Santiago de Compostela (Th 10 Oct and Fr 11 Oct)

We have arrived in Santiago de Compostela and it feels good.  Large number of pilgrims streaming into the city with us and we were delighted to meet old Camino friends along the way and many more when we arrived.  Shaking of hands and hugs -- everyone is in a joyful mood.  We didn't feel huge emotion when we arrived, but every time we see friends, we are happy for them, they for us and the overall feeling of joy and gratitude builds.

When you complete your journey, you are eligible for a Compostela, a certificate in Latin, with your name also in Latin.  We had been thinking about the irony of folks on the Camino learning that they don't need much to live, how they can live with just a few possessions, then line up for a piece of paper to cart around.  But we joined the line and it felt good.  Seeing people we know, congratulating them, talking to a volunteer who ensures your credentials (stamps from each albergue).  Lineup for Compostela. The middle fellow, from France, has removed his sunglasses for the picture.  We've walked and communicated, in our broken French, almost daily since Leon:

Official Compostelasm for Ioannam and Laurentium McIntyre:

The city and cathedral are beautiful:

This woman is at work restoring one of the churches.  Big job:

We're taking our first break of our journey, staying two nights in the same room in a nice Albergue, and for the first time in 35 days we are not lacing up our boots or shouldering our packs for an entire day and it feels good.  We are in a room for four, but we had it to ourselves last night.  

We've had wonderful food in Santiago.  Our one disappointment of the journey is the food along the Camino (with several great exceptions that I think we've already written about). We've grown tired of the pilgrim meals.  It's a bit like eating at a roadside diner along a highway in Canada for a few weeks in a row -- repetitive menus and mediocre food.  We've tried to avoid pilgrim meals recently and usually have at least one or two meals a day  from a market - fresh fruit and veg, a baguette, cheese or ham with a tomato, yogurt, juice, wine.

Anyway, we were famished after walking into town and walked into a place for lunch called Cafe Bonka.  Now, any cyclist will tell you that after a very long ride without refuelling, you "bonk" or feel really tired.  That's how we felt and the cafe seemed perfect.  We ordered a "sandwich", distinct from the Spanish "bocadilla" sandwich, which is a baguette sliced in two with a piece of ham or cheese in it.  A "sandwich" we were to learn is made from sliced bread you see commonly in Canada and they put cheese or ham in it and fry it in a pan.  Yes, we had ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and was it ever delicious!  They don't cut it -- serve it whole with a fork and knife.  Yum!  

Our next great meal was today for lunch.  We found an Italian restaurant and ordered pizza.  Delish!

More pictures of this beautiful city:

And if you are perhaps looking for a little memento, say of St James, the pilgrim, there are dozens of souvenir shops that can provide, in a variety of sizes: