Day 29: Santiago de Compostela to Malaga

I got up and went to meet Mario at the pilgrim office when it opened at 09:00. Guess what? It was raining again. The Parador Dos Reyes Catholicos, a fancy hotel by the cathedral has a tradition where ten pilgrims are given a free lunch each day. We planned on getting two of the ten tickets and having a good lunch. Since I had received my Compostela last night, they would not give me a ticket. Mario got one, however, because he did not get his Compostela until the morning. The interesting thing is that several years ago, ten pilgrims would get a free breakfast, ten pilgrims would get a free lunch, and ten pilgrims would get a free dinner. The Parador cut back and only does lunch now.

We hung around the pilgrim office trying to wait out the rain, but it did not stop. We agreed to meet up again noon at the pilgrim mass. I walked over to the cathedral's south side entrance and went inside. The interior of the cathedral was being renovated. There were no pews, the chandelier was down, there was scaffolding all over the altar and there was extensive masonry work being done. I saw more of a construction zone than the magnificence I saw at the Burgos, Leon, and Astorga Cathedrals. There are two things that a pilgrim must do: (1) visit the remains of St. James in the crypt below the altar and (2) embrace the St. James statue on the retablo by walking up a stairway behind the altar. Because of construction, the daily pilgrim mass was moved to San Francisco Church. On my way out of the cathedral, I bought a rosary made of wood from an olive tree. Since I had passed by many olive groves on my walk, I thought this was fitting.

I went back to the hotel to dry off, then went to Casa Ivar to pick up the luggage I had mailed from St. Jean Pied de Port. It cost €25, and I got to meet Ivar, the guru behind the website and forum: caminodesantiago.me. We chatted briefly, then I dragged my roller bag back to the hotel. I hurried up and tried to get dry before mass. Leaving the hotel, I requested a late check out. The receptionist was on the phone and seemed to purposely ignore me for five minutes. I was short on time so I ran to church. I made a mistake and went to a church with a similar name: San Frutuoso. I finally got to the pilgrim mass at San Francisco Church late. Mario was not there. Maybe he also went to the wrong church or decided to change plans. I did see the Dutch pilgrim from the previous day and a handful of other pilgrims.

Next, I walked to the Burger King again for lunch. I had a Double Whopper, an Oreo shake, and a large Coke. The previous night at Burger King some Morroccan teenagers walked in and grabbed cups off of trays that were left on tables to self serve themselves free drink. While I was eating lunch today, the same Morroccan teenagers came into Burger King again looking for used cups left on tables. The restaurant employees told them to get out. I walked back to the hotel getting soaked some more and started organizing my two bags. Most of my backpacking clothes were still wet.

I checked out after 18:00, paid the late check-out fee and ordered a taxi on the Pidetaxi app. I was going to fly to Malaga at 20:50 on Air Europa. The constant rain in Galicia was depressing me. I wanted to check out a warmer part of Spain before it was time to return to the United States. The taxi driver was very talkative and seemed to know alot about the Camino. We talked the whole way to the airport in Spanish.

At the airport, there was a long wait to check-in. I noticed out of everyone on my flight, I was the youngest person. I was surrounded by geriatrics. I later learned I was on a charter plane that happened to have an extra seat. The advanced age Spaniards kept bumping into me in the baggage line and later I'd see them cutting each other off in line so they could be the first one's on the plane. Of course, I was given the window seat in the last row of this charter plane.

The plane arrived in Malaga on time. I collected my bag and took a taxi to the center of the city. I checked into the Vincii Posada del Patio and went to bed, foregoing dinner. I was happy that Malaga was dryer and warmer than Galicia. I will now take it easy on the Mediterranean Sea until February 3rd, when I have to fly back to the United States.

The retablo in the cathedral. Notice the scaffolding and restoration workers.

The pews are out and the chandelier is down.

The tomb of St. James beneath the altar.

Another view with my camera through the bars.

There is a stairway behind the altar where you can walk up and embrace the St. James statue from behind. 

Waiting for my baggage at the Malaga airport.

