Today was the day we traveled to the end of the world, not quite literally. We are going to Finisterre, which means the end of the world in Spanish. Back in the old days, about 500 years ago or so, the western coast of Spain was the most western spot in the known world. Columbus hadnt found North and South America yet. The lighthouse, and town on this peninsula was named Finisterre, or Fisteria in Galician. Camino pilgrims sometimes continue there hike to the lighthouse at Finisterre and do things like throw there shoes in the ocean, or as in the movie The Way, dump the ashes of their loved ones there. We had little or no desire to walk to Finisterre, so we took a bus.
We got up early, packed our backpacks, which we would be carrying today, and headed to the bus station at about 7:45am. Our bus didnt leave until after 10am, but we wanted to eat breakfast at the station. We had our breakfast and chilled for a while, along with several dozen other pilgrims. Apparently we werent the only pilgrims taking the bus to Finisterre. The bus showed up a bit late, and we
had to fight to get our luggage stored and get two seats next to each other, but we did it. Just after 10am we left Santiago and headed West. The bus got to the coast, and then wove its way along the peninsula to the town of Finisterre. The views along the way were awesome.
We stopped at the bus station, if you can call a turnout at the side of the road a bus station, about 1pm. After orienting ourselves, we found our pension, Pension O Encontro, and checked in. We were in a room with four bunk beds, and a bathroom. There was also a nice little kitchen, and a place to wash and hang clothes to dry. We asked the owner where a good place to eat lunch was, and she told us Los Golpes restaurant. Since it was 2pm by then, we headed there. It looks like another bar, but on the 2nd floor they had a nice restaurant, and we were directed up there. Since this was a fishing village, we wanted some seafood. Manoli ordered a marisco soup and I had langostinos, which are basically giant shrimp. Manoli said her soup was very
good, and my langostinos were delicious, although a bit difficult to peel and messy to eat. Look at the dish, if you can call it that, that the folks next to us ordered. It was probably about 60 Euros!
After lunch, we started the 2 kilometer walk to the lighthouse. I now know it was 2 kilometers, but I wasnt sure how far it was beforehand, and it was a long walk. When we reached the lighthouse, and the hotel next to it (which was probably 500 Euros a night), we took some photos, checked out everything around, and even went down to the ocean a ways. We didnt go all the way, since it was quite far and pretty dangerous. Afterwards, we walked back to town to check out the sights and the supermarket. Manoli hunted on the beach, actually two for some interesting shells, rocks, and pieces of glass. Check out the photo. We then bought some stuff for dinner at the supermarket, and headed back to the pension.
We fixed our dinner, watched some TV, and went to bed. Tomorrow we return to Santiago de Compostela for a night, before going to Salamanca for
