Where did you go or will go after?............except Finisterre & Muxia)

[mark connolly]

I have crossed the Rubicon and purchased my ticket to Spain. I will arrive in Madrid on Sept 8th and will start in St Jean on the 10th. My (planned) schedule, after arriving in Santiago, will have about 7-1o days remaining. Since most people continue on to Finisterre/Muxia or will visit either the city where one will arrive/depart in Europe: Madrid/Paris, I am thinking about taking a trip to Seville or Coruna. Any thoughts/advice? Please advise..........

(Tune in next week when Mark will post another interesting thread)

 

[Anemone del Camino]

You could bus to Pontevedra, then visit the Poio monastery and Combarro, go up the hill to the Armenteira, and back down through the Ruta de piedra & agua. This is the start of Variante Espiritual of the Portuguese. Pontevedra is a beautiful town, close to the beach as well if you would like to dip your toes in the sea.

 

[Davey Boyd]

I have crossed the Rubicon and purchased my ticket to Spain. I will arrive in Madrid on Sept 8th and will start in St Jean on the 10th. My (planned) schedule, after arriving in Santiago, will have about 7-1o days remaining. Since most people continue on to Finisterre/Muxia or will visit either the city where one will arrive/depart in Europe: Madrid/Paris, I am thinking about taking a trip to Seville or Coruna. Any thoughts/advice? Please advise..........

(Tune in next week when Mark will post another interesting thread)

Or, if you haven't tired of walking you could always walk the Camino Ingles! But whatever you choose have a great one

Buen Camino
Davey

 

[evanlow]

On first Camino I arrived in Santiago with a twisted ankle. I have also around 6 days but couldn't walk to Finisterre/Muxia.

My plan B having that much time is to rent a car in Santiago and returning it in Madrid (arrive/depart).

1. Drove to Finisterre/Muxia and then along the coast down Baronia (celtic ruins) and stayed in a hostal somewhere along the coast.
2. Vigo (see and stayed with an ex-colleague)
3. Avila (beautiful walled town)
4. Segovia (fantastic castle and acquaduct)
5. Last night Alcalá de Henares (Cervantes birthplace and just east of Madrid, near airport). You don't want to be driving into Madrid.

 

[BeatriceKarjalainen]

First camino I walked camino Ingles after Francés and Fisterra/Muxía. After this one Norte) I took the bus to Porto. I love that city.

 

[SYates]

I am throwing Porto into the discussion round ;-) Beautiful city and easy to get to by bus from Santiago. Buen Camino, SY

 

[Doogman]

As soon as I saw this heading I immediately thought of Porto, so I will reinforce what others have said above. It is an easy bus ride (about 3.5 hours) and it is well worth a couple of days.

 

[Montana Jayne]

We needed to get to the UK for a flight back to the States, so on the spur of the moment we took bus/train to Santander for 3 days to rest after our 38 day camino from SJPP. Santander has such remarkable beaches! Then we took the overnight ferry to visit Plymouth, England and enjoyed that. Had the best fish and chips ever at a pub named The Hoe. Countryside was beautiful. Love the UK.

 

[Tincatinker]

I guess I'm just curious as to why not Fisterra / Muxia. Do you think you will be done with walking by the time you get to Santiago? Or is it that you would like to see more of Spain and perhaps somewhere different? If the latter then Seville / Granada / Cordoba / Malaga will all give you a very different Spain, as would a week in Madrid. Andalucia offers much stronger Moorish history and their impact on the landscape and culture is very visible. Probably very different weather by October when you get to Santiago. The culture-shock may be profound.

 

[november_moon]

We had 5 days after we finished before we flew home. We spent 3 in Santiago, including a day trip to Finesterre and Muxia, which was fun. We went to a guided tour - small group of about 8 people. And we liked having the time to hang around Santiago a bit, and we had the opportunity to see a few people whom we met along the Camino, but were a day or two behind us. We had considered moving on sooner, but decided to just chill for a bit. Then we went to Lisbon, which is were we were flying home from - spent about a day and a half there. Lisbon was wonderful - I'd never been there, but it is now on my list of places to go for a proper visit.

