Camino del Norte Days 43-45: Arzua to Santiago de Compostela

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We made it! We arrived yesterday morning in Santiago de Compostela along with my mom and received our Compostela certificates.

After a night with very little sleep in the Arzua Xunta albergue, we took the bus back to Palas del Rei and checked into Albergue Buen Camino. We were among the first to check in, so were able to get a three-bed room just for us. The facilities were very nice and we were able to combine our dirty clothes to do a big load of laundry. It felt great to have clean and dry clothes!

We utilized the little kitchen to make a delicious dinner of pumpkin soup, spinach salad and hamburgers with fried red peppers and cheese. A bottle of red wine and a pint of chocolate ice cream finished off the meal perfectly. We slept well in our little room with no snoring, though we were right next to a bathroom which shared a window with our room so the light shone into our room whenever someone went to the bathroom.

The next morning we were using the wifi downstairs to Skype call my dad, when the owner came in and told us we had to leave! She pointed to the door and said “closed.” The sign on the door said it closed at 8:30, and it was only 8:15, but they  made us leave and then cut off the wifi when we tried to use it outside!

Dave used the day to get some work done while my mom and I walked to Melide. We had a beautiful walk of about 15 km. I was glad to learn there was a new albergue in Melide, since I have never been a fan of the huge Xunta albergue there and the one private albergue has pretty bad reviews. The new albergue, O Cruceiro, costs €12 and is only about 1 month old. The installations are new and quite nice. We were given a room for 4 to ourselves. There is a nice laundry room, big clean bathrooms, and a dining room with a microwave.

My mom and I went for a stroll around town and soon after returning discovered that my mom’s camera was missing. She remember laying it down on the counter at a shop we went to, so we went sprinting back. I asked the fellow behind the counter if he had happened to see a camera lately, and he happily produced my mom’s camera with a smile. Crisis averted!

We went to Pulperia Ezequiel for dinner for the obligatory octopus meal. We enjoyed two hearty raciones of Pulpo Gallego, some Galician soup and a bottle of chilled Ribeiro wine. Delicious!

The next day, my mom and I walked from Melide to Salceda, about 26 km, while Dave took the bus to Boimorto to walk the final alternate stage of the Camino del Norte for our book research. The trails come back together near Salceda, so we reserved 3 beds in the small 8-bed albergue the is part of a rural tourism complex. It’s a heavenly little place with a grassy lawn and reclining lawn chairs by the fish pond. We had a pilgrim menu that was quite tasty, with cream of vegetable soup for a starter and a grilled hake fillet with vegetables followed by flan. We had a good night, though some of our bunkmates didn’t come to their beds until 3am… None of them were up by 8am when we finally turned on the lights…

The next day we walked about 23 kilometers to Monte de Gozo. These final days to Santiago have some pleasant scenery, but overall I find them rather boring, so this day took some perseverence. The cloudy sky threatened rain, but held back until just as we arrived at the massive Xunta albergue in Monte de Gozo. This complex resembles a military barracks, with rows of pilgrim accommodations and its own cafeteria, self-service laundromat, gift shop, hotel and camping area. In spite of the utilitarian building, I rather like staying here. The rooms are small with only 8 beds, the bathrooms are separated by gender and have doors, and the kitchen is well-equipped.

We carried food from Arca to cook our own dinner in the albergue. With the windy rain raging outside we were glad not to have to venture our for our meal. Dave made our pasta with garbanzo bean sauce, which was delicious and filling. Mom and I ventured out to the cafeteria to check our email on the wifi.

Yesterday morning we prepared our coffee in the albergue kitchen and began our triumphal entry (only 4.7km) to the city of Santiago! We headed straight for the cathedral and then went to the Pilgrim Office. Usually I have had to wait in line quite a while to get my certificate of completion, but this time we didn’t have to wait at all. We had a celebratory second breakfast at a cozy cafe, then went to the cathedral for the pilgrim mass. We arrived around 11:30 for the noon mass, but all the seats were already taken! We managed to find one seat and sat through the rather long Mass. We got up to leave at the end, as it didn’t seem they were going to swing the huge censor (called a Botofumeiro, or smoke-belcher). So we left and took a look around the Cathedral gift shop. We decided to poke our heads back in, just in case they did use the botofumeiro afterall, and saw it just as it was losing momentum and coming to a stop! We were a bit sad to miss the whole show, but were also glad to get away from the crowds of people.

We slept that first night in Santiago in the Seminario Mayor San Martin Pinario. Dave stayed here five years ago with a group, and remembers it being quite rustic, with nuns serving bowls of coffee for breakfast. Apparently, the hotel has been privatized as it’s a rather slick operation nowadays, but they still offer simple pilgrim rooms for €23 (single), €40 (double) or €60 (quad) including a large breakfast buffet. Our little room was not the cleanest with a rather moldy bathroom, but it was still a treat to have our own room and we really enjoyed the buffet breakfast with unlimited coffee!

