KEVIN CRAIG

Camino de Santiago – Day 13 – O Amenal to Santiago de Compostela – The End

We’ve been in Santiago de Compostela since about 11am. We squeezed in getting our Compostelas, eating a big breakfast, and checking in before making the 12:00pm Pilgrim mass in the cathedral.

And… we got to see the botafumeiro swing one more time!! It’s definitely a special way to end your Camino, if you’re lucky enough to see it swing. ❤️

I mostly just watched it swing. I didn’t want my phone to take away from the experience of watching it.

Prior to our arrival, we saw all of our favourite landmarks. Including Patrick, the dancing star, and the Santiago de Compostela sign.

The one thing I had yet to see, after two previous Camino Frances walks, was the statue of the two pilgrims on the hill looking off toward the cathedral. Today, I made it a point to see them!

That’s our 2025 Camino Frances Camino de Santiago walk. Tomorrow, we’ll take a bus to Muxia and Finisterre to see the end of the world. One day, I hope to walk from St. Jean Pied de Port to Muxia and Finisterre. It is my dream. But, for now, the bus will have to do. I am SO EXCITED!

Thanks for following along on our journey. I hope you got some helpful tips. And I hope you’re inspired to do your own Camino one day. Buen Camino!!

If you’ve found this post helpful and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee! KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee

While you’re here, I wrote a novel set on the Camino Frances route. You can check it out at Amazon here: THE CAMINO CLUB

Camino de Santiago – Day 12 – Arzua to O Amenal

We are in our tiny little inn in tiny little O Amenal. This place is really special. It’s called Kilometro 15. That’s how far away we are from Santiago de Compostela. I would recommend this tiny little place!

We left our albergue this morning at 6:55am.

It was a slightly shorter day at about 22kms. It felt like a walk in the park, even with the ups and downs. This albergue is pretty small. Not sure how many rooms there are, but I’m certain it’s not a lot. I met a couple lovely dogs here. The older one was roaming free and stayed by my side for a while lapping up the attention I gave them.

We had pizza here at the pension and it was amazing! Just what I needed. The innkeeper was super friendly too!

Some photos from the beginning of our day…

We only had two stops today. One of the places, in A Calzada, was the place I bought a little purse in… back in 2014. I then used it as the place where Troy first talked to his Camino crush in The Camino Club. Instead of buying the purse, Troy and his crush reviewed it as a bad purchase because it was too small and had no compartments. 😉

Sunrise was pure magic!

We walked past the beer bottle place this morning. It’s usually quite busy, but there was nobody there when we walked by today.

Casa Verde, which was the most hopping fun bar on the Camino back in 2014, is gone. There’s now an albergue and cafe in its place. No vibes whatsoever, sadly.

Walking past some gorgeous graffiti.

And then we arrived. Quick day!

It’s over. We are here, full from our pizza and beer and Coke Zero and brownie and cheese cake. This place is so lovely. Book it!

Buen Camino! Tomorrow, we land in Santiago de Compostela!!!!

Click here to jump to DAY 13 – O Amenal to Santiago de Compostela!!!

If you’ve found this post helpful and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee! KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee

While you’re here, I wrote a novel set on the Camino Frances route. You can check it out at Amazon here: THE CAMINO CLUB

Camino de Santiago – Day 11 – Palas de Rei to Arzua

We are in our albergue in Arzua. It was a long day. Feels like the longest yet, but I don’t really have the energy to check! Here’s the damage…

There is loud music coming in the open door and I hope it stops before it gets too late. Uh oh!

The sun is shining down on our clothes on the line and we’re chilling after having had a marvelous supper at Ultreia Restaurante and Albergue… which is located a few blocks away on the main drag. We ate there in 2019 and I was adamant about going there again. They have traditional Galician food, but their Italian is absolutely spectacular.

Here’s my blog post about Ultreia Restaurante from 2019.

Here’s what we ate this afternoon at Ultreia…

We both had the Mushroom Ravioli for our first.

Michael had the steak and chips. I don’t like steak. His honest opinion was that it was too red inside for his liking.

We both had the lemon cream cannoli with lemon ice cream. Heaven!

The day had, as usual, many ups and many downs. As always, it was beautiful. A few raindrops fell, but too few to mention. Wait… I did just mention them.

We left our albergue at 6:59am. Still dark. It was uphill almost right from the start, soon after the statues in the final pic below…

A few pics along the way…

We both posed with St. James…

We were soon–hours later–in Milede. This city is famous for its pulpo (octopus). We did not have any this time round.

After Melide, we just had a few more towns to go through. It was a hard slag today. It would be nice to break this section up into two days. I would suggest either Melide or Ribadiso. I stayed in Ribadiso in 2014…it’s a nice place.

Soon, we were in Arzua! I’ve never been so happy to see a place. We actually stopped and had our supper at Ultreia Restaurante before we checked into our albergue. It was on the way… and we are in for the night! (Reader, it’s 5:12pm!)

The famous mural that everyone in YouTube videos says the guy looks like Kevin Costner. 😉

We stayed in this albergue in 2019. It’s clean and cheap. The shower is a press on/off with a timer, but good hot water and good pressure.

Albergue Pension Cima do Lugar

That is it for today! Tomorrow we head for Amenal. The albergue is Kilometro 15…so that tells you just how close to Santiago de Compostela we’ll be once we arrive! Almost there!

Buen Camino, peregrinos/peregrinas! Until tomorrow!

Click here to jump to DAY 12 – Arzua to O Amenal!

If you’ve found this post helpful and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee! KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee

While you’re here, I wrote a novel set on the Camino Frances route. You can check it out at Amazon here: THE CAMINO CLUB