Day 28: Arzua to Santiago de Compostela

I left Arzua at 08:00 sharp. It was dark as I exited the town. I used my phone's flashlight to navigate through the woods. Not too long after walking, the rain started, but at least it was not heavy. I pushed hard all morning, traveling at a rate of between four and five kilometers per hour. I finally stopped at 11:25 just before Santa Irene. The trail went right in front of two bars facing each other on opposite sides of the road. I decided to get out of the rain for a bit and have a drink at a bar called O Ceadoiro. I drank two Cokes and booked a hotel in Santiago de Compostela off the bar's WiFi.

After about thirty minutes, I saddled up and started walking again. A Dutch and an Italian female duo walked into the bar as I was leaving. The rain seemed to have stopped while I was in the bar. Shortly after, Mario caught up to me. We chatted as we walked through hamlets and forest. The break in the rain was only temporary. Around 14:00, we came upon a Spanish guy in a eucalyptus forest. His name was Jose Antonio. He was a retired officer from the Spanish Air Force. He was wearing half milk jugs over the top of his boots to keep his feet dry. He looked like an astronaut. We heard jets taking off and landing, and knew we were walking along the Santiago de Compostela Airport now. We had about fourteen kilometers to go.

Mario stopped for lunch and so did Jose Antonio at a nearby bus stop. I took a break but did not eat. As Mario finished eating, the Dutch lady and the Italian lady I saw earlier at O Ceadoiro caught up. The four of us continued on through San Poio, Lavacolla, and Monte do Gozo. The rain got heavier. I was now soaking wet everywhere: socks, t-shirt, pants. Rain gear becomes useless in prolonged heavy rain. The water is going to find a way in. We had to keep walking because that was the only thing we could do. My right leg was in severe pain. As we entered Santiago de Compostela, the two ladies broke off, presumably to secure lodging in town.

Mario and me pushed on into the old part of the city and could finally see the cathedral steeples about a half kilometer out. Mario went to the south side of the cathedral where the entrance was, while I walked to the front of the cathedral on the west side via a tunnel with a bagpiper busking. I took some pictures of the cathedral in the Obradoiro Plaza. I tried to go into the Portal of Glory entrance, but I was told I had to drop my backpack off somewhere to go inside. I had finished my five hundred mile walk at 17:10.

I continued over to the pilgrim office to get my Compostela and a Certificate of Distance. I bought a tube to put them in and plan on framing them when I get back home. They look like they are from the Middle Ages and some of the script is in Latin. The pilgrim office gave me a free ticket to go to the Portal of Glory and Maestro Mateo museum at 19:00. Mario then showed up at the pilgrim office, and we exchanged numbers and planned to meet up in the morning.

I checked into the Hotel Carris Casa de la Troya. It was only a block from the cathedral. I showered and walked through the rain to the 19:00 tour at the Portal of Glory. It was a chance to view the main gate to the church,  which is no longer used and only a limited amount of people get to view each day. Afterwards, I had a beer at a cafe called A Gramola. The worker also brought me a plate of green olives to snack on. I hate olives.

I figured out via Google Maps that there was a Burger King about a half kilometer away, so I walked to it despite getting soaked. I had a double Whopper, potato wedges, and the largest Coke I could get. It was a satisfying dinner. I walked back to the hotel in the unrelenting precipitation and watched soccer on television: Barcelona destroying Seville. I was tired and glad I did not have to wake up early and strap my boots on again. I did 38.5 kilometers on the final day with rain over 95% of the day.

I think all those beer bottles were drank by pilgrims staying in Outeiro.

The airport is on the other side of the hill. You can see a plane tail wing behind the tree.

Walking with three other pilgrims into Santiago de Compostela.

Santiago de Compostela.

About a half kilometer left. The steeples are visible.

The cathedral is just beyond the tunnel.

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral.

Day 27: Palas de Rei to Arzua

I left Palas de Rei in the dark at 08:20. The weather cooperated at first, but then it started to pour. The path was mud or a stream. My gear held up for awhile, but eventually the strong rain found its way into my socks and boots after a couple hours. I stopped off under a patio tent of a closed restaurant by the side of the trail. Eventually an old English guy around 70 stopped under the tent. He only had one arm, so he needed me to grab his water bottle off of his pack, then return it when he was done. He told me he left St. Jean Pied de Port on January 1st.

