(Santiago de Compostela)

Revelation 21:1-8, 22-27
v. 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

It is done. The Camino that danced in my mind for decades, that we planned for more than a year, that we started on the wet cobblestones of St. Jean Pied de Port and that seemed to stretch out to infinity under steep and dragging kilometers, has been accomplished. Maurice and I walked all the way across Spain, five hundred miles on our own two feet. We finished. It is done and I am amazed. It wasn’t just us, though, nor us and hundreds of companion pilgrims. Jesus, the Alpha and Omega of all life and creation, was with us from beginning to end, giving us what we needed from the spring of the water of life. Thank you, Jesus, that you walked with us. Thank you for your great faithfulness to us.

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After completing their own pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand decided to improve infrastructure for pilgrims along the Way. About 1492 they founded a hospice in Santiago where pilgrims arriving at the end of their journey could stay free of charge for a few days. Their building, the beautiful Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos, provides hospitality to travelers today as a five-star parador, but we had heard a rumor that it still gives free meals to pilgrims.

Front door of the Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos

Once we had our compostelas I went through the parador’s elegant doors, backpack and all, to inquire. An officious clerk eyed me somewhat disdainfully. Yes, they provide meals, for a maximum of ten pilgrims only, at the green door down the street. He told me the times. He did not smile. But the rumor had truth to it!

Maurice and I thought we would start the day with breakfast at the parador. We arrived about 45 minutes early. No one was around. Was it the right place? It was the only green door–a wide carriage entranceway really that an information plaque told us was originally used for deliveries as well as removal of the dead. People arrived for work and smiled at us as they entered.

At 9:00 a hotel employee appeared. After giving us a meal ticket, he walked us up the street, through the elegant front doors of the parador, past the guests-only sign, along the edge of two of the interior courtyards, through an employees-only door, up some back stairs and into a kitchen corridor, where we waited next to racks of cooling tortas de Santiago. On the other side of a large window a baker was rolling out dough while finished pastries awaited their presentation in the dining room. Eventually our waiter reappeared with a tray of coffee and hot milk and a paper plate of churros (without chocolate) and little rolls for us to take down to the tiny pilgrims’ dining room. Was this just the appetizer? Sadly, no. The waiter had dashed off again. As the churros cooled I had to track him down to say I don’t drink coffee and could I have some Cola Cao (hot chocolate mix) instead. He did not smile either, but he did bring me two packets of Cola Cao. Maurice carried our tray downstairs and we ate our meager rations in our assigned cubbyhole out of sight of the real guests.

We were not too impressed, but lunch and dinner were supposed to be ampler. We returned to the green door just after six pm to wait for the 7:00 pilgrim dinner hour. Nine pilgrims were already there. Everyone knew the cut-off number was strictly enforced so we did not stay. The culinary delights of the parador will ever remain an illusion.

In the parador courtyard

Still taking selfies