Santiago!

09.10-13.10.2013

During my pilgrimage I have passed by several monasteries, some of them being the most important monasteries in their countries in the past. Samos was one of them. I arrived there early in the morning after leaving Triacastela, in a way, by accident. When you leave Triacastela there are two paths to follow, a shorter one more direct to Sarria, and a longer one that passes through Samos. 7 km longer. I intended to go through the first one, however, as it was still dark when I started walking that day, I mixed up the paths and ended up going to Samos. Later, I was glad that this happened since that variant has been really beautiful and being in Samos when it was foggy is something hard to forget. There are more places on the Camino de Santiago where you choose between two, or sometimes even more, paths. Some follow more traditional routes, some have been developed by the associations of friends of the Camino de Santiago. This time I did not go as I wanted to initially and when you are on a pilgrimage this might sometimes be the case. 

Sarria, the city I have just mentioned, is located around 110 km from Santiago de Compostela. Because of this it is a place where many people start their walking the Camino de Santiago as in order to receive a Compostela, which is an official “certificate” that confirms your pilgrimage, you need to walk at least the last 100 km. Compostela has been given to pilgrims since the Middle Ages and except for your name (or only your surname if they can translate the name) it is all in Latin. Although not all pilgrims feel the need to have it, or, in other words, it is not why they go to Santiago, for others, it is a proud possession. As you have probably noticed, the majority of my Camino de Santiago went through Spanish territory. However, there much more routes to follow if you wish to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint James and some of them start as far from this Galician city as Lublin in Poland, Dublin in Ireland, Oslo in Norway or Tallinn in Estonia. Regardless of where you are coming from, you experience the customs and traditions of the places you are crossing and then same has been in case of my stay in Arzúa. I was already well aware that during fiestas in Spain almost all of the shops are closed, however, it skipped my mind that that Saturday was El Día de la Hispanidad. As a result, since I was running short of food supply and since there was an important day in front of me, after the usual shower, I went into the city and it took me something like 30-40 minutes to find the only shop open in the entire Arzúa. Normally, it would have been 5-10 minutes, but if you have the right motivation, and food is definitely an example of that, you can look for a shop 4 or 5 times longer. After I have eaten and rested for the remaining part of the day, I was eager to leave the albergue early in the morning. Especially because Santiago de Compostela was only 39.8 km away! I was not sure if I would be able to walk that much in one day. I have never walked that much during the entire pilgrimage. I was simply walking and checking every now and then if I am still able to continue. It turned out that I was and my entire body was bouncing with energy and joy during that walk. It just wanted to be in Santiago now! Monte do Gozo, which is 5 km before the city, is a place from which for the first time the towers of the cathedral are visible (it was raining when I was there so this time they were not visible). From that place I did not have to walk using my feet, the enthusiasm about what was happening was driving me forward. Just before I reached Monte do Gozo it started to rain but that was not important at all. I walked into Santiago with a huge smile on my face, I shouted something a few times, some of the people I passed by were smiling, a driver beeped his horn and I just continued. Through the rain, without thinking about the fact that I was really tired, even if I felt it, just in the direction of the cathedral. And minutes later I arrived there, I have made it to the cathedral, I touched it and I was there!

Photo: Galicia, shortly before Santiago de Compostela, the Camino de Santiago