I pushed on through the rain until I got to Melide. I was wet and miserable. Walking through Melide, I saw a laundromat right along the Camino. The reception guy at Hotel Mica told me about this laundromat in Melide when he told me his hotel did not have laundry service. I decided to get out of the rain and do a load of laundry, thinking maybe the rain would stop and I could continue walking later. The rain did get lighter by the time my laundry was dry a little over an hour later.

I continued my walk, but eventually the cold rain started coming down again. I walked up and down hills and through hamlets, counting down the miles to Arzua. About three kilometers outside Arzua, Mario caught up with me, and we walked the rest of the way into town together. He said he tried octopus for the first time in Melide. He said it tasted like lamb. He also said he sat out the rain in the Melide library. We stopped at the Xunta in Arzua. Mario chose to stay there. I did not want to stay there because there was no WiFi access. I decided to grab a private room at Pension Luis a few blocks away.

Around 22:00, I went to dinner at a restaurant called O Furancho d'Santisa. I had a pasta salad for the starter, lasagna for the main dish, and ice cream for desert. They served Peroni at the bar, so I washed down my meal with an Italian beer. I then walked back to the pension and fell asleep in my dry bed.

St. James statue in O Coto.

The stone bridge into Melide.

Eucalyptus forest.

Fording a river.

Dairy cattle grazing a few kilometers before Arzua.

Day 26: Portomarin to Palas de Rei

I got a late start from Portomarin, leaving just before 09:30. I was sore from the previous two days where I pushed hard over mountains and hills. I decided to walk a shorter day today. As I left Portomarin, I came across two Korean hikers with no backpacks, just walking poles. One of them was carrying some type of portable speaker blasting jazz music. Now, that I am within 100 kilometers of Santiago, I am noticing there is a different type of pilgrim on the trail.

I walked through the rain all morning. Around noon or a little after I heard music playing from a restaurant called Meson Labrador in the hamlet of Hospital da Cruz. I stopped in and had a couple Cokes and a water to get out of the rain. Five other pilgrims had the same idea. Eventually the rain stopped and I continued on. I walked the rest of the day with only threatening clouds. I was now running in to more and more pilgrims. Many are carrying backpacks smaller than ones used by elementary school students and they are wearing brand new clothes it seemed.

I made it to Palas de Rei at 16:20 and decided to check into Hotel Mica instead of going to the Xunta, which I figured would be packed. I showered and then went to the supermarket to get water bottles, orange juice, Oreos, and a Twix for tomorrow. Most of the small towns have been closed up the past few days, and I wanted to have the resources to go a long ways tomorrow. I am about two days from arriving in Santiago de Compostella. I had dinner at a pizzeria called Pardellas in Palas de Rei. The pizza was horrible. The cheese was too runny, and they dumped buckets of green olives on the pizza. It reminded me of the sad excuse for pizza served in Argentina. If you think it is impossible to screw up pizza, just go to a Spanish-speaking country. I then walked back to Hotel Mica and fell asleep  surfing the internet on my smartphone.

Leaving Portomarin, headed towards the houses on the other side of the river.

Crossing a valley just outside Portomarin.

More cattle today, but not as much cow dung as yesterday.

A close up of some sheep.

These are some of the new pilgrims that started in Sarria.

Ant sculptures in the hamlet of Portos.

Palas de Rei.

Day 25: Triacastela to Portomarin

I left Triacastela in the dark at 08:00. On the far side of town, there was a fork in the road. One path went toward San Xil and the other toward Samos. Both paths would rejoin before Sarria. I took the first path as it was the primary path according to my guidebook and shorter by 6.5 kilometers. The morning was uneventful as it rained on and off, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. The towns consisted of a few houses and barns. There was nowhere to get lunch until Sarria, which is over 13,500 in population. The pedestrian bridge over the Sarria River was being rebuilt, so I had to take a short detour to cross on the next bridge. I thought about stopping to get lunch, but it was already 13:30 when I got to the top of the hill in Sarria, and I had a long way to go in the afternoon, so I just kept walking with an empty stomach.

