Media (13)
Santiago stamped, then straight to the ocean.
July 16: certificate in Santiago in the morning and transfer to Finisterre with Catherine.
July 16 was one of those compressed days, when it feels like living two days in one. The evening before we had arrived in Santiago late, around 23:00, after choosing not to stop at Monte do Gozo as initially planned. In the morning, early alarm: goal was credential office as soon as it opened, stamp and certificate in hand.
That moment, which for many coincides with the end, for us was only a turning point: a few hours later we were already on the bus to Finisterre. The idea was to fit timing well and not give up the ocean stretch, even with the narrow window of Catherine’s flight in the following days.
The day moved fast: arrival, movements, photos, sea, and the constant feeling of living an “extra time” earned. In Finisterre we also met Anita and her friend: other Camino faces reappearing when you least expected.
Meanwhile I kept contacts with Andrius and with the group: while some were celebrating arrivals in Plaza and others were in their final kilometers, Catherine and I were already projected into the coast ending. It was a Camino inside the Camino.
In the morning, Santiago city noise, then the clear change: Atlantic wind, different light, and smell of sea as soon as we got off in Finisterre.
Santiago is not always the final point: sometimes it is the passage that lets you choose how you really want to close your story.
If reading this diary makes you feel the Camino might be calling you, but you still need to clarify a few things, start with the free guide.
Day notes