Andrew has been very patient and only nagged me about it a few times every week since we arrived back in New Zealand. So here it is, our long overdue blog to complete our month European adventure, and as it is the last blog in this series, we have decided to write it together. Last year when we were driving through that part of Spain, we followed the trail for a hundred kilometres or so and saw many walkers taking on the challenge.
Walking the full kms would be too time-consuming and our weary legs after 16 months walking around Europe also played a part in our decision to only take on a small portion of the trail. To get your Compostela Certificate you need to walk the final kms of the pilgrimage and finish at the cathedral in the centre of Santiago de Compostela, so we looked at the possibility of coming back to Spain at the end of our trip to do that. At the time we wrote about it in one of our blogs and my brother Tim mentioned that it was on their bucket list.
Conveniently Tim was heading to a medical conference in Barcelona near the end of our trip, so 10 months later and with a bit of organisation we caught up with Tim and Julie and spent a week walking the final kms of the Camino de Santiago from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela. Initially, this was a Catholic pilgrimage walk and has been since the 9 th century. According to medieval legend the remains of the apostle Saint James the Great were brought here in and now lie inside the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela which is the focal point of the old city.
Back in , just pilgrims undertook the trek, but the popularity has now risen so much that last year , people walked the now famous El Camino de Santiago. Most travel on foot, some on a bike and a few do it on horseback or donkey. There are many paths leading to Santiago from all directions, but the French Way is the most popular.
After an hour and a half flight from Malaga to the top of Spain, we arrived at Santiago de Compostela, picked up our rental car and headed into the city to find our hotel.
