What happens on arrival in Santiago?

[daesdaemar]

Can someone give me some info on what happens once you get there? Everyone go to the Cathedral? About the Pilgrims' Mass? Where to get the Compostela? The times for all the above?

Thanks...

 

[sillydoll]

If you arrive in Santiago in the morning you can go straight to the Pilgrims' Office in Rua de Vilar (around the corner from the cathedral) and get your Compostela. The office is open from 9am to 9pm.
Then you can check into your accommodation.
The pilgrims' mass is at mid-day but there are 4 masses during the Holy Year so you can attend any of these.

 

[pat.holland]

This topic is one that has been rattling around in my head since we finished the Camino. Why did I find Finisterre more satisfying as an 'end' than Santiago. We rushed into the Cathedral, having galloped down to and back from the rucksac storage place and then sat there in a crowded cathedral. I felt a bit out of it during the mass and wondered 'is this it', the end that is. Getting the compostella was about as impressive as getting my car tax done, a queue, fill a form, get a document and then out. Finisterre was physically better, there was an actual end, over looking the sea and unlike Santiago, someone (two pilgrims we met and the girl in the lighthouse) actually said well done. Was that why I felt better there than in the cathedral. My own religious views (long lapsed catholic) and perhaps my need for acknowledgement may be important here. Coming back from Finisterre we spent some time in the Cathedral square and met friends and I think I began to come to terms with the 'end'

Enought introspection: what does it all mean? I think that any one finishing should spend a few days in Santiago, loafing about, chatting to friends, and generally coming to terms with the 'end'. One or other of the various rituals (finisterre, the square, hugging the saint etc) will eventually mean something important.

Mind you if I were in a powerful position in Santiago I would suggest that an ending/transition event be organised each day in a big building with a very good multi-lingual film, a very good script, incorporate the giving of the compostella and some advice/questions about life after the camino Of course such an event already exists in the Cathedral and the Church might not want competition !

 

[sillydoll]

Pat, I would love include your end experience in my anthology, may I use it?
I would welcome other experiences of the end of the camino for the book.
sillydoll@gmail.com

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hi Pat

You aren't alone and many of us feel a sense of anti-climax on arriving in Santiago. The daily rhythm is gone, friends made along the way disappear to catch flights and having seen a few sights there isn't a lot more to do. The idea for a pilgrim meeting place has been mooted a lot but we are such a transient population which I suppose makes it difficult. I think that Santiago has become a little complacent about welcoming and congratulating pilgrims - perhaps a consequence of doing it for 500 years!

Best regards

John

 

[pat.holland]

Sil, I would be happy to be included in an anthology. I am at pathollandchange@gmail.com if you want to send me any more details. I would be happy to elaborate/edit.

John, thanks for your kind words. It is nice to know others felt the same.

My wife and I were (again) discussing our Camino today (cue complaints from teenage son who is tried of ' this camino stuff') and we agreed that really the journey is the most important thing, not the end. A cliche I know but true for us. Looks like we might be looking at starting another route this year.

thanks
Pat-

 

[Alan Pearce]

Pat, lynnejohn says 'The journey IS the destination" or something similar, and I also am of this persuasion. I was not nearly as excited as my travelling companions when I arrived at Compostela on my first camino. I was pleased, and content, and after 6 weeks of full-on adventure on my first ever time overseas [Australia is a loooong way from most places] , I was physically and emotionally weary. I was ready to accept that I had done what I had set out to do, and go home. I actually got a bigger thrill on my second camino when the priest read out at the start of the pilgrim mass "Uno Australian...Irun." Like someone had poked me hard in the midriff

My companion on both walks however was very disappointed that on the second walk he did not feel nearly as euphoric on arrival at the cathedral as he had on the first occasion.

It is exciting that you are already looking to do another camino. Congratulations on completing your first, and buen camino for your second [and subsequent].

Alan

Be brave. Life is joyous.

 

[lynnejohn]

We've walked multiple caminos, one with very dear friends that we met crossing the Pyrenees, and the rest we have walked alone. The sense of achievement for the physical endurance is certainly there when you arrive in Santiago, but after that 3 minutes of satisfaction, there is, for us, a very real melancholy and sense of loss. As much as we complained every day about our knees, ankles, feet and the weather while walking the camino, it just felt devastating to know we wouldn't be getting up in the morning and walking again. (We tried to overcome this sadness by adding Finisterre one year, and adding Camino Ingles another year). I am now prepared for the "I Can't Believe It's Over!!!" and I get through it, but definitely don't stay in Santiago more than 2 days. It would just feel wrong.

So be prepared for this letdown. There is no welcoming committee, no congratulations, no marching bands :wink: . Spend a few minutes being satisfied with your achievement, walk around and find friends and then move on to experiencing Santiago before you return home.

lynne

 

[MichaelB10398]

In times long past when the Camino was the solitary Way of the penitent Christian, the arrival in Santiago de Compostela was the destination leading to forgiveness. There was still the need to receive the Compostela in order to demonstrate to one's confessor upon return to one's city to signify that penance was both real and completed. However, the arrival in Santiago surely signified the overwhelming embrace of forgiveness for the common pilgrim.

