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Rest day before heading home: Santiago

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I'm in Santiago for another day before heading for the airport tomorrow The only specific destination I had for the day was the Museo das Peregrinacións e de Santiago (Museum of Pilgrimage) It was closed yesterday (it was a Monday!), and was also closed when I was here last week (they had a movie exhibition) The museum showcased the history of the Camino de Santiago, peregrinos, and Santiago the city. They had a mix of centuries-old exhibits and modern presentations What I found quite intriguing was the diverse historical portrayal of St James in sculpture and painting: James the apostle, James the pilgrim, and James the Knight The apostle is portrayed with a tunic, cloak, holy book, and bare feet or sandals. The pilgrim is portrayed with a large staff, a sporran, a gourd, hat, cape, and scallop shells. The knight is portrayed as a soldier on horseback, supporting Christian troops with a sword, shield, and/or standard ...
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Bus day: Finisterre to Santiago

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After a leisurely breakfast and a leisurely last walk along the Finisterre waterfront... ... and viewing the tribute to emigration from Finisterre to the Americas, particularly Cuba... (The translated text below the sculpture by Rosalía de Castro: "This one leaves and that one leaves, and everyone, everyone is departing. Galicia, you are left without men who can work your land") ... it was time to board the 9:45am bus back to Santiago. Scheduled travel time 3.25 hours, with diversions to three different towns for stops on the way. Actual travel time 1.5 hours with zero stops on the way. Maybe the bus was fully booked with passengers only going to Santiago. Anyway, I no complain After checking where my bus to the airport leaves from on Wednesday, I headed up the hill, past the cathedral, up more hill, to my accommodation (the same backpackers hostel I stayed at the last time I was here) The early checkin secured a bottom bunk bed...
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EOTW Day 5: Muxia to Finisterre & Cabo Finisterre

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This is my last day of walking to the end of the world. I'll then be heading back to Santiago by bus tomorrow The walk out of Muxia was on the other side of the peninsula compared to the walk in Once out of town, it was up up up for the best part of an hour. So far up we were into the clouds Again there was a mix of paved roads and farm tracks And this otherwise non-remarkable track, only worth commenting on because it was grass (most unusual here) Other sights on the way, including the occasional glimpse of the sea, not as common as you might think given that we were basically following the coast I had to wait 16km for my second breakfast - there's really only one town (Lires) with services along the entire 29km route Eventually Finisterre came into view. Finisterre feels larger than Muxia, but I gather their resid...
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EOTW Day 4: A Grixa to Muxia

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The day ended here... ... but I knew it was a short day, so was in no hurry to get up and moving. I left the little farming village of A Grixa in full daylight I went through the usual eucalyptus forest... ... and saw Peter Rabbit eating vegetables from Mr McGregor's garden But the big difference today is that I didn't see any other peregrinos for the entire walk, other than briefly a couple in the distance ahead before I stopped for second breakfast The sky looked impressive, although rain never threatened, and there was no fog so the views were clear all day There were plenty of hórreos in evidence again, including one under maintenance (so presumably being repaired for use), and this monster, 27.3m long The first glimpse of the Atlantic was good to see... ...but this window sill at head-height was an invitation to disaster for inattentive peregrinos This is what remains of...
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