I climbed up and down all afternoon through more tiny Galician towns. The past two days it seems cattle production has been the main livelihood of the area. There is cow dung everywhere on the roads and the paths. The Spanish guy who was snoring loudly last night caught up to me and we walked together for awhile. He said he was 77 and was in the Spanish army. He had alot of endurance for an old man. The path made a big drop in elevation into Portomarin. I walked backwards downhill to ease the pressure on my ankles. I crossed the bridge over the Mino River. Below the bridge was an old stone bridge and remnants of the old town before the Mino River was dammed and a reservoir was made. I had made it to Portomarin at 18:30, just before nightfall.

I walked up the steps to Portomarin and went looking for a hotel. No way was I going to let snorers ruin my sleep two nights in a row. I got a private room at Pons Mineo for €30. I then showered quickly and went over to the church. It was supposed to have an evening mass at 19:30, but the church was locked up. I ended up stopping at a bar on my way back to the hotel. Mario happened to be sitting inside, drinking a beer. I drank a few beers, and we caught up on where we had both been since we last met on the walk to Leon.

I went back to the hotel and got dinner in the restaurant. I got a pasta with meat, beef stew with French fries, and two Cokes for €9.90. I then went to my room and quickly fell asleep. I had walked over 39 kilometers today and needed to recharge.

A view from the rainy morning.

I came across someone camping in the rain.

Sarria in the distance.

Sarria from the top of the hill.

The path along a stream.

A sign talking about the horned cattle raised around these parts.

Portomarin in the distance.

The modern bridge and the old stone bridge across the Mino River, now a reservoir.

Portomarin.

Day 24: Ambasmestas to Triacastela

I got a late start at 09:00. I left the hotel in Ambasmestas and started pushing up the Valcarce River valley. I saw alot of men meeting up with trailers of hound dogs. It was Saturday morning, and they were going hunting. By the time I got through Las Herrerias, the climb started to get steeper. It was slow going through La Faba and up to the last village in Castille and Leon, La Laguna. I stopped to get a bottle of water out of the vending machine there and took off my my jacket. I was sweating bad. It had gotten into the low 50's Fareinheit. Between La Laguna and O Cebreiro, I passed a marker on the mountain, saying I had entered the autonomous region of Galicia.

I made it to O Cebreiro around 13:00. I thought about getting lunch there, but it seemed most of what was being served was octopus, a popular Galician food, at the restaurants there. I got a stamp at the church and decided to keep pushing since I got a late start. There was more uphill after O Cebreiro, but eventually the path descended.

I walked on through the small towns of Linares and Hospital da Condesa. There was possibly the steepest uphill walk of the day up to Alto do Poio. When I got to the top, there were two open restaurants full of hunters and two large dogs that were not happy to see me. I continued pushing, trying to make it to Triacastela before dark. Walking through the hamlet Fonfria, an old woman gave me some type of tortilla. I did not want any food, but she kept insisting I take it. Then, once it was in my hands, she asked for a donation. I gave her a Euro and walked off fast. No way I was going to eat the tortilla, since her hands were dirty from touching a dog and it was leftover from who knows when. I am getting sick of Spanish people trying to scam pilgrims. In the literature I've read, people went out of their way to help pilgrims in the Middle Ages.

I finally made it to Triacastela just before 18:30 while there was a faint bit of daylight left. I went for the alburgue tonight. The Xunta in Triacastela was only €6. Not only was there no WiFi, but I got assigned a top bunk. I went to the only open bar in town, Bar O Escondite. I ordered a pork loin sandwich, but got processed ham slices in a sandwich. It did not sit well in my stomach. I felt like it was going to come out one of the two ends of my digestive system. When I got back to the albergue, the Korean woman on the bunk bed below me was already snoring. In the next room down the hall, there was some old Spanish guy that snored as loud as a chainsaw.

A hunter and two hounds.

Crossing into Galicia. Notice the elaborate Nativity scene.

O Cebreiro.

A sign advertising octopus.