I've been to Seville and Cordoba on another trip and highly recommend them - I really enjoyed the time I spent there and would love to go back. So if you are considering going to that part of the country, it definitely gets a thumbs up. I like Madrid a lot too and have been there a few times, but honestly, I don't think I was in the right frame of mind after the Camino to really enjoy Madrid. Its a big, busy city and I just don't feel like I would have liked it as much as I usually do at that point. On the other hand, Lisbon, although also a city, was great - it's more laid back and less intense.

 

[Carol06]

We went to Vigo for three nights. Not a lot there except for the boat trip to the wonderful Cies Islands. They are outstanding. In retrospect though we really should have gone to Muxia or Finisterre. Next time!

 

[dougfitz]

Tune in next week when Mark will post another interesting thread

I'm bemused. When did you post the first interesting one?

 

[Bumpa]

I'm bemused. When did you post the first interesting one?

Nice

 

[Albertagirl]

I have crossed the Rubicon and purchased my ticket to Spain. I will arrive in Madrid on Sept 8th and will start in St Jean on the 10th. My (planned) schedule, after arriving in Santiago, will have about 7-1o days remaining. Since most people continue on to Finisterre/Muxia or will visit either the city where one will arrive/depart in Europe: Madrid/Paris, I am thinking about taking a trip to Seville or Coruna. Any thoughts/advice? Please advise..........

(Tune in next week when Mark will post another interesting thread)

@mark connolly
Thanks for this thread. I found myself in Santiago last fall with almost 2 weeks before my return flight to Canada and didn't know what to do with myself except hang around, first in Santiago, then in Finisterre and Muxia. I just didn't expect to finish that quickly and didn't want to have to rush or miss part of the camino. Options for the post-camino time seems like a great idea to me. I have already acquired a long list of things to do in Madrid from another thread, but I don't know whether I shall be in the mood to enjoy big city culture after my time on the camino. I have given myself a longer camino to walk this time and a little less time in which to walk it. But you never know. I just may speed up again. If I finish early, I shall be glad to have suggestions to consider.

 

[whariwharangi]

The ancient city of Granada is home to the Alhambra, the palace of the Caliphate that ruled Andalucia for 700 years.

It is close to El Mulhacen, the highest point in Iberian Spain ... a great day hike.

I spent three months there; always finding new places.

 

[mark connolly]

I guess I'm just curious as to why not Fisterra / Muxia. Do you think you will be done with walking by the time you get to Santiago? Or is it that you would like to see more of Spain and perhaps somewhere different? If the latter then Seville / Granada / Cordoba / Malaga will all give you a very different Spain, as would a week in Madrid. Andalucia offers much stronger Moorish history and their impact on the landscape and culture is very visible. Probably very different weather by October when you get to Santiago. The culture-shock may be profound.

@Tincatinker: That's the point. Most people continue on to Finis/Mux. I may do that. I am also keeping my options open for other places to go.

 

[mark connolly]

I'm bemused. When did you post the first interesting one?

On this forum five minutes, and I am already getting the hassle!

 

[ManyMiles2Go]

On this forum five minutes, and I am already getting the hassle!

Just hazing the new guy Welcome to the forum!! My wife and I rented a car when we got to Santiago. We drove to Fisterra, then we drove to Fatima in Portugal. After that we went to Lourdes in France and finally to Paris for the last three nights before flying home. Next time I would just walk the Camino, hopefully next year

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I considered walking the Camino Portugues from Santiago to the border with Portugal after doing the CF, mainly for bragging rights ("Hey, I walked from France, across Spain to the ocean and then down to Portugal.") I didn't do that for reasons too long to tell. Wait, here's a short way to describe the reasons: Peg.

 

[dougfitz]

Just hazing the new guy

Not really, but if I had known how difficult it would be for the OP to identify which of his own posts was so interesting we would be waiting for the next one, I might not have made the comment. I hope he has a great pilgrimage and has something really interesting to share with us as a result.

