Camino de Santiago 2024 - Epilogue

The evening…

After seven stages (or “six and a half”, because the first one was very short) I’m in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, and it seems like it was this morning when I was riding through La Grajera…!

I still have things to do today, but the first is to find someone to take a picture of me with the Cathedral as a background. After a first attempt with a “not very skilled” person, two Peruvian girls take the mandatory photos that I quickly share with the family.

After that, I hurry to do the most urgent thing: take the bike to the Post Office to send it back home and not worry about it and, above all, apply for the compostela.

The pilgrim office is next to the post office; I park the bike at the door and take my turn. To my surprise, my number comes out before I can be served at the post office, so I enter the office and pick up, not without some excitement, my compostela. I am surprised that the name is printed and no longer handwritten on the document; modern times!

The compostela is issued free of charge; what they charge you for is the distance certificate, a document that proves the kilometers traveled and that I never ask for because I don’t think I need it.

With the compostela in hand, I go back to the post office where a very nice girl helps me, not only with the paperwork, but also to disassemble the bike and put it in its box. Don

With the compostela in my hand, I go back to the post office where a very nice girl helps me, not only with the paperwork, but also to take the bike apart and put it in a box. All this done, I go to the hotel (which is closer than I thought), carrying everything I have taken from the bike; the rest (including things like the helmet or the bike shoes) will travel with the bike.

Once settled in the room, I take a good shower, change clothes and get ready to take a first walk around Santiago. The first thing I do is to drink a cup of Ribeiro in the Bar Orense, the same thing I did in 2022 and I hope to repeat in eventual future routes.

From there, I go to visit the store where I bought a small travel bag to repeat the move of the previous trip (to put all the stuff I took from the bike). I can’t find the same one, which was great and very cheap, so I look for similar options in nearby stores.

Meanwhile, it seems that I’m repeating all the steps of the 2022 trip and I’m offered to try some wines and cheeses in one of the stores in Rúa do Franco. If the other time I bought Albariño and an Arzúa cheese, this time I postpone it until I have the bag. Unfortunately, the best I can find is a small backpack that will be quite tight, so this time I go without cheese and wine 😢

I go back to the hotel with the backpack to leave the luggage as organized and tidy as possible, try to find a transport (because at that moment I still have no idea how I’m going to get back home) and take my jacket, as it’s starting to get chilly. Transportation is really complicated and, after a lot of searching, I don’t get any combination of train or bus to take me to Logroño so I buy an ALSA ticket to Madrid; I’ll spend the night there and continue my trip the next day.

Back on the street, I go for dinner at the tavern O Boteco: octopus and lacón in a very nice place, although the food (without being bad) does not really impress me. I miss the great party that Samir (the Bosnian pilgrim) and I had in 2022, but I don’t mind being alone. Of course, after dinner I go straight to the hotel to sleep, after a short walk.

It’s hard for me to fall asleep. Miles and miles of images, landscapes and memories pass through my head at full speed. There are so many people, anecdotes, conversations…. It’s like traveling the road again, over and over again, without moving from my bed.

…and the next morning

If throughout the Camino I used to be one of the last to set off, by Santiago I am one of the first. I fear that the Cathedral will not be easy to visit later so, knowing that there is a Pilgrim’s Mass at 7:30 am, I leave the hotel around 7 am. I take a walk looking for a café but find nothing open on the way to the Cathedral; I walk past it and continue along Rúa do Vilar and when I finally find it, it’s too late and I have to run to the Cathedral so as not to be late.

During the Mass it is inevitable to have a new memory for Luis, who must have ended up here so many times on his pilgrimages.

Once Mass is over, I can calmly walk through the almost deserted Cathedral and enter the crypt where the urn that supposedly contains the remains of the Apostle is venerated. For many, it is the ultimate reason for the pilgrimage.

I still have to wait a little while for them to open the camarín to give the traditional embrace to the saint, which I cannot fail to do because my mother has asked me to do so. As I hug Santi, I promise to come back. I feel that he listens to me.

A while later I go out through the door of Platerías, where the chrism has the letters alpha and omega interchanged on the mullion, symbolizing that the end of the Camino is a new beginning.

Another of my traditions is to have breakfast at the Café Casino; but as I’m hungry and it opens quite late, I have a coffee with churros (today yes…) at the charming cafeteria Paradiso, in Rúa do Vilar.

I go back to the hotel and leave everything ready; I’ll go back out for lunch at the Casino and, on the way back, I’ll have to leave the room. I will still have a couple of hours of time until the bus leaves, which I will use for a last walk around Santiago.

Epilogue

Second Camino completed; I got some monkeys from the first one off my back, correcting some mistakes due to my inexperience. But I’ve made some new ones, which I’ll have to get rid of…

There have been many experiences relived and many new ones. I can’t get tired of either one or the other. The Camino has something that hooks you and, in the long hours of the bus ride back, I was already thinking about the next one: the Northern Way, the Portuguese Way, the Via de la Plata…

I love to do it by bike. I think that the bicycle is ideal for traveling, it is just the right speed; neither too fast nor too slow. But I think it is now time to walk. Maybe only for a week, I probably won’t have more time. The French Way again? Well, so what? Every Camino is different and walking will be a new experience, but we’ll see. Just the fact of having my head busy with the preparations is already part of the beginning.

Buen Camino!

In 90 seconds

A short video summarizing the trip in just 90 seconds:

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