How to Walk the Camino de Santiago: Week 5 - Santiago and the End of the World!

Week 5 Summary:

Day 29 - Ventas de Naron to Melide (16.6 mi/26.7 km)

Day 30 - Melide to Arca (20.5 mi/33.0 km)

Day 31 - Arca to Santiago de Compostela! (12.4 mi/20.0 km)

Bonus:

Day 32 - Santiago de Compostela to Negreira (13.6 mi/21.9 km)

Day 33 - Negreira to Olveiroa (20.7 mi/33.3 km)

Day 34 - Olveiroa to Finisterre (19.5 mi/31.4 km) + 3 mi roundtrip to the Lighthouse

Our shoes are falling apart, we’ve worn holes in some of our clothes, and I think I have a minor case of shin splints, but we did it! We completed the 799 kilometers (496 miles) walk across the northern part of Spain, and we even completed the extra 3 day, 88 kilometers (55 miles) walk from Santiago to the End of the World: Finisterre.

   

Overall, we had a fantastic final week. If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen the large plate of pulpo (octopus) that Ricardo was over the moon about in Melide as we started our final week. If not, here’s another glance at this delicacy that we found in the Galicia region all the way to Santiago. Even I tried some!



We made it to Santiago de Compostela on Tuesday, October 17th - our 31st day of walking without a rest day. I would recommend a rest day to anyone planning their own Camino, but we did OK without one. The last week and a half had some days with a lot of miles to cover, and some days we were too exhausted to do anything but shower and find dinner (and even that was a challenge)!

We had a great walk into Santiago. Our book had it scheduled where the day before covered some serious mileage, but we had a “short” day into Santiago of about 12 miles to have the afternoon to explore Santiago and visit the Cathedral, etc. For us, Santiago was never the end goal. We planned to go all the way to Finisterre from the beginning, so to be honest, Santiago was a bit anticlimactic for us. The Cathedral was under construction (as it sounds like it has been for the last few years), and we didn’t feel the rush of accomplishment right away. We stood in line for an hour and a half to get our Compostela’s and then celebrated with pizza and beer.

We did visit the Cathedral to hug the golden statue of St. James, and it really was beautiful inside. We didn’t get to see the swinging botafumeiro in action, but some of our friends showed us their video from the mass they attended where it sounded like someone donated enough for them to do it. Our book states that “it’s the largest censer for spreading incense smoke in the world.” Apparently it takes about 8 men to get it swinging!



The very next day we began our 3 day trek to Finisterre - the End of the World. Before Christopher Columbus discovered America, the “end of the world” was thought to be the west coast of Spain. This really felt like the end of our journey for us. Walking along the ocean on our last day was incredible, even with the torrential downpours for two days straight and wind so strong we were questioning our sanity for walking up a mountain.

  

Final Thoughts...

The Camino de Santiago was an adventure within our adventure and an experience like no other. Doing it straight for 34 days beat us down on some days, but improved our flexibility and problem solving immensely. I’m lucky to have been able to complete my Camino with my best friend. We’ve met so many amazing people along ‘the way’ and even got some excellent travel trips that we’ll be pursuing later in our trip (thanks again, Mark!) But, as it seems to be a theme of our trip thus far, we’ve had to say goodbye to many new friends until we meet again - Buen Camino!

Extra Information - Where We Stayed & Pricing (based on 2 ppl):

Night 30: Ventas de Naron to Melide: Albergue Alfonso II El Casto €20. 2 bunks (all updated - nice patio and laundry area). Booking.com.

Night 31: Melide to Arca: Una Estrella Dorada €40. Private room/shared bath - included free breakfast and we definitely would recommend! Booking.com.

Night 32: Arca to Santiago de Compostela: Mexico PR €45. Private room/private bath - we stayed on the 4th floor and had a private balcony with a nice view! A little far from the Cathedral. Booking.com.

Night 33: Santiago de Compostela to Negreira: Anjana Albergue €30. Private room/shared shower but had our own toilet and sink - called ahead to reserve. Super nice! Great hosts.

Night 34: Negreira to Olveiroa: Casa Loncho €24. 2 bunks. Not enough showers/bathrooms for the amount of bunks but it worked.

Night 35: Olveiroa to Finisterre: Pension Cabo €29. Private room/private bath - our room smelled like cigarettes but it was in a great location. We recommend staying at the Municipal Albergue that was right next door instead. Booking.com.