Bus Tour to the Coast of Death

My last day in Santiago de Compostela :( I am super excited to get home to my pups, and to eat some fresh veggies, and to be able to sleep without people partying until 3 am outside my window, but Spain is a beautiful place. 

Today we decided to get on a bus tour to the Coast of Death, and the "end of the earth", Finisterre. 

Our first stop was to a quaint little town with a river running through it, Ponte Maceria. 

Next we drove higher in the hills along the coast and lo and behold what do we see? Hundreds of windmills. We get up to a lookout and have a gorgeous view of the other side of the Atlantic. 

Next stop, Muros. The church here is super unique because the inside looks like a boat. Fishing is vital to the people on this whole coast, and its importance is apparent in their church. 

Our next stop was sold to us as being the only waterfall in Europe that falls into the ocean, but they are exaggerating a bit here. The waterfall is beautiful and the surrounding boulders falling from the mountain are stunning, but the waterfall just flows into a river that goes to the ocean. 

We finally make our way out to Finisterre - the point at the end of the world (according to the Romans). A person can tack on extra days (it's 90 km more) to keep going on the Camino from Santiago to Finisterre. I was happy to be sitting on a bus. 

One of the traditions of pilgrims that started in the Middle Ages is that when the pilgrims finally made it to Santiago, two things would happen. One is that they were given a shell so that when they went home they could prove that they made it to St. James' remains, and the other was to burn their cloak in one of the stone areas specifically designed for that. They would get a new cloak, often gifted to them. Well, today they don't want people burning their crap in the city, so that tradition has moved to Finisterre. It wasn't until 2004 that continuing the walk to Finisterre became a "thing". When the weather is right (low fire danger), people are allowed to burn something. The weather this time of year is dry, and burning is currently banned. 

So no burning your anothings- ok. 

There is a lighthouse here at the end of the earth. 

The actual town of Finisterre is 2 km inland from the lighthouse. You notice these details when you've walked 350 km. We went into town for lunch. 

Ok, I'm going to complain for a minute, and I'm going to sound like a whiny bitch from the U. S., but it's been since July 7 of eating out for me, and those who know me know that I do not enjoy eating out, not even back home. So here's the difference. There is no tipping here and I'm not sure if that contributes to my issue, but I have a feeling it might. Ok, so my experience is that in Spain you sit down and wait. And then you wait some more. And then some more. After a while someone comes over to great you and gives you one menu to share. Also, eating times are so bizarre here. Breakfast is a cup of coffee and bread, and lunch doesn't even begin until 2 pm. So you can imagine that by 2 we are starving and in the eternal wait for someone to take our order. Finally, order is taken, food slowly arrives, sometimes with the food of your table mates, sometimes not, and then it's time to get the check. I swear they would let you die and turn to a corpse in that chair before they'd bring you the check. Our quick lunch stop was 2 hours - TWO. Eating out here is torture for a person that has issues sitting still. 

We made it through a lunch of typical seafood. It never really occurs to me to take photos of my food - sorry about that, but what I did photograph is what I saw next. We decided to go for a short walk before getting back on the bus and we head to the docks, look down, and see this. 

Above the blue plastic lid is a floating dead bird. Wait - I just ate seafood? super sad face :(

It's the human way to move on, to ignore floating plastic trash, to choose to be ignorant. 

Our last stop was to Muxia, famous for the Boat Virgin Mary. The church here is on a rocky shoreline and has a sloped floor so that when the super big waves hit the water can flush the church and flow out. There is a story they tell of the Virgin coming here on a stone boat, and they've even gone as far as to point out some of the stones that are there that represent boat parts. 

You see the stones in the far right of the photo? Those were erected as a memorial for a bunch of volunteers that came to this area after a terrible oil spill. You could still see some black left over on the rocks. 

Remember the horreos I told you about before? The skinny, lifted structures that were used to store corn? Well on the coast the entire structure is made of stone. The wood rots in he salt air. 

We also learned that the two symbols on the top have significance. Of course the cross is for God to offer protection, but what is the spike? In Galicia, people believe in witches, and those spikes are there to ward off the witches, and to protect their corn. 

It was a great day, and now that we've made it past 8 pm the restaurants are now open and we can begin our wait.