Ok, the end of a pilgrimage in Santiago is usually marked by going to the pilgrims mass. With Covid restrictions even that became a little quest. I did not know I would have been able to. Get a ticket for mass at the oficina Peregrino where I got my compostela
So, I went again to the pilgrims office today, and asked a guy there where to get the Tickets. He said get in queue and get a number. I waited 30min in queue, and then was told I don‘t need a number, I should just go back to the desk I had just received my Compistela. When I said I got it yesterday, they said I could not get a ticket, they were only for people arriving today, and very Limited 🧐
So I grabbed breakfast, and got into the line in front of the cathedral 1,5h before mass starts, as the guy at the pilgrims office suggested. In the end it was not as bad as it looked. The line moved rather quickly.
I was texting people while trying to get in. Once I finally got in, most of them decided to give it a try as well. And all got in, so it was actually not that bad, just a little hassle with queues. And I am happy I did not do this to my worn out body yesterday.
Mass was actually nice. Obviously I did not understand a word. But with that tenor singing live it was quite a spectacle. When they started the communion part, I think I realized this is really the first, of the two, external goals reached. I bursted into tears. What a long, painful, yet satisfying way this has been!
In the end they lit the big barrel with incense and had it swing over he crowd. Wow, this really was a great moment. Stage one has ended. Now I will try to fight the pain for a last 3-4 days of walking, to get to the end of the world, to Finesterre.