We left Camping A Vouga on Sunday morning for the short drive to the capital of Galicia, Santiago de Compestela. Famous for it’s Cathedral and the site where the relics of the apostle St James are buried, Santiago is one of the three top pilgrimage sites in the Christian world and over 400,000 pilgrims made the journey in 2023.

As we have already found out, Santiago is not the end of the pilgrimage route – the end is actually beyond Santiago at Fisterra, or Cap Finistere. There is also not one single camino to Santiago but many routes from Spain, France and other European countries. As we travelled around the region, many pilgrims could be seen making their way towards Santiago.

We booked into Camping As Canceles, in the suburbs of Santiago and its a short 2km walk from the campsite to the cathedral and old town.

After checking into the campsite we walked into town and were surprised to find that there was no real queue to enter Santiago Cathedral. The view of the cathedral from the large square is impressive and it is here that the groups of pilgrims arrive – elated at the end of a long (probably) journey on foot or bicycle. Many travel light as there are many hostels on all of the routes into Santiago but equally, many are burdened with large rucksacks and tents that they have carried across Spain and other countries. There’s a large degree of commercialisation around the Caminos and the modern day pilgrims need to get their “books” stamped en-route to Santiago. Once there, the official camino office issues a certificate for the achievement.

After our tour of the Cathedral, we returned to the campsite and ate back at the van after a couple of drinks in the site bar.

Monday and Moe had organised a walking tour of Santiago and was tour guide for the day. It was almost lunchtime when we arrived at the starting point – the cathedral – and she lead me to a local Empanada shop for lunch. A truly massive selection of pies on offer. I ordered one Ham and Cheese and one spicy chicken.

Moe wasn’t tempted by the empanadas, wanting to try something a bit more sweet – so she bought one of the famous Santiago cakes.

Our walking tour encompassed much of the old town and the park with views of the Convent of San Francisco and the only original and remaining bridge of the old city walls.

Looking at food options for later on and neither of us fancied squid…

We did though find a rather nice Tapas bar – Tapas Pesticos do Cardeal.

We enjoyed the hussle and bussle of this great city but after our two days here, we were ready to head back to a quieter place and checked out of Camping As Canceles on Tuesday, leaving behind pitch 310.

A collage of pictures from our Santiago visit. If you want to see a picture in more detail, just click on it.