Pilgrim Faces Convey Transformation of Camino de Santiago

Days 76-77, 2025 European Odyssey

Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12-13, 2025; A Coruña/Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and Leixõs/Porto, Portugal.

I stood silently watching as pilgrims passed through the archway, past the lone Galician piper, and into the Plaza del Obraduiro in front of the Cathedral of Santiago. If they were tired from their long pilgrimages, they didn’t show it. Broad grins covered some faces. Tears streamed down some cheeks. Smartphones captured the moment for many, perhaps live-streaming their arrival.

On Friday, I joined an independent tour from the port of A Coruña to the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. Our destination was the cathedral area, best known as the destination of the Way of St. James, or the Camino de Santiago. Tradition holds that the body of the apostle James was buried here, and since at least the 9^th century people have been making pilgrimages. The popularity of the pilgrimage has swelled in recent decades, reaching as many as 300,000 participants a year.

I have admired friends who found it life changing.

Following their initial euphoria, many of the pilgrims gathered in groups with friends – perhaps those they met along the way, removed their shoes and socks, took selfies and chatted with those back home on the ubiquitous smartphones.

After taking in the moment, we made our way to the three plazas on other sides of the cathedral as our guide filled us in on the connection with Saint James, the history of the cathedral and the process for entering it. Some joined the line to go inside once the noon service ended.

I decided to further explore the area, browsing the numerous shops selling T-shirts, fridge magnets, postcards and other items with the yellow arrow and scallop shell that mark the journey.

Café tables filled the narrow stone streets and small squares, and I joined the early (for Spain) lunch crowd to enjoy a glass of white wine and small ham sandwich. I’ll look forward to returning one day.

Today promised more sun and warmth as we arrived in Leixões, Portugal. (No, I have no idea how it is pronounced.) The pier is less than 10 miles from Porto, Portugal’s second largest city, but the popular ship’s transfer there (seven buses) there took more than 30 minutes. Our bus dropped us by a park at the top of a hill with instructions to meet there four hours later for the return.

My goal today was to sketch. In 2018, the annual Urban Sketchers Symposium met in Porta, and fellow sketchers from Chicago (where I spent that summer) came back raving about the sketching opportunities. I wasn’t sure where I would sketch, but I headed down the hill toward the Rio Duoro. And when I say down the hill, I mean it.

I slowly descended the steep, narrow streets, walkways and eventually stairs until I reached the Rua das Flores. There, the Igreja da Misericórdia, a church built in the Baroque style of the 16^th century, was sandwiched between offices and shops in the middle of the block.

Of interest to me was an open table at a small café, offering a good vantage point where I could sketch and enjoy coffee. For the next hour or so I lost myself in the sketching, repeatedly erasing until I got the perspective close to right before switching to ink (and painting later). I vowed to make sketching on site a priority now that we are in a warmer and dryer climate.

Still going downhill (and reminding myself to leave enough time to repeat the process), I eventually got to the Ribeira district along the Duoro River. The waterfront was lined with restaurants and packed with tourists enjoying a warm sunny day.

I didn’t have time to walk across the bridge to Vila Nova de Gaia, the city opposite Porto, where I understood I would have a great view of Porto’s waterfront. Instead, I took many photos and promised myself to sketch from them later. And I will put Porto on my list of cities that need much more time for exploration.

The day ended with a wonderful meal at Morimoto for a once-a-cruise pop-up dinner. Fellow cruisers David and Mary from Tennessee responded to my online post seeking dining companions. I don’t always get responses to these posts, but when I do it’s fun to make new friends.