It was the time of the year, when we all dream of teleporting ourselves somewhere far away, so we won't have to deal with the „school stuff“. It was the winter exam period and naturally, I was working hard making my summer plans instead of studying. „Would you walk to Santiago de Compostela with me?“ I wrote to my friend Nikča in one of my procrastination breaks. „Yes, absolutely!“ She replied almost immediately. And just like that, it was set, we´re flying to Porto this summer and we´re going to walk over 165 km to Santiago.
If you have ever thought that packing into 20 kg luggage when going on holiday is tough, try to pack all your stuff into one backpack. And remember the lovely reality - denying laws of physics - with every walked kilometre, every kilogram just gets heavier and heavier. I tried my hardest to reduce necessary stuff but still ended up with over 8,6 kg of things. But then my mum told me, that when she was in her twenties she walked through Romanian mountains carrying 20 kg on her back and I knew I can handle my 8 kilos. And I have good news - it gets easier. As you get used to walking routine, you get fitter and your body accustoms the weight. So worries aside, you can do it, even without any training :)
As it turned out the hardest part of the pilgrimage was actually simply finding where to join the route. With map apps open on our phones we were wondering through the Ponte Lima looking for yellow arrows that mark the whole track. After some time we set on a bench a bit discouraged and started packing out tour snacks when a group of energetic elderly ladies passed by. It turned out we were right on the route just a couple dozen meters from the next yellow arrow. Finally, we could officially head on our way and we even did not get lost once, although, that was not due to our faultless orientation sense but due to the flawless marking. Not only was there a yellow arrow (or shell, or both) in the right direction but on every crossroad they didn't forget to paint crosses in every false direction as well.
Every morning we would have about 20 km ahead of us so we usually started sometime around 8 fuelled by fruits and chocolate bars in the morning and by pastry with Jamón Curado (the most delicious ham I´ve ever eaten - especially when taken in mind the 1 euro prize) at noon. Some pilgrims would stop in one of many restaurants along the way to taste the pilgrim´s menu, well not us, poor students :) Still we would enjoy walking a lot. I´m quite asociable person so I did not want to go on the pilgrimage just by myself, worrying, I wouldn't have anyone with whom I could share the joy and also the tough moments that sometimes come on the way. But soon we would see that every day, we would run (well precisely walk) into many pilgrims and we got to talk with people all around the world. We also met a group of students, who started walking solo but created a group on the way. So if you were sharing my former worries of not having anyone to go with, I can assure you, you won't have any problems finding fellow pilgrims on the way.
The penultimate day of our pilgrimage, we decided to walk a bit more than usual, so that the day after, we would arrive at Santiago de Compostela earlier and full of energy. Well, that was the original plan.. When we were on our 25 km Nikča started conspicuously brought up: “Why don't we walk all the way to Santiago today?” It would mean to walk over 45 km that day which didn't seem reasonable especially when not knowing where we would accommodate ourselves there when arriving late in the evening, but Nikča knew, how much I enjoy challenges so she would tirelessly keep talking about it until it turned from a joke into a plan. We did it! At 10 pm, we arrived at the Cathedral in Santiago. Making photos there was a must, but honestly, I was so tired that I didn't even have the energy to celebrate the achievement, instead, I was a getting gradually worried as the sky was getting darker and we still had no place to sleep that day.
Not gonna deny, my voice must have sounded truly desperate when I was asking every person with pilgrim's appearance, where they are staying and if there are any free places left. With each disapproving answer (turned out the city was fully booked in the summer months) I was becoming more in peace with the not so enticing idea of sleeping on a carry mat in front of the cathedral. It might have actually been the desperate tone of voice that saved us. Two older ladies from England, who unlike us spoke Spanish, decided to save us and helped us find a place in a hostel just a few dozen meters away from the main square, I guess I can say there was a reason, why there still were free places. Firstly, you couldn't really tell it was a hostel from outside, there was just a tiny sign is Spanish, easy to overlook and then, the owner, who turned out to be a very old man, kept all rooms without any changes since, I dare to say, the day he moved in. So they were equipped with one of the oldest furniture I´ve ever seen. But frankly, could I really care, after having walked over 45 km that day? Not really. So I just laid on the bed and soon fell asleep with the feeling of achievement and happiness. We did it and it was one of the best experiences in my life!