Camino de Santiago Day 27

Day 27: I woke up at 7 AM, ate breakfast in the albergue at 8 AM, and departed for the hike at 8:30 AM. I passed over the River Sarria and walked up the city stairs into the older part of Sarria. I was immediately struck by the 40 or so people all climbing the stairs alongside me. “Is this a tour group?” I wondered. It was not a tour group (or sort of). Apparently, Sarria is a huge starting location for people wanting to get their Compostela (certificate) for doing the Camino de Santiago (the minimum requirement to get the certificate is to do the last 100 km to Santiago. Sarria is the common starting point to make that happen). After I quickly passed all the newcomers having trouble on their first 50 or so stairs, I then ran into multiple other groups throughout the city. Eventually, I passed over Ponte da Aspera (bridge from yesterday’s post) and entered the farmlands of the surrounding villages. The camino went through dozens of small villages and was mostly farmland and rolling hills. The first half of the day was a climb and the second half of the day was a descent. The amount of people on the camino never abated and I must have passed hundreds of people along the way. I’m happy for the newcomers to experience the camino but at the same time the camino kind of felt like a parade. I did find my moments of lone time on occasion and it felt great. I finally came down into the river town of Portomarin, my resting point for the night. I crossed the New Bridge into the city and checked into Albergue Ferramenteiro (the hotel portion of the albergue). It was another fantastic place with a balcony overlooking the river. I ate lunch next door to the Albergue at O Mirador (best place in town) and tried the Galician octopus, a specialty of Galicia. It was delicious. I then went back to the hotel to relax for an hour before heading out to explore the city. I went to the main square and saw Igrexa de San Xoan de Portomarin (church), which was founded in 7^th century, Igrexa de San Pedro (church), Bridge Vella (ancient bridge below New Bridge), the city parks and the surrounding town. I came back to the room to cool off a bit and then went to O Mirador again for dinner (it was that good...). After dinner, I went back to my room, relaxed on the balcony while watching the sunset, then went to sleep.

Distance hiked: 14 miles

View during morning hike

Apple tree

New Bridge (high) and Bridge Vella (low) into Portomarin

Galician octopus

Neat looking statue

Igrexa de San Xoan de Portomarin