 

[jbear]

My two suggestions:

1) Where I went after my Camino- Salamanca. If you walk the VdlP you would have already passed through here, but if you didn't, it's a great city. If you want a little luxury the NH hotel is very nice and has parking if you end up with a car. Visit the university and look for the frog, see the Plaza Mayor (it's one of my favorite in all of Spain), and the place I first learned about the Camino- the Casa de Conchos. Try the great cured meats for sure and its the only place I've had hornazo (it's kind of like an empanada made with cured meat-chorizo,lomo, & jamon).

2) I didn't go here after the Camino, but on a separate trip-Sevilla. It's also on the VdlP! This is a very different part of Spain if you've just spent a month on the CF. The Cathedral/Giralda are inspiring and you can see 3 distinct styles of architecture in one building. The alcázar is worthy of a visit as well. Sevilla is also a great base to see the Mezquita de Córdoba, Itálica, and the Alahambra.

Hopefully that gives you some inspiration.

 

[Donna Sch]

We went to Vigo for three nights. Not a lot there except for the boat trip to the wonderful Cies Islands. They are outstanding. In retrospect though we really should have gone to Muxia or Finisterre. Next time!

I've heard great things about the Illas Cies and had it recommended to me as an option as well.

My two suggestions:

1) Where I went after my Camino- Salamanca. If you walk the VdlP you would have already passed through here, but if you didn't, it's a great city. If you want a little luxury the NH hotel is very nice and has parking if you end up with a car. Visit the university and look for the frog, see the Plaza Mayor (it's one of my favorite in all of Spain), and the place I first learned about the Camino- the Casa de Conchos. Try the great cured meats for sure and its the only place I've had hornazo (it's kind of like an empanada made with cured meat-chorizo,lomo, & jamon).

2) I didn't go here after the Camino, but on a separate trip-Sevilla. It's also on the VdlP! This is a very different part of Spain if you've just spent a month on the CF. The Cathedral/Giralda are inspiring and you can see 3 distinct styles of architecture in one building. The alcázar is worthy of a visit as well. Sevilla is also a great base to see the Mezquita de Córdoba, Itálica, and the Alahambra.

Hopefully that gives you some inspiration.

So jbear, will you be doing the VDLP next?! Sevilla and Salamanca are lovely cities.

I went to Barcelona as I love mosaics (as if I hadn't seen enough Roman mosaic work on the VDLP for a lifetime!) and wanted to get my Gaudi fix. Lovely city and easy to get around. La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Batlo - they are all very close to each other.

 

[jo webber]

I've heard great things about the Illas Cies and had it recommended to me as an option as well.


So jbear, will you be doing the VDLP next?! Sevilla and Salamanca are lovely cities.

I went to Barcelona as I love mosaics (as if I hadn't seen enough Roman mosaic work on the VDLP for a lifetime!) and wanted to get my Gaudi fix. Lovely city and easy to get around. La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Batlo - they are all very close to each other.

Barcelona is a wonderful city. Took us 10 yrs to get there after seeing a post card of La Sagrada Familia, was worth the wait. Incredibly beautiful.

 

[jbear]

So jbear, will you be doing the VDLP next?! Sevilla and Salamanca are lovely cities.

That is the plan. The most likely path will be to start in Salamanca. I'll be able to do that with a normal vacation block. However, what I really want to do is this; Start in La Redonda walk from there to Ciudad Rodrigo where I would pick up the Camino Torres. Then take that to Salamanca where I would join the VdlP. That would be (as best as I can tell) the route from our (my father's) family's home town.

The other half of the family is from Cerralbo, which is about 10 miles away. I tried to come up with a direct route that hits both towns but it becomes convoluted. Since no one has any ties to Cerralbo any longer it doesn't hold as much meaning as La Redonda for me. (If you ask anyone who has married into our family, both in the USA & Spain, they will tell you LR is the center of the universe).

I went to Barcelona as I love mosaics (as if I hadn't seen enough Roman mosaic work on the VDLP for a lifetime!) and wanted to get my Gaudi fix. Lovely city and easy to get around. La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Batlo - they are all very close to each other.

BCN would be a good choice as well. So much to see and do. It would be some pretty severe sticker shock after the Camino. But if you're a Gaudi fan it is a "must see". And the market! That alone is enough reason for me to go back.

 

[DurhamParish]

Another vote here for Porto . . . . with a trip up the nearby beautiful Duoro valley.