Day15, Camino Walk, O Areal to Santiago de Compostela

 Final day of our epic Portuguese Camino Walk.

Miles-11.2, Time-5:17, Weather-Cloudy, no rain, Temp-50’s-60’s, Elevation-1345ft. Well we reached the final day of our Camino Walk. We were up and out the door by 7:20. We walked a whopping 17min before we found a nice Cafe to have our Cafe con Leche and a chocolate croissant and we also passed our first Camino marker of the day with a little over 16 km to go until we reach Santiago. I took 15 more pictures of those markers as a count down to how close we were actually getting to Santiago. I was really surprised how much elevation we had to gain to get into Santiago, over 1300ft. It felt like that 11+ miles was all up hill, which actually it almost was. They didn’t want it to be a cake walk entering the city I guess. We climbed up a steep boulder pathway, then a few dirt roads, small cobble stone  winding streets, concrete sidewalks and asphalt roads, pretty much hit them all. We stopped at another cafe for our morning fresh squeezed OJ and a stamp. We have to get at least two stamps pre day in our booklets to qualify for the certificate of completing our Camino. We get those stamps from cafe’s, restaurants, most churches, and places where you stay the night..etc..As we marched on we finally saw our first views of the cathedral in the distance, knowing we only had a few more miles to go. By now there are many pilgrims on the trail with us, everybody saying, Buen Camino, means good way or good path. We all know the end is near, giving us a little time to reflect on our journey and what it has meant to us. We finally reach the city outer limits, following the yellow arrows that have marked our way since we left Porto, over two weeks ago. Finally we reach what is know as the old part of the city. Now there are literally hundreds of people milling around, and being a Saturday made it even busier. Making our way down the little crowed street until we finally able to enter the courtyard / Obradoiro Square. Finally gazing up to see the actual Cathedral, with our own eyes, not someone’s video was totally amazing. We made it, we finally made it!!!!. The Square was jammed packed, with pilgrims, tourist, bicyclist and not to mention a wedding going on at the same time. It was so amazing, we hugged, sat down to take it all on. Even had ourself a little wine that I bought in Porto and brought with us on our journey. We drank it out of one of our Camino shells. After about an hr we went and got our Compostela’s, our certificates of completion, then we checked into hotel ( apartment). Rested a bit, went to dinner, had a whole fish for dinner w/ a salad. A fun filled glorious day to say the least. The end of our Portuguese Camino. Stay tuned for 2026, Camino Francis here I come.