Trip Update - Camino de Santiago

According to my Garmin watch, I walked a total of 435 miles (701 km) on the Camino de Santiago from Lisbon to Santiago. Then I walked an additional 60 miles (97 km) to Fisterra. This brings my grand total up to 495 miles (798 km). I made many new friends along the way, saw some incredible places, and observed 54 bird species! Speaking Portuguese again was so much fun! I have so many fond memories to last a lifetime! Thank you all for following along on my journey!

Writing my blog every day was a challenging task. However, I am so thankful that I did it! I put off writing about my rest days in Coimbra, Porto, and Santiago. I was also unable to upload videos from my phone while I was over there. I am slowly working on catching up on these posts. I also need to write about my final days walking to Fisterra. These remaining posts will be coming soon, I promise! I am putting the published date and time as the correct days they happened and so they will appear on my blog in chronological order. For those of you looking back for the new posts, you can check out the archive on the left hand side of the blog main page. Below are the most recent posts I have added and expected posts currently under construction for my journey:

New Posts 

Fado de Lisboa is on October 4th, 2022

Dia de Descanso - Coimbra is on October 14th, 2022 

Dia de Descanso - Porto is on October 20th, 2022 

Minha Lista de Passaros - Porto a Santiago is on November 6th, 2022 

Dia de Descanso - Santiago is on November 1st, 2022 

 

Coming Soon  

Trip to Fisterra - Days 1-4 is from November 2nd-5th, 2022

*Additionally, I am working on improving the Relive video links in each post to see on a map where I walked. These videos are fun to visualize where I walked each day! They showed up as hyperlinks before, but seeing them from my computer it looks like they did not actually link to the video.

Minha Lista de Pássaros - Porto a Santiago

My Bird List - Porto to Santiago 

10/21/2022

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)

Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)

Yellow Legged Gull (Larus michahellis)

Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea)

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

Common Swift (Apus apus)

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Gray Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris)

Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica)

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola)

Rock Dove (Columba livia)

10/22/2022

Sanderling (Calidris alba)

Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

10/23/2022

Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)

Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

10/24/2022

Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis)

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

SPAIN

10/25/2022

Common Loon (Gavia immer)

Mediterranean Gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus)

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis)

Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)

European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus)

10/28/2022

Coal Tit (Periparus ater)

10/29/2022

Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

10/30/2022

Common Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla)

11/03/2022

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

11/04/2022

European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris)

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

54 Total Species Observed

Dia de Descanso - Santiago

Dia de Descanso - Santiago

Rest Day - Santiago 

My rest day in Santiago was more relaxing than my previous rest days in Coimbra and Porto. Several people left the hostel early in the morning and after that disturbance, I was able to sleep for another couple of hours. Xenia, Yeji, and I had a late brunch before walking down to the cathedral. Unknowingly, we entered through the Porta Santa, which are special Holy Doors that only open during Holy Years. A Holy Years occurs when the Feast of the Apostle, July 25th, falls on a Sunday. This last happened in 2021. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis has declared 2022 to also be a Holy Year. Additionally, today was All Saints Day, which is considered a Holy Day in the Catholic Church and many people had gathered to visit on this day. Somewhere I heard that this entrance into the cathedral was meant only for those persons having walked the Camino de Santiago on a pilgrimage. Yet, the doors seemed open to anyone on this day, as most persons entering did not look like they had walked hundreds of miles to be there in their fancy clothes. According to tradition, pilgrims who walk to the Santiago de Compostela during a Holy Year can enter this special door and be forgiven of their sins after attending the Holy Mass and confessing their sins. This tradition started in the 12th Century by Pope Callixtus II and is a form of plenary indulgence.

Inside the cathedral I saw a crowd of people seeking forgiveness of their sins by confessing to the priests in designated rooms. To accommodate the multitude of international persons, signs at the head of each line indicated the language to be spoken during the confession. Pushing past the crowds, I noticed a small set of stairs going down into a room below. Following a few people down these narrow stairs, I found myself standing before a gated chamber.

In this room is believed to be the remains of Saint James, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. After pausing momentarily and considering the significance of this place, I returned to the main level and lit a candle for the waiter in Coimbra, who had asked that I do this small act for him once I arrived in Santiago. I then reunited with my friends and we decided to leave the cathedral before mass started. It was far too crowded at this time, likely because they were going to perform the ceremonial swinging of the Botafumeiro, a large metal container used for burning incense.

Unfortunately, we missed this experience and made our way back to the hostel after exploring some souvenir shops. After we returned to the hostel, I noticed that the cleaning staff had already been downstairs to clean the rooms. My walking shoes that I had left by the back door, along with everyone else's shoes last night, were nowhere to be seen! I started to panic. I looked for them everywhere, even in the basement, which had signs saying "Staff Only - Keep Out". I looked down there anyway and found a pile of abandoned walking sticks, but no shoes. Yeji and Xenia helped me look all over the hostel several times. Still no shoes! The front desk was vacant despite signs saying it is staffed until 3 pm. Eventually someone returned to the front desk and I asked them about my missing shoes. The woman informed me that two pairs of shoes were left behind in the morning and they had taken them somewhere else to be disposed of later. They were "near" the trash can, so the cleaning staff assumed they were trash. Many people leave things behind at the hostels in Santiago because it is the end of the trail. Who wants to fly home with stinky shoes they may never wear again? She left to retrieve my shoes from their secondary location down the road and I was so relieved to have my shoes back when she returned. I was not looking forward to spending another Fall week in Spain with only my sandals to wear. I then took an afternoon nap, while Xenia was kind enough to go to laundromat and wash all of our clothes together. 

Later in the evening, we returned to the cathedral to attend the Pilgrims mass. It was a very similar experience to the one I had in Padrón, just two nights prior. Only this time, the priest emphasized the meaning of our pilgrimage and acknowledged the international diversity of persons arriving this day over the multiple routes of the Camino de Santiago. Germany was mentioned multiple times and the priest even spoke a little German. Xenia noticed that part! After mass, we looked around for a dinner spot. We eventually found an Asian restaurant that Yeji was excited to try. I had a bowl of ramen and I think the girls might have stolen my hard boiled eggs when I left to use the restroom. There was a lot of food to eat, so I wasn't concerned. Yeji approved of my technique using chop sticks. 

The three of us then returned to our hostel for bedtime. Overall, it has been a fantastic journey up to this point! However, the fun is not over yet! Tomorrow, I will begin my walk to Fisterra and thankfully I will be wearing my walking shoes!