Santiago de Compostela

 

Lots of pilgrims walking into Santiago de Compostela today, Sunday.

All ages, groups, solo walkers, bicigrinos, hobblers, limpers - lots of bandages on feet and knees but as most peregrinos walk into the plaza there is a sense of relief and celebration - they have reached the end of their journey as they walk into the magnificent plaza in front of the cathedral.

The first time we were here 10 years ago the outside of the cathedral was covered in scaffolding as restoration was underway. Last time we were here the inside of the  cathedral was being restored and today it was lovely to see it all finished, hopefully good for another 200 or so years.

The old town was alive with energy and people - families lunching, tourists celebrating, pilgrims farewelling walking buddies - it was all go.

The historic buildings in the old town are terrific.

Also some fantastic modern architecture - the bibliotheca on the outskirts of town is worth a visit, just a short easy bus ride and you can wander through the modern designed buildings.

I found my favorite doorknocker.

Hasta luego amigos x

Vilanova de Arousa to Pontcesures

Managed to get some pics of the fabulous public sculptures before we had to board the boat for the last leg of our trail today.

 The last stage of the Espiritual Variant Camino de Portuguese is by boat up the Ria Ulla to the little village of Pontecesures. The river journey follows the path of St James as he made his way to Padron and then on to Santiago de Compostela. 

112 peregrinos we're on the boat today and  most pilgrims will have walked on to Padron, staying the night there and making for Santiago de Compostela tomorrow. Great little earner for the boat company each summer @  €23 pp. They provide refreshments and a bit of local history as you go.

We have walked the Camino Portuguese a few years back and don't want to repeat the Padron to SDC stage again.

We  opted to take the train from Pontecesures to Santiago de Compostela. We still have memories of staying in Pension Flavia at Padron - we won't be repeating that again - lovely spot but hopeless plumbing🙂

We were assured the boat left at  11:30 a.m,  the journey was 1 hour - so plenty of time for the 1:39pm - 34 minutes versus 2 days walking! 

Problemo - the boat didn't leave until 12:00 noon - we were still chugging up the ria at 1:30pm - our train would be missed. Oh well, when in Spain go with the flow. Next train 4:45pm -no problemo. 

We had a gorgeous journey out of Vilanova de Arousa harbor and up towards the Ria Ulla. Great to see the muscle farms up close.

It was lovely watching the scenery change as we moved up the river - gorgeous water meadows and waterfowl - very pretty. 

There are many cruceiros marking the route of St James

We arrived at Pontecesures - a gritty little river town where industry has grown up over the years maximising  the water source of the river. It was a shame about the factory opposite the barco estacion belching steam on an industrial scale - it could be a very pretty spot but we didn't dilly dally as it was stinking hot - 33°!

We picked up some groceries to take to Santiago de Compostela as tomorrow, Sunday, all the supermarkets are closed. We found a little local bar and had lunch, a cold beer and waited it out to the 4:45 p.m. train.

Nice to be staying at Los Abitos again, we have stayed here on three occasions in Santiago de Compostela. It's a little bit out from the old town but the hotel runs a shuttle into the old town and we like having the quietness, plus it's a lovely hotel with a big swimming pool where we can relax for a few days.

Ribadumia to Vilanova de Arousa

Beautiful day again in Galicia, the temps for the next week are hot, hot, hot. We had a great breakfast at the rural casa we were staying at, the mamma out back in  the kitchen made the best eggs and the O.J was so fresh. 

We set off early and  had our first stop at Capela San Pedro de Mouzos  - a tiny little chapel in a hamlet  amongst the vineyards.

It was lovely walking through the vineyards.

They grow mainly  albarinio grapes here on small holdings that supply the major vineyard. Unfortunately the vineyard bodega was not open when we were walking past.

We were looking for a shady place to rest and came upon the Igrexa de San Miguel de Reiro and a kind gentleman stopped mowing the lawns and unlocked the church for us so we could sit inside in the cool.

A simple little village church with a bell tower and an external bell pull to call people to service or to raise the alarm in a case of a fire especially with the eucalyptus forest being so close. It was very tempting to pull that bell.. but we resisted.

There are over 10,000 cruceiros  in Galicia. They are to guide the traveller and you'll find them at crossroads. They also  protect the harvests and we came across them in the fields and the vines.  The oldest date back to the 14th century. 

The lemons here are enormous and abundant and the blossom smells divine!

 We had a steep climb  to walk to San Roque do Mont. The path was  a blend of walking through a eucalypt forest and then back into vineyards again.

In the little hamlet of San Roque do Mont there's a memorial to the humble donkey.

I couldn't find out the history but now the village celebrates a fiesta to the donkey  and they have donkey races apparently.

It was lovely to come back to the coast again. We rested for a while in the shade of the pine trees and watched a white heron fishing in the shallows.

There's quite a bit of seaweed on the shoreline. The water looks beautiful and on another day we would have jumped in but we still had a little bit more of hiking to be done to get to the village of Vilanova de Arousa.

We  crossed a little footbridge to the town proper.

There is a big fishing fleet here that harvest muscles, clams, cockles and fresh fish of course. As we came over the footbridge and were looking down, we could see three divers with air tanks just slowly cruising along the sea floor and we think they were collecting shellfish, but not sure.

The economy here is still linked to fishing, especially to shellfish and  mussel farming with hundreds of platforms all along the coast. We'll get to see these up close tomorrow as we need to take a boat for tomorrow's stage.

There looks to be lots of public sculptures but it was too hot to wander, our priority was to find our hotel and get our packs off. So sculptures shots tomorrow.

We have walked from Pontevedra to Vilanova de Arousa - tomorrow is our final stage to Pontcesures and it's via boat - yay! Many will walk on to Padron and then Santiago de Compostela however we took this path a few years back so won't walk it again. 

Hasta luego amigos 👍