Our adventure operations specialist, Frances Daw, achieved big camino kudos recently, by completing the Camino Primitivo. We have a lot of blogs about doing the camino already, but we wanted to hear more from Frankie about how it was for her on the big day, finally arriving in Santiago de Compostela. She shares her insightful and inspiring thoughts below, creating a picture of the biggest buen camino day of all.
Why does the camino end in Santiago de Compostela?
Just to remind readers, the end point of Camino de Santiago routes is Santiago de Compostela because its cathedral is believed to be the shrine of St James, an apostle of Jesus. This is why the Camino de Santiago is also known as the Way of St James. He died a martyr in AD44, but it wasn’t until the 9th century that pilgrims started to travel from near and far, on various routes, to pay homage at his place of rest.
From Oviedo to the end of the camino trail
Walking the Camino de Santiago has always been a dream of mine after learning about it in school many moons ago. As a group of four friends, keen for an adventure and the achievement of ticking off the miles on a long-distance walk, we chose to walk the Camino Primitivo, as it is the original pilgrimage and begins in Oviedo. Which is, in my biased opinion, one of the most welcoming and beautiful cities in Spain. Having lived there during university, I had always seen the brass shells that adorn the pavements and noticed the odd pilgrim roaming the city centre, and had been curious about it – and now, finally, we had the chance to complete our own pilgrimage.
It didn’t take much to convince the rest of the group to walk the whole route and, being a group that prefers to spend our time outdoors, the idea of spending 16 days walking through rural northern Spain was ideal. We wanted the sense of achievement of completing all 319.2km of the pilgrimage, and starting in Oviedo also gave me a chance to show off the city I had called home for a year.
The route across Asturias and then Galicia was amazing and varied every day. The scenery changes, and so do the cows as you see the farmland go from dairy farming areas to meat farming. Walking through tiny villages each day offers a glimpse of rural Spanish life. It’s only when you hit Galicia, however, that the way markers begin the countdown to the end of the camino trail in Santiago.
Where the camino routes merge
Before we got to Melide we barely saw other pilgrims, and we’d pass the same people each morning with the traditional greeting of buen camino. At Melide, however, where the Camino Frances merges with the Camino Primitivo, the influx of pilgrims was noticeable, and then increased even more at Arzúa where pilgrims on the Camino del Norte also joined us. Consequently, the final few days were much busier, getting a seat in cafes along the route was harder and, unfortunately, the amount of graffiti on the way markers increased tenfold.
We’d seen an abundance of stickers left by pilgrims on bridges and lamp posts along the way, yet this was the first time we’d seen graffiti left by fellow pilgrims who write names or quotes on the waymarkers. It appears to be the norm to see stickers adorning signs along trails these days, as I saw this on the West Highland Way earlier in the year as well. Whilst it’s interesting to see the collection of stickers and track familiar ones along the route, it does raise the question of how this fits in with the idea of Leave No Trace and responsible hiking.
In a bid to avoid the crowds on these final days we set off earlier in the day, with nature treating us to some fantastic morning scenery as the mist lifted off the fields, reminding us that the pilgrimage is not just about arriving in Santiago de Compostela, but also the sights and experiences you have along the way.
Final walk into Santiago de Compostela
After an adventure of a lifetime, the final walk into Santiago de Compostela, which began that morning in O Pedrouzo, was upon us. Surprisingly, this last walk is an easy route and offers a sneak peak of Catedral de Santiago from a few kilometres outside of the city, which was a refreshing reminder of our goal.
As we walked the final few kilometres through the city, the excitement was tangible amongst pilgrims, and everything started to change from urban city streets to the more recognisable winding streets associated with the Old Town of Santiago de Compostela. There was definitely a buzz in the air. Just as we had done in Oviedo, we once again followed the brass shells, though this time a different design to the Asturian ones at the start of the walk.
Best day to arrive in Santiago de Compostela
We then descended through an archway to the side of the cathedral, where the end point of Camino de Santiago was manned by a piper, using traditional Galician pipes called gaita, who played us into the main square, or Prazo do Obradoiro as it’s known in Galician, which is the local language. This musical entrance really makes the arrival special and builds on the emotions that are already flowing – such a feeling! After months of planning, days of walking, hours of counting down the kilometres and hundreds of stamps on our Credencial del Peregrino, we had finally arrived.
The atmosphere in the square was electric, and I think it helped that we arrived on a Sunday so it was very busy, but also buzzy. We were surrounded by people hugging and taking photos to mark the end of their journeys, and everyone had a different story to tell about their own camino.
Things to do in Santiago de Compostela after the camino
The next stage was getting our Compostela Certificate. It’s amazing how involved or even addicted you get to collecting stamps along the way, ¿Tienes un sello? becomes a common phrase along the way, which is how to ask for a stamp when entering, well, anywhere. Prior to the end of the walk, we registered online at the Pilgrim’s Office and received a QR code, which we needed to collect our Compostela. The following day, freshly showered and armed with the QR code, we visited the Pilgrims’ Office near the cathedral and collected our Compostela. The Compostela itself is free, however when you collect it you can opt to pay for an additional certificate to commemorate the distance you have walked (€2) and a cardboard tube if you wish, which we did. The Pilgrims’ Office itself is a piece of history, and, as you are free to roam the grounds and check out the information panels, we took advantage of that.
Getting the Santiago de Compostela city tour
We all agreed that one of the best things to do in Santiago de Compostela after the camino is the tour of the Old Town. This is included in the tour price on certain caminos, but it must be pre-booked, so just discuss this with my team members. We were met by our guide, Angeles, in front of the cathedral, and she took us on a walking tour for an hour around the Old Town, explaining both the history of the camino as well as the city. The tour didn’t go into the cathedral, but we did see inside a few other local buildings and churches such as Claustro do Pazo de Fonsecca, an ornate courtyard filled with greenery and statues, and Igrexa de San Paio de Antealtares, an unassuming church attached to a convent of cloistered nuns.
The cathedral is the real end of the camino trail
The cathedral itself is a key landmark to any camino and, legend has it, that pilgrims must visit the bones of St James and embrace his statue to truly mark the end of the camino trail. We waited until mid-afternoon when the queues were shorter to enter, and then we did indeed visit St James. Although embracing him wasn’t for us, I imagine that for those with a spiritual connection it’s quite a symbolic way to complete their camino. Whilst not as impressive inside as, for example, the Catedral de Oviedo or the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba, the Catedral de Santiago boasts some interesting sculptures and the swinging Botafumeiro is quite a sight. Entrance to the main cathedral is free, however there is a fee to go up on the roof. We didn’t head up due to our own time constraints, but maybe at the end of our next camino.
Overall, the camino for us was an achievement, not in a spiritual sense as it is for some, but in a physical and mental sense. None of us had walked such long daily distances, especially in succession, so training walks leading up to the trip were essential. Spending the days walking, chatting and putting the world to rights has cemented our friendship and of course has us plotting our next adventure.For more information on the Camino Primitivo, or any of our caminos, please don’t hesitate to contact our adventure specialists, and take a look at all of our aforementioned camino blogs.