When I got to the Alto do Poio, these two large dogs were not happy to see me.

A stone wall collapsed on the path heading down towards Triacastela.

I had to step aside to let a tractor with a manure sprayer pass by on the narrow farm road.

An 800 year old chestnut tree.

Day 23: Ponferrada to Ambasmestas

I left Ponferrada at 08:20, walking through the rest of the city. I then passed through the suburbs and followed along a fairly busy road to Camponaraya. I caught up to a group of four Koreans, so I walked with them for a hour or less. In Camponaraya, I found some vending machines in town, so I bought two bottles of water, a Snickers, and a can of Pringles. The terrain got more hilly after Camponaraya, and vineyards covered the hills all the way through Cacabelos to Villafranca del Bierzo. I made it to Villafranca del Bierzo at 13:30. It was an interesting town with two rivers meeting in it: the Valcarce and the Burbia. I ate lunch at a place called Camino de Santiago Cafe. I had a cheese sandwich and two orange juices.

I decided to keep walking since the weather was so good. I followed the Valcarce River and the A-6 highway for the rest of the afternoon. I passed the little towns of Pereje, Trabadelo, and La Portela de Valcarce. The latter town seemed to cater to traffic on the A-6 since it had two gas stations, a hotel, and restaurants. I got to the town of Ambasmestas just before 18:00 when the sun was going down. I was pushing myself hard all afternoon to get to my destination before nightfall. I had the choice of a hotel or an albergue in Ambamesetas. I was still spooked by the bed bugs I saw two days ago, so I stayed at the Hotel Ambasmestas for €30. The room was a very good deal for the price.

I ate dinner in the lounge. I had a Galician soup made with cabbage, white beans, and garlic for the starter. I had merluza a la plancha with salad for the main course. I then went back to my room and fell asleep watching Zaragoza and Oviedo playing soccer.

Ponferrada.

Cacabelos.

Vineyards between Cacabelos and Villafranca del Bierzo.

Villafranca del Bierzo.

A view from the bridge in Villafranca del Bierzo.

The afternoon was spent walking along the Valcarce River.

Day 22: Foncebadon to Ponferrada

I woke up in Foncebadon and saw bedbugs on the wall. I am glad I sprayed my sleeping bag with Repel before the trip. I am guessing not everyone was so wise. I wanted to get out of the albergue as soon as possible. I left at 08:20 with Seo and started walking up to the Cruz de Ferro. It was very foggy, and we could not see the cross on the top of the mountain until we were right on it. After that, it was downhill walking. After a few hours, the fog lifted and the visibility was better. We walked through the hamlets of El Acebo and Riego de Ambros. Seo wanted a coffee, but nothing was open. We kept walking downhill.

Eventually, we came to the town of Molinaseca. There were a few bars and restaurants open. Seo picked a place called Casa de Ramon about a block off the Camino. We ate lunch for about an hour. I had pimientos rellenos and orange juice. We then continued on toward Ponferrada. Seo was getting tired and wanted to go to the municipal albergue, while I wanted to keep walking and had no desire to stay in an albergue after seeing bed bugs that morning.

I continued through Ponferrada, passing the Templar Castle. It was 15:30, and it would be opening in 30 minutes. I decided to find a hostal nearby, so I could go back and visit the castle. I had never been inside a castle and seeing all this old stuff was part of the reason I was in Europe. I checked into Hotel Alda Los Templarios. I showered, dropped my laundry off with the hotel, and walked back to the castle. I got a stamp at the castle and at the city tourism office. I then went to the Basilica de la Encina and found a pharmacy to get a razor and shaving cream. I got back to the hotel and my laundry was done.

I went to the restaurant at the hotel to eat dinner a little after 19:00. I saw a girl come in with muddy boots who did not speak very good Spanish. I went over and asked her where she came from. She had walked from Rabanal de Camino today and started in Pamplona. Her name was Shannon, and she was from New York. I finally met another American after twenty days of walking.

The Cruz de Ferro.

A view walking down the mountain.

Molinaseca.

Ponferrada in the distance.

The Templar Castle in Ponferrada.

The entrance to the Templar Castle.