Santiago, at the end of the Camino

After two weeks and 3,000 kilometers of explorations, we reached the end of our own Galician pilgrimage on the Road of St. James-with our final 3 days in spectacular Santiago de Compostela.

Preparations are officially underway for the Holy Year - Xacobeo 2010, when the city expects between 8-9 million visitors. The Jubilee Year of Compostela has been celebrated since the Middle Ages, whenever the feast day of the Apostle St. James, July 25, falls on a Sunday. Celebrations will begin the eve of Dec. 31, 09 and end one year later and will include special exhibits and performances by international artists (Cecilia Bartoli, Lang, Lang, Zubin Mehta, Cirque du Soleil, Merce Cunningham). Mark your calendars!

In our Santiago wanderings, we were lucky to catch the filming of a crowd scene of the Martin Sheen / Emilio Estevez movie, a family drama, The Way, which was being shot on the magnificent Praza do Obradoiro.

While we lodged in Galicia’s historic Paradors for our country stays, here we chose the superbly renovated 4- star Hotel Monumento San Francisco, a perfect blend of medieval and modern (with 50 monks still in residence). Its 76 rooms and huge suites combine the tranquility of a monastery with all the proper creature comforts of today, including a lovely indoor pool and fine gourmet restaurant. It provided us with true pampering at the end of our Camino. A jewel!