Etapa 13: O Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela, 20 km
Today I walked from O Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela. I had stayed the night before with the group I met in the same hostel and we walked with headlamps through the mist over to a place for a typical Spanish breakfast (coffee, orange juice, and pastry--the ones at this place were xxl).
The walk the last leg to Santiago was made rather stiff-legged and with not inconsiderable pain in my feet from all the walking on asphalt/sidewalks. Of course, my 3 days on the Camino were nothing compared to the 12-or-so days the rest of the group had walked. The day was filled with gradually building excitement as we got closer and closer. Some signs led us on an unfortunate detour that made us bypass the gates into Santiago, but we got a nice group picture at an art piece on the way.
We arrived in smaller groups to the plaza before the cathedral of Santiago, where dozens of pilgrims sat and just stared up at the cathedral (facade under repair) as their feet throbbed before them. Once our whole group assembled, we entered the cathedral and paid our homage.
Upon exiting the cathedral, we left to get our compostela, and capped the day with an excellent menu del día that included tarta de Santiago for dessert.
I didn't feel particularly proud of my compostela, since I had only walked the minimum distance (100km, or Lugo to Santiago de Compostela), to get it. I stuck it in my backpack unprotected and it got rather crumpled in the BlaBlaCar ride back to Oviedo.
