Back to Santiago and on to Barcelona!

When we arrived back to Santiago from Finisterre, we decided to take a card recommending a pension from a woman on the street, like many of our Camino friends had done with success there.  We walked to the location and viewed the property and said "no" when we saw that it was a shared bathroom. By this time we were done with that.  When you don't pay that much more for private, that was where it was at for us.  We went across the street and agreed on a small room at the top of the stairs over a small cafe. Perfect.  Did some shopping and had a somewhat strange feeling not knowing any of the incoming pilgrims but also seeing how much the contingent had dropped off this late in the season. It was really bittersweet. We had dinner in our favorite Santiago haunt and it was nearly empty.

Went back to our place after securing tickets to Barcelona on the train for the next afternoon.  It has been so much fun just flying by the seat of our pants and planning as we go along.  I know this is not an easy feat for lots of people but the Camino did teach us to do this easier than we ever have.  John found a great apartment to rent for three nights in a great part of town so I was excited for what the next part of our journey would bring.  I was excited also to hopefully meet up with our friends we had met along the way who live in the Barcelona area, Arnou and Rita.

The next day, the pension gave us a late checkout since our train would not be leaving until later that afternoon. This gave us time to procure a great picnic dinner of one last bocadillo and wine for the train that evening.  We had a so so lunch in the cafe below our room but what made up for it was meeting Stewart from Scotland who I would have loved to meet walking. We did meet, if only for a short time. He reminded us of our friend Rod, back home, with his contagious smile and generally positive outlook.   He was just off of his fifth Camino, having walked different routes and even volunteering as a hospitalero at an  alburgue.  A very inspiring gentleman. Anyway it was fun while it lasted.

Made our train, saying goodbye to Santiago, knowing we would never forget this experience and wondering if we would ever be back here again.  The train trip was fun until it was time to sleep.  Oh well..... Barcelona, here we come!