Wednesday, 23 May 2024
Santiago de Compostela to Madrid by Train

A pilgrim tradition is to get a “credential” also known as a “Pilgrim’s Passport” and collect stamps along the pilgrimage walk. The stamps can be obtained at places you stay, places you eat, at churches, police stations, and many other places. When a pilgrim arrives in Santiago de Compostela, they can go to the Cathedral’s Pilgrim’s Office, present their credential with all the stamps as evidence that they really walked the route, and be given a “Compostela,” also known as a certificate of completion. There is no charge for the Compostela. For 2 Euros, the pilgrim can also get a “Distance Certificate” showing the official distance they walked based on the route. For 3 Euros, the pilgrim can get a small mailing tube to protect the document(s) on the journey home.

I started the Via de la Plata and Camino Sanabres last year but had to stop at Granja de Moreruela because of worsening tendonitis in my left leg. I continued this year, overlapping two stages, so I have two credentials, one covering all of my pilgrimage walk in 2023 and part of 2024, and the second covering the rest of the walk in 2024. The credentials are fan-folded, so are a bit of a challenge to photograph. Here are my credentials in pieces:

I completed the Via de la Plata / Camino Sanabres route, and my stamps demonstrate my route and the progress I made. Because I continued before or from where I stopped last year, and the stamps show this, it is considered one pilgrimage. So I was granted a Compostela (and they always try to use a Latin approximation of your name, James becomes Jacobum).

And I opted to get a Distance Certificate showing 1007 kilometers as the official distance for the route I walked, the Via de la Plata / Camino Sanabres.

After getting our certificates, we tried our best to help the local economy by visiting and making purchases from many of the souvenir shops in the historic old city of Santiago de Compostela. We also had a very good lunch at Casa Manolo, a restaurant famous among pilgrims. I love their quirky sign. The food is very good, too.

On Wednesday, Ron and Dan are taking a bus to Porto in Portugal to see how port is made, and then go to Lisbon from which their journey home will start. I am taking the train to Madrid to wait a day for my non-stop flight on Iberian Air to Los Angeles on Friday.

After checking out of Hotel Suso where we had been for two nights, we made our way to the laundromat for a last washing. When I first walked the Camino in the spring of 2016, there were no laundromats in Santiago. I was able to use the laundry service at an albergue that my hotel had an agreement with. Between then and my second walk in the autumn of 2017, a man had opened a small laundromat near the Pilgrim’s Office. He also liked to interview pilgrims as their clothes were washing and tell their story in his blog. He since opened a second laundromat, and that is where we went. Here are Ron and Dan under the laundromat sign, “SC18 Laundry, leisure, & other stories.”

After our laundry was done, everything repacked, we walked down to the train station and the “almost adjacent” bus station. Here we said goodbye. I’m a little sad that this journey/adventure is over – Ron and Dan were very good company, even after being together practically 24 hours per day for three weeks. I could have done this alone and finished what I started last year. Ron and Dan made it much more fun and memorable. Here we are, the three amigos, just above the Santiago de Compostela train station. The construction to the right will be a modern connection between the train and bus stations.

My train, AVE 4134 to Madrid Charmatin, is on the departure board.

We left on time, and in an hour, we were at Ourense. It took five days to walk from Ourense to Santiago, and only an hour on the train. After two hours and speeds up to 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), we were in Zamora, where we started our walk. Two hours! It took us 19 days of walking to cover the same distance. And in one more hour, we arrived in Madrid. I got a taxi to the same hotel close to the airport where I stayed one-night last year. It is a bit early in the season for gazpacho, but they have it in the hotel restaurant, so I got it along with grilled salmon and vegetables. A very tasty dinner.

Tomorrow after breakfast, I take the shuttle to the Madrid Barajas International Airport from which I will fly non-stop to Los Angeles, then drive home. It has been a great journey and adventure!

Next: Reflections on completing the Via de la Plata / Camino Sanabres pilgrimage route