Marilyn's Odyssey: Santiago to Finisterre to Montpellier

Well my Camino tour finished with great fan fair. Our farewell dinner was held at the parador by the cathedral which was a pilgrims hospital 500 year ago and has now been converted to a five star hotel retaining its history both inside and outside. We were taken on a tour to start the evening where our guide told us that it was almost always so that patients entered the hospital alive and all left dead. Thank God that has changed. We were greeted at the entrance to our beautiful dining room by some Spanish musicians who with their music and song encouraged many to get up and dance. This was followed by a magnificent dinner during which we all exchanged Camino stories. A "witch" then arrived and stirred up a wicked Galacian brew which after imbibing in more musicians had us dancing around the table. Marly Tours presented each of us with a matted picture of the group at the start of the trail which will be a nice keepsake. The next morning we finished our time together with a guided tour of this ancient city full of legend and history. Learned a lot and certainly was helpful as we did our own exploring in the afternoon. It was then time to say goodbye to the half of our group who were leaving for home. One gets to know people very well when sharing this experience so was an emotional farewell. Those of us remaining got together for a tapas dinner that evening. Will never have too many of these.

Yesterday we went on a bus trip toFinesterre which is regarded by the Spaniards as the end of the world. This is where for many pilgrims they consider to be the finish of their pilgrimage. In years gone by pilgrims would end their journey by burning all their smelly clothes they had worn. This tradition is still carried out by a few and we did see some stoking small fires. We then went to Muxia which is on the rugged coast referred to as the death coast due to the number of boats that have met their demise here over the years. A magical place where if one use a lot of imagination it is said that you can see the remains of the stone boat that brought the remains of St James back to Spain. The beautiful old church on the point has many boat models hanging in it as mariners hang replicas of their boats here in hopes they will be protected on the seas. The highlight of the day for me was that Eric was waiting when we returned to Santiago. We only had a short time together before I was off to France and he to Finesterre(on foot) but we were able to get together with some of his pilgrim friends and some of mine. Was really special for each of us to get to meet the people that each of us had gotten close to during this journey

I am now sitting in the Barcelona train station waiting for my train to Montpellier to meet up with Terry and Maggie. Looking forward to being in France for e next week where I am sure I will sample some of their excellent food and wine as we explore the area.