It was still dark outside when I left my hotel to catch the 6:45am bus to Santiago. There was a good 2-3 dozen pilgrims making the same trip as well as a few locals. Luckily the café outside which the bus stopped was open so I could grab a cup of coffee before the journey. The picture above is from one of their tables, it’s a fun representation of where I walked this last leg of the Camino part of my trip.

We arrived in Santiago just before 8:45am, too early to check in to my accommodation, so I decided to walk the 3+ kms from the bus station to the great sporting goods store, Decathlon. I hadn’t a clue where it was my Maps.me app directed me there without a hitch.

I spent a couple hours checking out every aisle in the store to see what cool, cheap stuff they had. They’re very comprehensive, amongst all the usual goods there’s even an equestrian aisle, a sailing section, golf got a short shrift but tons of hunting & fishing. Next time I’m going to bring an empty suitcase to stock up on stuff!

By 11:45 I’d investigated every corner of the store, made my few purchases and it was time to move on so I caught a bus right out front and rode back towards Santiago. As I approached the bus station I was googling how to walk to the Old Town when I caught sight of a Camino sign out the bus window. That’s a sure fire way to get to there! So I rang for the bus to stop, hopped out, and walked following the arrows the last 2 kilometers in.

I figured pretty quickly that this was the end of the Camino Frances, based on the huge stream pilgrims I joined up with. No worries about getting lost!

I’m staying at a little guesthouse, Pensión Residencia Universitaria Rey. I can only guess that they used to house college students. It’s a series of flats, each a set of bedrooms with a shared bathroom. They’ve held my extra bag for me this last week so my chores today are to do laundry and try to pack everything back into one bag. They’ve arranged a taxi for me tomorrow at 5am so I’ll definitely need to settle everything tonight.

There’s a happening square down below my room’s window. It’s 7:45pm and I’m starting to think about bed as my alarm is already set for 4:30am but the music has started up and people are down there chatting and drinking; it’s only Happy Hour time too, dinner doesn’t start for an hour or two. I think I’ll be needing earplugs tonight!