This morning we asked if we could book another night, but it was already booked full so we went around the block to Pension Santa Cristina, which has rooms with shared bath for €30 for a double, €25 for a single. Much of today we have spent working on our research and other upcoming projects, as well as purchasing our train tickets to Madrid for tomorrow night. We had intended to travel to Finisterre for a night or two, but the weather has been so dreary that the seaside doesn’t sound all that appealing.

I’m proud of my mom, who walked over 250 kilometers from Astorga to Santiago!

Camino del Norte Day 42: Sobrado dos Monxes to Arzua

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This morning, several pilgrims in our room began rustling about and shining flashlights around 6:20am (a full two hours before sunrise…) We couldn’t beat them, so we joined them and were up around 7. One fellow had a bright Maglite flashlight turned on and lying on his bed, illuminating the whole room, and he just left it on when he left the room for breakfast! I took the liberty of switching it off for him.

We found a café open early and had café con leche and wrote some emails before heading out into the cold, misty morning. The path was mostly on paved roads today and, together with the dreary and rainy weather, we didn’t especially relish this last day on the Camino del Norte! When the rain began to come down harder we luckily found a little restaurant serving food (mostly what we come across are bars that only serves drinks, not food). We plopped down and ordered two greasy platos combinados and enjoyed every hot bite of meat, eggs and fries!

We arrived in Arzua around 3pm, certain that the cheaper municipal albergue would be full, but we found it still had about 20 beds left. We have two top bunks in a room of 32 beds. Since it is wet outside, many people are hanging their wet clothes in the room and the smell of stinky pilgrims was quite strong (of course, we ourselves add to this scent…) We have been trying to prop open windows and doors to get some air flowing, but people keep closing them. We have found that there are firmly two camps of pilgrims when it comes to fresh air. Those that always want the window open and fresh air to flow, even when that air is cold (we are among this camp), and those that constantly CLOSE every window and seem to think that a few breaths of cool, fresh air will make them sick. Many nights there is a bit of a passive aggressive scuffle at the windows as they are closed and opened by various parties. We normally try to claim a bed near a window in order to guard its open status, but here the beds are assigned.

This day wraps up our Camino del Norte research, though we will check all of our previous research on the last two days to Santiago. Tomorrow I plan to take the bus back to Palas del Rei on the Frances route to meet up with my mom. Dave will stay in Arzua and get some more work done. We are on schedule to arrive in Santiago October 7.

Camino del Norte Day 41: Miraz to Sobrado dos Monxes

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As we have become accustomed to sleeping in until around 8am (since the sun comes up at 8:30) we were rather surprised to have the lights turned on by the hospitaleros at 7am. Actually, this did not even wake me from my deep slumber, so I awoke at 7:30 rather shocked to see almost everyone was already out of the dormitory. I stumbled to the kitchen for coffee and managed to grab one piece of bread before they ran out. The weather was very cold and a thick fog blanketed the countryside. We loitered around as long as we could, but finally went on our way around 8:15, bundled up in all our layers. The fog was unbelievable and the remote landscape extremely beautiful. The tops of the pine trees looked like eerie ghosts towering above us in the morning silence.

That was the best part of the day, the rest of the day was mainly along a paved road. While the scenery was pleasant, we find ourselves becoming impatient with the monotonous landscape and antsy to arrive. After two days with almost no services, it was nice to arrive to Sobrado, which has grocery stores, restaurants and all major services. We arrived at the impressive 10th c monastery about 10 min. after 2pm. The building is truly massive and awe-inspiring. However, we sadly learned that reception is closed from 2pm until 4:30pm, so we had almost 2.5 hours to wait before getting a bed and shower. Luckily, the warm sun was shining and I lay down on the soft grass and took a long and lovely nap. Dave, every industrious, got out the computer and wrote some emails, then we headed to a café for some wifi and two cañas of Estrella Galicia (the local beer).

The albergue finally opened and we got our bed and I went to the grocery store to get our dinner supplies. We cooked another pasta feast in the well-equipped kitchen. While the dorm is a bit crowded here, the ambiance of the historic building is really cool.

Tomorrow, we finish the Camino del Norte! We will arrive in Arzúa and join the Camino Francés for two days to Santiago. I am planning to take the bus back to Palas del Rei to walk two extra days with my mom, while Dave plans to stay in Arzúa and get some work done for his upcoming work contract.

My mom arrived to Sarria today, and has completed 150km with about 100 to go!