Final 2 Days of my Portuguese Camino

The last 2 days, May 4 & 5 of our journey were sometimes gruelling, emotional, uplifting but always interesting. The walk from Caldas de Reis to Padron was fairly pleasant going along natural pathways through mature woodlands with a couple of small hills. Weather got much warmer in the afternoon- about 23 C. We had another amazing lunch. This time it was barbecued ribs and steak  & salad.Delicioso! The name Padron means mooring stone. The legends say that the Apostle James landed here to start his ministry after the crucifixion of  Jesus. Then soon after he returned to Jerusalem he was beheaded by Herod. His disciples Theodore and Athanasius brought his head & body to Iria in a stone boat with the help of angels. They moored the boat to a padron ( Galician for big stone), hence the new name for the place. The original mooring stone can now be seen in the Iglesia (Church) Santiago. The story goes that from Padron James remains were taken inland for burial. Then sometime in the ninth century his remains were discovered and a church later to become the Santiago Cathedral was built on that site to honour St. James or Santiago. You can view the silver coffin with the relics inside, in a crypt under the main alter in the Santiago Cathedral. After lunch, we completed a walk of about 20 km and arrived at our hotel Pazo de Lestove.
The next morning we put our baggage in a taxi and walked to the Church of St. James of Padron to see the mooring stone.then we set off on our last day of walking to Santiago. The distance marker was 25 km. Our final walk was along pretty  country lanes passing through small villages and hamlets arriving at the Baroque sanctuary A Esclavitude where we had a coffee break. Next stop was at the Casa Rural at Parada de Franco. After lunch ,we had about 14 km more to walk but there were several steep hills and it was very warm - 24 C. We were having to drink a lot of water to keep hydrated because there was very little shade. We finally got to the outskirts of Santiago and had to climb a very steep long hill past a hospital. What a killer hill! We finally got to a park where we climbed about 50 steps , walked to a giant eucalyptus tree and looked across the city at the Santiago Cathedral.Had a group picture taken there, then walked to the large square Praza de Obradoiro ( golden square) in front of the Cathedral which was quite crowded. There our guides kissed and hugged each of us and we had a group photo. It was a terrific feeling of accomplishment as well as well as an emotional moment which brought tears of joy and sadness that our adventure was coming to an end. It was getting quite late so we had to rush to put hotel to get changed for our farewell dinner at a nearby restaurant. We walked a total of 28 km!!
Most people left the next morning to go home. Bryan, Andra, Theresa and I went by taxi to Fisterra, the final destination for many Camino pilgrims. It is on Cape Finisterre from the Latin FINIS TERRAE meaning Land’s End. It is on the

westernmost point of land in Spain. Spectacular landscape and view. Well worth the trip! When we got back to our hotel our certificates from the Pilgrim office had been delivered by Enrique.