Finisterre and Santiago de Compostela, Spain

     On Wednesday morning, we slept in a bit. After catching up on that much needed rest, we headed out to Finisterre on the coast. It's become an extension of the Camino de Santiago(a famous hike from the French/Spanish border to Santiago de Compostela) and some people used to believe it was the end of the world. The land juts out into the sea with jagged edges off all sides. The waves that crash there are amazing to watch. The lighthouse was a bit of a letdown because it was talked up as being an amazing thing but it was just a two story building with a light on top. All around, we noticed that hikers had burned papers, shoes, and clothes that they carried or wore throughout the walk. There was a boot that had been embossed on the large rock as a symbol of the trail's end.

     As we drove along the coastal highway, we stopped at various points to take nice pictures. We left Finisterre and headed towards Muros. Muros is on the opposite side of the large bay that starts at Finisterre. We stopped at Corcubión to take some pictures of the beautiful beach and the great colors in the water. We passed one place that had a large series of floating docks out in the water that can only be accessed by a boat. Our rascally GPS guide Sean led us up into the mountains. While we enjoyed the view, we were growing weary of windy mountain roads after two weeks. And our poor car could barely get up some of them in 1st gear. We also started to notice small buildings on stilts throughout the region. Izzy's dad conjectured that they were to store grain.

     Muros was a nice town with old medieval buildings. We had a picnic on some benches along the waterfront drive. Afterwards, we headed back to Santiago de Compostela to check out the town. It's the formal end of the Camino de Santiago and the church is famous as being the final resting place of the apostle James. The story is that after he was martyred, a group of men smuggled his body out and laid it to rest in Santiago. The remains are entombed beneath the church in a silver casket.

      The current church was started in 1075 and the last stone laid in 1122. The church is narrower than most of the others we've seen but the inside has a large sculpture that decorates the sanctuary. There are several angels holding a gold leafed ceiling over St. James. They even have a little area where you can walk up behind it and see the small gold dome above the statue. The rest of the town is old and a little run down looking. We found a nice bar/garden to have a drink and take a break from all of the walking.

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