Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela, July 5

We're finally getting some more typical Galicia weather: it was foggy and drizzling on and off most of the day.  Shortly after we left Pedrouzo we passed the 1100 km mark.

Because of the volume of pilgrim traffic, this part of the camino is very well marked and mostly on separate paths.  We passed some small farms, but more forest land.

The route passes around the Santiago airport.  Pilgrims have woven sticks into the airport's chain link fencing to make dozens of crosses.

After we arrived in Santiago, checked into our pension and had lunch, then headed over to the pilgrim office to receive our compostelas, official certificates of completion.  We weren't the only ones there, but the line moved quickly.  To receive the compostela, one must walk the final 100 km, or bike the final 200 km.  Many pilgrims start just 100 km from Santiago, which is why this final stretch of  the camino is so crowded.

Santiago is a beautiful old city, and a popular tourist destination even for non-pilgrims.  But, the pilgrimage seems to dominate.  The old center of the city is filled with shops selling souvenirs and t-shirts, restaurants, and bars.  Pilgrims wearing backpacks are everywhere.  

The cathedral and city grew up around the remains of Saint James (Santiago), which somehow made the trip from the Holy Land (where he died in the first century) back here just in time for him to make a significant contribution to the Spanish reconquest of the Iberian peninsula.  People have been making this pilgrimage to Santiago for over a thousand years.  

The cathedral complex is huge, ornate, and quite beautiful.

The large square in front of the cathedral seems to be always filled with newly arriving pilgrims.  This group of young people was singing and dancing around a pile of their backpacks to celebrate their arrival.

The day after arriving in Santiago we attended the daily pilgrim's mass in the cathedral.  At the start of the mass they read off a list of new arrivals by starting destination and nationality: we showed up as two Americans from Montserrat.

Now that we've had a day off in Santiago, we will continue walking tomorrow, to Finisterre on the Atlantic coast.