Finisterre Day Tour
5/26/2019

Even though most pilgrims end their Camino in Santiago there are the brave, intrepid, crazy ones that push on for about another 100 miles to Finisterre and Muxia, beautiful seaside towns at the end of the world, by the Atlantic Ocean and home to many of the 192 beaches of almost 600 along Spain's 5000 miles of coastline. 

Our first stop is Pontemaceira, a village with a natural area formed by the passage of the waters of river Tambre, with a medieval bridge and two stone mills and granaries.

Then we stop at the charming fishing village of Muros and its historic, picturesque center.

St. Peter's Church in Muros.

Muros Town Hall.

Muros Marinas

From Muros we traveled to the Ezaro Waterfall - the only river in Europe that reaches the sea as a waterfall - and it is pretty spectacular! While following the boardwalk to the water I ran across some of the Arcadia University group and finally met their professor, Jojo, at the water's edge.

Our last stop before lunch was Cape Fisterra - the end of the world - where the pilgrims ran out of real estate (hence the name). Here we pay homage to the Camino marker that honors this location with 
km 0,000. Note the iconic lighthouse and the beauty and serenity of the Atlantic Ocean.

At this point we were starving - it was almost 2 PM so no wonder. So Anna gave us about 1.5 hours to grab lunch. Albert, my new friend born in Singapore during the British occupation in the 50's and named after Prince Albert, but now living in Los Angeles, asked if I wanted to join him for lunch. I told him I would love to so we checked out Anna's recommendation (our tour guide), and shared amazing pulpo (octopus), padrones (roasted green peppers - which I had 2 days in a row because they were fantastic, and garlic prawns. Fantastic meal and quite healthy - not one potato in sight. 

We shared a bottle of tinto (red wine) and thought we finished with a coffee, but a waiter approached our table with three decorative bottles that reminded me of limoncello and grappa. But the one we chose for a shot was so very smooth with tastes of coconut, chocolate and coffee. I could kick myself for not getting the name of it.

We were so caught up in eating, drinking and laughing that we had to be dragged away by Anna because everyone else was already on the bus.

Finally back to Muxia to where the final scenes of The Way, starring Martin Sheen, were shot. What a beautiful ending to a fantastic day!

 

A few last shots of the amazing sculptures topping the spires (I am obsessed with them), while walking back to my hotel - which it turns out used to be a monastery. Forgot to mention that I invited Catherine, a British retiree, volunteering at the Compostela for a 2-week stint and also staying at our hotel, to join me for breakfast, just before my Canadian friends Marg and Alf came down. She is a source of incredible information, and she encouraged us to remember if we ever returned to this hotel, we should book a room on the 4th floor because they were 1/2 price (not renovated like the first 3 floors and pretty spartan, but who cares)?