Portuguese Way - Day 12 Walking

Day 12: Habron to Padron - Santiago 28.5km and arrival in Santiago de Compostela

Yes, the last stage is coming up and it's somehow exciting to know that everything will be over afterwards. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most challenging stages on the entire route. I have decided to really enjoy this last stage, not to rush ahead and to chill and take many breaks with the others.

After breakfast at the monastery turned out to be just biscuits (what else would you expect, after all, we went to a monastery), we stopped for second breakfast! Fantastic toast with ham & cheese. By now, even the last person in the group had realized that I could become devilish without food. So, I had made a name for myself.

So, we happily continued our hike and imagined in colorful pictures how our arrival in the city would look like. Of course, with brass band music and military marching!

And then we approached our destination.

The closer we got to Santiago, the greater the agony became. I think it was all in the mind. In the end, there was no brass band music to be heard. We simply limped into the city.

But then... as we passed the first houses and made our way into the city center, the hustle and bustle grew and suddenly... a group stormed towards us and shouted, "There they are, congratulations!" We were embraced enthusiastically. The group consisted of pilgrim friends from the Way, including Dagmar, Volker, Erich, Nico, Sam, and Humphrey. They were all there! It was overwhelming.

And so, with the whole team and pats on the back, we were guided through the narrow alleys of the city center to the square in front of the Cathedral. The point 0.0km in Santiago de Compostela. It was a goosebumps moment and we dropped our backpacks, lay down on the huge square like all the other pilgrims, and looked up at the Cathedral with pure happiness!

This moment had to be digested first!