Camino de Santiago, Day 5 - Amenal to Santiago de Compostela (Easter Sunday): 10 miles

What a way to end this pilgrimage! Headed out from Amenal in staggered groups.  Some of the slower peregrinos started early to keep up and others did not realize that others had left and waited by the bus to load their luggage.  

Our ten-mile walk was decidedly more urban (the early part took us over a highway and around the airport), before arriving at the first marker for Santiago itself.  

Shortly after that, we arrived at the Puerta de Santiago (where there is yet another little church) and the last 'rural' section of our walk.  

We are less than ten miles from the city's center and we are still encountering small yards with cattle or sheep.  Some of the walkers in the front stepped into a little church during their Easter morning mass.  My group saw the priest walking away from the church with what looked like an ancient iron key.

Just before the Monte de Gozo, we stopped for snacks and beer (at 11am). 

This is how much I had to pee at that point.

Monte de Gozo is the mountaintop where pilgrims first saw the spires of the Cathedral, which is now a park.  Also in this park is a memorial to Saint John Paul II, a small chapel (noteworthy for the signage warning of its alarm system) and a monument to the pilgrims who make their way to Santiago.  

One of the pilgrims looked good in a Belen cap.

Then a long walk through the city to arrive at the cathedral, including seeing an Easter Day procession.  

I felt like I had to remember this set of moments - walking into Santiago de Compostela on Easter Sunday of our 50th year with men I've known since I was 12 years old.  What a blessing!  It was unbelievable.  Even though we wanted to go to the Cathedral and some had families in Santiago, we had our lunch reservation. 

A delicious lunch, as always, including scallops served in a scallop shell, to welcome us to Santiago.

After lunch, we went to visit the Cathedral, which is amazing. Pilgrims traditionally go up behind the altar and hug the statue of St. James (literally) and then go to the crypt to venerate his remains. A very emotional experience. 

Then off to the pilgrim office to certify your arrival and receive your “compostela.”

We are staying in a hotel that was a Franciscan monastery (part of it still is), featuring the visible foundation (from the 800s) under glass flooring in the lobby.  We held our closing mass in their chapel. 

Then dinner in the former dining hall of the monastery, which still features the balcony where one of the monks read to the others while they ate and a beautiful piece of art featuring a seated Apóstol Santiago being attended to by a kneeling Francis of Assisi wearing pilgrim's clothes.

After dinner, a quick jaunt to see the Cathedral illuminated for the night and have one last beer.

It truly was a "Buen Camino."