Today we made a short visit to Santiago De Compostela the end of the famous pilgrimage, Camino de Santiago, and the location of the shrine to St James the Great the reason for the pilgrimage in the first place. We arrived in Santiago mid afternoon and walked into the heart of the old city to find the place alive with people. Many were clearly "walkers" completing at least part of the Camino others just tourists like us come to look at the place and the walkers. The feeling of the place was definitely "if you are not a walker you are on the outer". But thats OK, many hiking towns and mountaineering towns have that same vibe.

The impression of the town is that it is a bit run-down. But on the other hand the abundance of highly decorated religious building crowded into a relatively small town cannot help but be impressive.

Our youngest son and his wife walked a good deal of the Camino a few years ago so we were keen to see Santiago so that we would have a visual reference when they talk about the experience.

The campground in Santiago was interesting. This is another place we found in our guide to Aires. It is a parking lot about 1.5 miles from the center of the city. During the day it is used by tour buses to wait while their passengers are off looking at the sights. A small section of the very large parking lot has been given over to autocaravanas and there is a dump station and fresh water supply. During the night hours the buses are mostly absent and only motorhomes present.