2013-10-02 Staying in Santiago de Compostela I was awake this morning at 5:00 and started writing my story on paper on the first day in Santiago de Compostela. Last night I slept under a blanket, but I did not sleep well. Tonight I 'm going to use my sleeping bag again. The paper or synthetic material mattress cover, which is typical at a refugio was half off the bed this morning as usual. They are very thin, these mattress covers, and they keep coming off of the mattress at the slightest movement. I then had to "straighten" the bed, and yet I fell asleep again and woke up at 8:00. First I washed myself off in the shower and put on clean, dry clothes, which dried in the corridor yesterday.

I walked eight stairs down to the basement for breakfast. The coffee machine did not work when I tried to get coffee... I bought 2 large croissants in the shop and I ate one of them in the basement. I took the other upstairs, where there was also a coffee machine, one that worked. It was now 09:30 and I need to write the cards to send… I worked quickly, because I had an 11:00 appointment in front of the cathedral with all the pilgrims with whom I had dinner last night. We had decided this last night while going to the pilgrim Mass at 12.00. After writing the cards, I delivered them at the main post office in Santiago. (After 3 days the cards were at all locations in the Netherlands). I was the only in front of the cathedral at 11.00 AM, but a few minutes

later Katrin and Olivia arrived. We went inside the cathedral and sat in the 5th pew up from a “reserved” ribbon. The seats in front of the ribbon were for important guests. We had room for Michel and Katharina to also sit with us in our pew.

The botafumeiro is hanging in the middle of the Cathedral Just in time, before the Mass started, many men and some women in uniform with plenty of gold on the shoulders came inside. Those who took their place in the reserved seats were very important people from the province of Galicia. Apparently, today was the feast day of the patron saint of the province Galicia. It was forbidden to take pictures during the service. Only a photographer was allowed to take pictures, sometimes detracting from the service while he walked through the cathedral and made photographs, even using the flash. However, the botafumeiro swayed in the cathedral at the end. It costs € 300 during normal days of the week and someone has to pay this amount. The Botafumeiro of that day was definitely paid for by the people of Galicia. I do have pictures of it, despite having a woman behind me who tapped me several times on my shoulder!

The botafumeiro in a shop….. After the Mass, Katrin and Olivia, who came from near Leipzig, went along with me to look for the fish market in Santiago. After a few questions, we found the fish market. Afterwards we also found the restaurant, which was close to the fish market, where we wanted the fish baked.

The fish market

We have bought our fish …. After we had found both, we bought the fish and brought them to the restaurant. 45 minutes later, we were eating our own fish for dinner. That was yummy! You can’t eat fresher fish. Delicious!!! We had ordered salad and bread. And a glass of dry white wine was not lacking.

After dinner, I did shopping for my direct family. At 7:00 PM we had an appointment in front of the cathedral to have dinner together. Again it would be Michel, Katherina, Katrin, Olivia and me.

The “farewell photo” : l-r : Katherina, Katrin, I , Olivia and Michel We went to a real tapas bar and ate a lot of special things there. Michel and I bought an expensive bottle of wine for ourselves, but it was not very good.

The tapas bar ….

Everything in Santiago de Compostela is much more expensive than on the Camino itself. Here in Santiago, everyone has the right to shake the last euros out of the pockets of the "poor" pilgrims. After the tapas, we drank coffee and beer under an umbrella. Suddenly it started to rain hard, and there was loud thunder. I said “goodbye” to everyone, and with my € 0.95 poncho I walked as fast as I could to the refugio. It was a pity that the day and my stay in Santiago were ending with rain and thunder. After all, it had been a wonderful day, and I thank God that I was allowed to make this Camino. With an artificial right knee and diabetes, a walk of 800 km (almost 500 miles) on mostly bad paths in a fair amount of heat, sometimes with bad places to sleep, which also were not hygienic... I sometimes had the feeling that I was not walking alone. Especially the last 1.5 weeks, when I walked all by myself. That someone helped me in making decisions and pointing me to the right routes, as it was sometimes not well marked. I also thank my wife Corrie, who stood behind my decision to walk “the route frances”. I suppose that I won’t get the permission for a second 800 km walk in my life……..