Walking The Way

Oct 20-21- Had a great rest day in Santiago yesterday, and got up early this morning and attended the traditional pilgrims mass in the Cathedral, as well as visited St James tomb. From there, headed to the city of Finisterre with my buddies Mike and Viola where I am spending the night tonight.

I’m not catholic, but you can’t help but feel the emotions of this service and cathedral. After all, this is the original purpose of the pilgrimage: To reach this cathedral and pay respect to St James, the first of Jesus’ apostles to be killed, with his remains held in the cathedral.

Finisterre means “End of the world” in Latin. The romans gave this name to Finisterre, as the village is one of the most Western points. They saw the rocky place as the end of the world, and where they would end their pilgrimage after visiting St James in Santiago de Compestella. It was the perfect ending to an incredible journey. It is a beautiful spot to end this pilgrimage.

It rained all morning today and just as we arrived in Finisterre high winds hit and opened up the sky for us to have a little sunshine. The wind practicality blew you over, but it still was beautiful.

From Finisterre we headed to Muxia, the neighboring city in Finesterre with beautiful beaches. If you’re going to go to the end of the world, you have to stick your feet in the water!

My thoughts: Hard to believe this journey is finished. Seems like yesterday I took my first steps in St Jean Pied de Port. I’m sure it will sink in more as the days go on. I’m so grateful to be able to have taken this journey. I’ve laughed, cried, suffered, struggled, and persevered. It’s been an experience of a lifetime. Tomorrow I’ll hop on a plane to Madrid and then on Monday, will fly home. I’ll post more in the coming days….