Way - ilivetotravel's travel log

Finisterre: The End of Earth No More!

A “short” 90-km walk from Santiago de Compostela, where the famous Camino (Way of St. James) ends, is Finisterre. Finisterre is a town but the more famous Finisterre is the cape that signifies “the end of earth.” Back when folks assumed this was the end of earth, hence the name. (Note: It is also known as Fisterra in the local dialect, Galician or gallego).

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The town of Finisterre from a distance

Many pilgrims who do the Camino, keep going past the end point, the city of Santiago de Compostela. I did not when I went because the end goal of the Camino, in my book, is entering the Plaza del Obradoiro and then going to Mass at the massive and old Cathedral.

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While 0k for the Camino is in Santiago, this is 0 km too

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Posing with friends – and friendly photobombers!

However, I highly recommend hiking or somehow making it to Finisterre. I personally loved walking the rugged terrain past the lighthouse.

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The Atlantic Ocean at Finisterre

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Water activities abound in the area

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Pilgrims leave articles of clothing upon reaching the end of their Camino

It reminded me when I went to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa (check it out here), maybe just a little less spectacular here but impressive nonetheless.

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Finisterre lighthouse

If you drive from Santiago, there is an inland route, more direct, and a route that hugs the shoreline. I recommend the latter on the way over to Finisterre so you can see Finisterre from the distance and see the beautiful coastline. I am sure in other times of the year this coastline is slightly less hospitable but on the beautiful July day I went, it was nothing short of spectacular. On the way back, we did take the fast route back – and that was fine with me.

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The Cape (top left) and the town of Finisterre to its right

A small coastal town watched over by windmills, a common sight around there

Beautiful waters!

A small town along the route

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Smart to rely on these guys given how windy it is!

On the way over, before getting to the coastline, we stopped at a small village by the Rio Tambre to visit a charming town right of CP-0201, not far from Santiago. The Ponte Maceira crosses the river into the village and forms part of the Camino as witnessed by the many pilgrims we saw cross it. The village is graced not only by the bridge but by a chapel, an old mill, and a very approachable riverside. Definitely a “must stop.”

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Pilgrims crossing the Ponte Maceira (Maceira Bridge)

The Rio Tambre

The village by the bridge

The old mill and an approach to the river

The only bummer for my visit was that there was a small festival (for the Feast of St. James) going on near the Cape and we could not stop. I would have so loved to eat fresh seafood and mingle with the locals. I hear any of the towns along the shore will have incredible fresh seafood. I believe it!

If you do have time to explore the area, don’t just go to the cape. Not that it is overly touristy or that it isn’t spectacular, but there are other parts of the coast that are well worth exploring. The Rias Baixas (which you may know if you know Spanish wine…), just south of Finisterre, are a series of estuaries/inlets from the Atlantic Ocean that create a mini-ecosystem rich in marine life and with many beaches and water activities, a magnet for tourists from Spain. While certainly not the French Riviera, it also lacks the over-touristed ambience of places like that, making it more relaxed. So, give yourself an extra day or two and enjoy Finisterre and all that the area around it offers in the region of Galicia!

Beautiful coastline

More of the coastline

Doing the Camino to Finisterre (or driving to it!) should make it to your travel board!!

Another Pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago

The Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, is an ancient pilgrimage indeed with a timeline of over 1,000 years. Pilgrims from all over Europe would come from far and near to visit the place where St. James (or Santiago) is buried: under the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain (Galicia, to be more precise). I became another pilgrim on the Camino….

Camino, Santiago, St. James, The Way, pilgrimage, Europe, routes, travel, trekking, journey — A map in O Cebreiro showing the many routes pilgrims took from all over Europe to get to NW Spain

In modern days, though, not all who “do” the Camino are necessarily doing it for spiritual reasons but I would find hard to believe that most don’t get something spiritual out of the sacrifice and effort doing the Camino requires.

The Camino is a joy not only for the experience of trekking these ancient “ways”. I have to admit that the social and culinary were also part of my Camino.

croqueta, food, Spain, Camino, foodporn, foodie, delicious, travel, photo — One of my favorites from my childhood re-encountered in the Camino: croquetas!

I will aim to share about the experience in a couple of different ways in this and upcoming posts:

The first way will be to simply share what everyday was like using photographs and other thoughts – whether you ever plan to or want to do it.
The second will be by sharing what I did to prepare and do the Camino, in case you are yourself hoping to, or actually planning to, do the Camino.

Why I went

I first learned more about the Camino when I met a co-worker back in 2003 who had just done the Camino from St. Jean Pied de Port – so about 30 days’ worth of trekking (close to 800km or 500 miles). It all sounded hard and just too much time. Over the years, as we became good friends, I enjoyed hearing stories about what the Camino was like and the friendships he struck along the way. It made me curious about the Camino though I never thought I would want to “walk” for 30 days.

Years later, as I got more into trekking/hiking, I started thinking that I -some day- would want to do it (or part of it, to be more precise). Watching the movie “The Way” helped inspire me but not tons more. The coup de grace was when an organization I do treks with, Trekking for Kids, announced they would do a trek to do the Camino in the summer of 2014. That sealed the deal. Combining both my desire to do the Camino with the mission of Trekking for Kids (to improve the lives of orphaned and at-risk children around the world) was the perfect reason to go.

Trekking for Kids, trek, Bayti Centre, voluntourism, Essaouira, Morocco, travel, photo — The group of trekkers and the children and staff of the Bayti Centre in Essaouira

How we did the Camino de Santiago

The Trekking for Kids trek mixed a few days at a center for at-risk children in Essaouira, Morocco, called Bayti Centre, followed by seven days on the Camino (read more about our time at the Bayti Centre here). Because the overall trek had to be kept to less than two weeks, the starting point of the Camino had to be picked such that we could do the minimum required distance (100km for those walking; 200km for those cycling) to be able to get the “compostela” (or the certificate issued in Santiago de Compostela that validates that you did the Camino) yet stay within the desired overall trip duration. In addition, it had to allow for the travel day or two between Morocco and the start of the hike.

The preferred route was the traditional Camino Francés which is sort of parallel to the northern coast of Spain but further inland. It is likely the most popular route of all though I wonder how the other routes are (and secretly hope I can check out some day!).

This meant we would need to start the hike at the last possible point we could and still meet the minimum walking requirements: the town of Sarria, which meant we would do more than the 100km minimum (at least, 110km). There were, however, a couple of important towns right before Sarria that were worth seeing (O Cebreiro and Samos), yet we did not have time to hike through them (would have required one or two more hiking days) – so the itinerary included driving through these towns before being dropped off on the trailhead from which our hike would start.

Our Camino route

Our hiking itinerary was as follows (click on the Day to read the post for that day!):

Day 1: Begin at Sarria. After a very short (“warm-up”) hike, we would overnight at Barbadelo.
Day 2: From Barbadelo to Portomarín
Day 3: From Portomarín to Palas del Rei
Day 4: From Palas del Rei to Boente
Day 5: From Boente to Salceda
Day 6: From Salceda to Lavacolla
Day 7: From Lavacolla to Santiago.

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The map that follows highlights in a blue oval the town of Sarria, our starting point (immediately to the right, you will see Samos; further to the right, you will notice O Cebreiro). The purple line that connects the blue oval to Santiago de Compostela to the west (left, on the map) is the route of our itinerary.

On to Day 1!

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