Santiago de Compostela, 9/7/18

Ken and I at the Cathedral in Santiago!

We started in Porto on August 6th, walked the Portuguese Coastal Route in 17 walking days, taking many days in between to explore and experience. While the official route is 280 kms, we actually logged 317 kms (197 miles) with the shortest day being 9 kms, and the longest being 28.3 kms. We had zero days of rain while walking and finished the Camino with no blisters!

It has been an amazing, spiritually uplifting journey, made more joyous as we were able to walk it with each other.

We walked from Padrón in two days, stopping after 21.5 kms on the first day in O Milladoiro. We walked the final 9.5 kms into Santiago on the morning of Friday the 7th of September, arriving in time to attend the Pilgrims’ Mass at noon.

After mass we got our Compostela’s and distance certificates from the Pilgrims Office. The Compostela is the official certificate of completion for the Camino de Santiago. Ours were issued in Latin because we did the pilgrimage for religious reasons.

After lunch we treated ourselves to some Tarta de Santiago, which is an almond cake from Galicia with origin in the Middle Ages.

And we attended mass again at 7:30pm that evening so we could see the botafumeiro (a thurible or incense burner) swing. Seeing the botafumeiro fly through the Santiago Cathedral was a highlight of our spiritual journey on the Camino.

And finally….

We hope to carry this prayer in our hearts as we continue on our Way of life.