IMHO, to be a pilgrim is foremost a spiritual journey. It is the journey of one's spirit in union with God and all his creation. This blessed union becomes all, is all; the pilgrim becomes an instrument of his pure love with each step along the Way.

I believe you will find that for every event or instance where we dedicate ourselves to union with God, the release from that event or the lifting of that mantel of dedication will be accompanied by a great sense of loss. It is the return from the purity of spiritual dedication to the mundane, to everyday life.

The challenge is finding a process whereby we maintain that dedication to holiness through service to humanity. To continue to be instruments of peace in a world of chaos and abiding conflict and pain. Each pilgrim of the Camino can change the world by embracing their love of the Camino and sharing it with others in their daily life. It is not the giant sacrifice that changes the world, but it is in the daily, small tokens of kindly service to our neighbors and those we meet along our daily walk.

 

[lynnejohn]

Well said Michael.

lynne

 

[hel&scott]

Go straight to the Pilgrims' Office in Rua de Vilar (around the corner from the cathedral) and get your Compostela.

Great to see this advise, on our first visit we had a meltdown as there was no indication of where the office is either in or around the Cathedral, or in any of the guide books and locals just looked blank. When my daughter completed her camino a few years later the situation was just as bad so she called home to NZ for directions. After our latest camino we stayed (as usual) in a very nice hotel opposite the office and saw countless pilgrims searching the lane in vain.

Look for the shells on the corner of the building, or bikes outside!

Ah yes, if it's a satisfying end to the trail, Finestra is the best contemplative point, and the end of the pagan's way.

 

[WolverineDG]

After being on the road for so long, I was excited to arrive in Santiago, but sad that my trip had to end there (for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was the fact it poured rained every day I was there & kept me from walking or taking the bus to Finisterre). Instead, I used the 2 days as a buffer between Camino life & "real" life, readjusting to sleeping in the same bed for more than 1 night, getting my laundry done, putting on "real" clothes instead of the now manky-despite-almost-daily-washing camino duds, in short, learning how to act in the "real" world once more. I really enjoyed my trip to Spain & the walk along the camino, but I could have done without the face-plant 2 days' shy of Santiago. I was also hit by home-sickness, which I have NEVER had before, almost so over-whelming that it was very hard not to toss it all in & head back to Madrid for a flight home. Only the fact that I could not afford to change my plane ticket kept me walking some days. I'm not saying I stopped enjoying my trip; I just wanted to sleep in my own bed. Weird.

I do think a marching band is in order, though. Or at least signs or arrows to the Pilgrim Office.

Kelly

 

[daesdaemar]

Such great information and reflections! Thanks for all the great replies.

 

[LTfit]

Thanks for your thoughtful comments and reflections.

Sorry for being "off-topic" and will post this question elsewhere (How to have a satisfying "end" to the Camino), but what about those of us that finish off elsewhere (due to time constraints or otherwise)? How best to finish the Camino without it feeling like a let-down?

Cheers,
LT

 

[sillydoll]

Sue Kenney has started a virtual pilgrims' center on Facebook called Suseya!

It's a community to support pilgrims on the return journey home.
In the past, pilgrims walked to Santiago and were greeted with Ultreya...Onward. On the return journey home, they were greeted with the word Suseya...Upward. Since modern day pilgrims often don't walk back home, I thought it fitting to call the site Suseya since it address that part of the journey.
Feel free to join or share stories, experiences, tips, compassion or whatever you feel. It's on Facebook under the name Suseya and you don't have to be a member to contribute or read it. Everyone is welcome. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suseya/102613433116602

 

[JohnnieWalker]

on our first visit we had a meltdown as there was no indication of where the office is either in or around the Cathedral, or in any of the guide books and locals just looked blank. When my daughter completed her camino a few years later the situation was just as bad so she called home to NZ for directions. Look for the shells on the corner of the building, or bikes outside!

Just look out for the signs as below. The Camino Frances is well marked on the way into Santiago then follow these:

 

[Marcel234]

Thanks for your thoughtful comments and reflections.

Sorry for being "off-topic" and will post this question elsewhere (How to have a satisfying "end" to the Camino), but what about those of us that finish off elsewhere (due to time constraints or otherwise)? How best to finish the Camino without it feeling like a let-down?

Cheers,
LT

At the moment I don't have the luxury to take 5 weeks off work. So last year my 2 best friend and I started the first part of the Camino. We started at Sjpdp and ended in Sahagun. How did we have a satisfying end? We alo had that 'empty' feeling and maybe it was even more empty because the people we had met would walk further on the next day. But we had a great day. We arrived at 3 pm and met two geman guys and one girl with whom we've had walked during the camino. We had a blast that day with them in Sahagun. Drank Spanish beer, ate a lot, walked around. At 11 PM we gave eachother a big hug and said our goodbeyes. The three of us walked with an empty feeling inside to the trainstation, but kept in mind that next year (now this year) we would arrive on the 25th of july in Santiago in the holy year.

It's hard for me not to get tears from happiness if I think about that last day in Sahagun.
6,5 weeks and we're in Sahagun again!