Day 36 - Santiago de Compostela
- pettyjenny
- Oct 8, 2022
- 2 min read
Relaxing with Robert, saying goodbye to old friends, eating and sightseeing. That was today
in a nutshell.
Robert and I slept In. Although, I did wake up in a panic thinking "What time is it? I've got to get walking! I've overslept!" Old habits die hard. 😉. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, I put regular "non pilgrim" clothes on and we went off to tour Santiago. We had purchased advance tickets to tour the tower later in the day as well as the museum. The tower is not open to viewing except during special occasions and holy years (which was extended to this year due to COVID). We started out in the square behind the Cathedral and video'd a large group of high schoolers coming in singing aswell as a large group of little children. I was wondering whether some of the HS groups were choir groups because you would hear them waking in the streets singing songs. Make sure the volume is on to hear them in the video!
I ran into several of my old friends including S from California that I walked with several days at the beginning. I had not see her since before Burgos! I also said farewell to my Italian policeman friend who was flying home tomorrow am.
Then we met up with K and J for lunch. They had gotten in about 10:30 and already taken care of the Pilgrim Office paperwork, etc. We walked by a restaurant and were called in by K and J from Canada. We hadn't seen them since Sahugun at the 1/2 way point. Canada was well represented during the Camino!! After a perfect lunch, for Robert, of bread, fresh jamon and tetilla cheese, we bid tearful farewells to my great friends and departed. We went back to the hotel to relax before our afternoon tours.
One of the tours was the Cathedral Museum, which was amazing. Unfortunately, there are no photos allowed in that portion. Then we toured more of Santiago and went shopping (since now we have suitcases that I don't have to carry on my back!). At 5pm we had our tour of the tower which turned out to be in Spanish! There were several other American couples on the tour, and we all basically just took photos and asked her questions when she was done at each section. We saw the part of the Cathedral almost no one sees! Robert commented that you would never be allowed to do that in the states as we were walking all over the roof of the Cathedral with no restraints (as you can see from these photos). The view was 100% worth it!
Tomorrow we depart for Porto, Portugal. We are meeting up with a friend we knew at NATO LANDCOM in Izmir, Turkey 7 years ago! The world is small.
Hey Jenny (and Rob). Indeed "The world is small." Here is another friend you "knew at NATO LANDCOM in Izmir, Turkey 7 years ago!". I read some of your posts with pleasure and with much admiration. I think this has been a very remarkable and meaningful journey. My congrats! By the way, you and Rob look great and just as the same as I remember you. Am I the only one getting older? It is great to get news from you two and pls say hi to the MSG in Porto. Okan (COS MA, LG CG 2015)