Santiago and Finisterre

Santiago cathedral

We avoided the purgatory of too many in a bed 

So we arrived at Santiago and added our small numbers to what has been termed the largest mass movement of humans in Europe until the refugees of world war 2. It has also been said with some truth that the Camino enabled Spain. To my mind, as much as medieval Europe defined itself as an entity, that entity was centered on the Church of Rome. The Camino, together with the Crusades, provided medieval Europeans with a sense of shared identity – Christian and not Muslim, and many other things beside. In fact, until the financial crisis, the Spanish government offered heavily subsidized holidays to retirees to visit other parts of Spain to understand their own country. Our Camino passports were scrutinized for stamps along the way and we were each handed a personal certificate of completion.

Preparing the censer

Censer above our hea

The great pilgrim church of Santiago functioned as it was designed – the tenor voice of the canon in plainsong, leading a choir of the congregation, and pilgrims arriving throughout the service, using the ambulatory around the mass. The languages of all the world sharing in a ritual 1000 years old. The disinfecting censer was swung up across the congregation in a great arc across the transept and into the upper roof directly above where we were sitting. We had Santo Iago’s bones to see, St Jim to hug, wisdom to be gained from Master Mateo, mason of the Door of Glory, and the whole atmosphere of happy arrivals to savour. Outside were all the money-making systems of a pilgrim town – souvenirs, restaurants, photo opportunities, puppet shows, beggars, street musicians and hotels.

Lin and Rod, Jan and us had become a group with Diego, our knowledgeable guide, and Ivan, our enthusiastic driver. We were sorry to stop, so we’re aiming to go back to some quieter and more rural French sections in 2014 to again enjoy the Zen of walking a pilgrim trail.

Next day we drove through fog to the Finisterre. Finisterre is at the end of the earth for the Romans and for Europe and where the Milky Way (known as the Camino of Stars) touches the horizon and beyond is only Ocean. The peninsula was dotted with small sacrifices of burnt clothes and old shoes. A celebratory beer and a birthday dinner for Kerry in the evening and then on to the next adventure.

End of the Camino at Finisterre