Santiago back to Porto

Sleeping in! No rush at breakfast! But … yes, we want (and need) to walk. Our bodies seem to like this active daily routine. And we needed to collect our Compostela, the certificate we earned by walking to Santiago. We followed other pilgrims to find the office where this happens. They check your pilgrim passport filled with stamps from churches, cafes, and lodgings all along the Camino, making sure you got at least 2 each day. Then they present you with two very ornate personalized certificates, one in Latin, the other in Spanish.

The inside of the Cathedral was like nothing either of us had ever seen; the photos will not do it justice. There was a cathedral museum that we didn’t have time to visit — and a pilgrim museum that we heard about but never found. Since we’re already talking about doing another Camino, we’ll catch them then — as well as the trip out to Finisterre.

We bumped into several of our pilgrim friends on our morning walk-about. Kathleen was so good about exchanging contact info with everyone; I have no doubt she’ll be receiving visits from some of them!

Our taxi driver arrived just before 1:00, and the 2-week trip on foot took only 2.5 hours to return by car. We arrived in Porto in the midst of thousands of university students celebrating the end of their studies by parading in the streets — most of which were closed to traffic. We eventually got to our hotels — and Kathleen met up with her husband Jack, who had come to Portugal to celebrate their 10th anniversary. We had a final dinner together, and tomorrow will visit the famous bookstore where JK Rowling is reputed to have been inspired, and take a sailboat wine-tasting tour down the Douro River.

What an incredible journey this has been!Read more