride to Santiago took only 30 mins.

We arrived at a bus stop that is situated right on the path of the Camino. How perfect! We get to walk from the bus stop to our final stop, the Santiago Cathedral. The rain had also let up a bit so we could do it.

Here are our pictures of this last stretch of our Camino walking to our final destination:

After following our last few arrows, we finally made it to the Cathedral in spite of the wet cold windy walking conditions.

We were like two little Hobbits making our way to Mordor to drop a magical ring at Mount Doom (LOL 😂🤣). However, instead of getting rid of a ring, we were in search of two Compostelas (Certificates for having walked the Camino) 😉 at Santiago.

We arrived at the Cathedral and also arrived at the Parador Hotel which is just adjacent to the Cathedral.

There was not much to do at the moment of arrival due to the somewhat harsh weather. We just checked in at hotel and had to wait until the rain dissipated before we can go searching for the office to get our Compostelas. Kinda anti-climatic but this was the reality of our quest at that moment.

Yes the rain did ‘go away’ at around noon so we were able to make it to the Pilgrims Mass at the Cathedral. At the end of the mass service the famous Botafeimero swung above us to bless the church attendees. It is very heavy and required a minimum of 5 men to swing it. This incense censer is the best known symbol of the Santiago Cathedral and usually used for special masses such as EASTER, Christmas, Pilgrims Blessings, etc.

We also visited St.James tomb and lighted candles with our prayers.

Later we found the the Compostela office, declared the details of our walk and obtained our certificates.

Here are the pics of our certificates:

Though we did not walk on the Camino this day, we did do a lot of walking around Santiago and inside our Hotel bearing its official name -Parador de Santiago – Hostal Reis Catolicos.

Here are some pics in Santiago:

The most impressive part of this day was exploring this old hotel as it is a museum inside and only guests get to view the antiques and the gardens. A breathtaking castle that used to be a hospital before a famous Spanish Royal family took it over and converted it.

Here’s the Wikipedia explanation: The hotel was constructed as a religious work in 1486, by Ferdinand and Isabel, the Catholic Monarchs. It is widely considered the oldest continuously operating hotel in the world, and has also been called the “most beautiful hotel in Europe”.

Here are our pics:

Here are the some pictures of the grounds, corridors and whatever nooks and crannies that we walked through in the hotel:

After a whole afternoon of exploration we were to go to Entre Pedras for dinner. It was reputed to be the best vegetarian restaurant in Santiago.

Who would have thunk? LOL. We got lost trying to find it and ended up taking our dinner at the Parador instead.

What a fantastic way to end our Camino officially!!

I could not have designed this any better myself. Divinity definitely had a hand in this.

For my next few posts, I will reflect further on this trip and will provide Karen’s input (good or bad) so that I may learn what lessons the Camino taught me.

Thank you so much for following our walk and I hope that it may have inspired you to do your own.

Much love and wishing all of you an abundance of blessings,

Hilda 💕💕💕