Oct 8
I started my morning by finalizing the remainder of my time on the Iberian Peninsula. I had previously scheduled an overnight trip to Finistere starting tomorrow and then back to Porto on Friday.
My parents generously gifted me a day trip up the Douro Valley, so I booked that for Saturday along with another night in the hostel in Porto.
I now have train tickets back to Lisbon and a hostel in the historic city center for Sunday & Monday nights. I’ll then move to an airport-adjacent hotel Tuesday in preparation for my early Wednesday flight home.
Santiago is by far the most expensive place on this trip. It’s fairly easy to blow 70-80 Euro a day on meals and drinks. I was getting beer or wine in the countryside for €2. It’s €5.50 here. Dinner entrees that are under 10 elsewhere are closer to 20 and more.
Since I’m on my own today, I’m going to try and go frugal. I’m starting my day at Cafe Paradiso, which was listed in Trip Advisor as one of the best cheap places to eat. That said, my Spanish tortilla was still €8. But it was hearty and tasty and will hold me for many hours.
After breakfast, I decided to walk over to the Pilgrim Office and see about getting a Compostela. I had heard that rules changed this year and any 100km segment of a Camino qualified you for the certificate.
When my number was called, a volunteer from the UK greeted me. She asked when and where I started, and I told her Lisbon on September 11. She said, “oh, you walked 630 kilometers.” Had I kept my mouth shut I would have been issued the certificate, but I said, “no, I injured myself and stopped walking at Redondela.” It was her first day working, so she summoned a supervisor who asked me if I had walked into Santiago. When I said “from the train station,” she shook her head and said that didn’t qualify.
I was issued a certificate showing that I had visited Santiago and the cathedral. No worries, for me the most important document is my Pilgrim Passport with all the places I’ve visited on this journey.
I learned that Ruth & Thea, the mother/daughter duo from Vancouver BC were still in town and we got together for one final dinner. Ruth found a really authentic place with a pilgrim menu (starter, entree, bread, dessert & wine or beer) for a fixed price of €14. They had several options for each course, so we decided to each order something different and then eat family still. Our feast included roasted Padron peppers, muscles, green salad, paella, grilled squid, an omelette, almond cake, flan & rice pudding.
