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Last day in Santiago

Kildare

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
June 27th
just want to come on here to say thank you for all the tips. I stayed in Saint Martin Hotel in Santiago as recommended on here. It was a great recommendation. We also had a drink in the Pardor hotel also recommended on here and I'd highly recommend it. We collected our certs today and my daughters were especially disappointed after all the work of collecting our stamps making sure they had a date on each one they were not checked. As my daughter said anyone could just walk in and get one. My daughters pilgrim passport had fallen apart the front cover came of and they just took this stamped it and gave the cert without checking anything. We walked from Porto. We did buy the compostela with the amount walked on it but felt hard done by as we cud have said we walked any amount. Tonight we ate in a restaurant called Abastos I highly recommended this for a treat. We had octopus and their 3 course set menu for €30. Anyway I need to sleep thank you everyone for your help
 
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Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Kildare said:
We did buy the compostela with the amount walked on it but felt hard done by as we cud have said we walked any amount.
Click to expand...
The Compostela does not have the distance walked or the starting point named on it. Just the recipient's name, the date it was issued and any "pro vicarie" dedication. I walked my first Camino before the minimum distance rule was introduced. I walked from SJPDP. Someone else could have walked from the Santiago railway station and received the same Compostela on the same day if the priest who issued them decided that their visit to the tomb of the Apostle was a pilgrimage. That seems quite right to me. I have never thought of pilgrimage as a competitive sport.
 
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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Kildare said:
My daughters pilgrim passport had fallen apart the front cover came of and they just took this stamped it and gave the cert without checking anything.
Click to expand...
I suspect the Pilgrim Office staff and volunteers are canny enough to know the look and feel of a credential that has been dutifully completed by the pilgrim along the way. As for the distance certificate, I think they rely upon the starting point that you enter in the credential. I know that they do pay attention, because I have had a mistake in my registration detected when my QR code was scanned, and was quite happy to have it corrected by the volunteer at the time.

Of course, one could be untruthful about many things, but why? It is more important to me that my compostelas and distance certificates are honest reflections of my pilgrimages than to inflate any claims I might make about them.
 
Hello I didn't mean to upset anyone on here I just gave an honest opinion of our experience. Most of what I said was from 11 year old and kids say it as they see it. I've attached a photo of our compostela with the distance walked on it. Thanks again for all the tips given they are much appreciated. I also need to say I don't see it as a competitive sport in fact my 14 year old said she done it for Religious reasons when choosing a reason but for my 11 year old she carried her passport with pride and put all of effort into getting each stamp and dating them and was genuinely upset when the cover came of with wear and tear so I understand why she wud feel this way at the end when hers was not checked at all. All they from her was the front cover not checking any of her stamps.
 

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This is ture. Its not a big deal at all the experience was to become closer as a family heal from divorce and be grateful for the little things in life hot water food and kindness and become closer to god and that's what we all received so that's all that's matters. I received help from the advice on here so I just thought my post might help others that's all as I said already I didn't mean to upset anyone
 
I think that the volunteers in the Pilgrim's Office can tell just by looking at someone whether they have completed their journey - especially those that have walked the CF. Whether that is by their weatherbeaten look, their limping to the counter, or their look of pride in the completion of their pilgrimage.
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Delighted to hear it went well for you! And always very nice when someone tells us how it went. Not at all necessary to say thankyou - but a very kind thought when it happens.
I am positive you have upset no one with your comments.
Safe journey back home - you will need to get the sweaters and raincoats out I fear.
May the road rise to meet you.....
 
Receiving the Compostela can be a bit of a disappointment. I guess, especially in Summer when the office is quite buisy they simply do not have the time to have a little chat with everyone. But you know what you have achieved and for me my passports are the way more memorable "souveniers" anyways.

As for your choice of dinner at the Abastos i applaud you. It is one of my favourite places in Santiago and a special treat. Bit expensive, but worth it i think.
 
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Hi Kildare!
Glad you and the girls had a great time !
I don't think you upset anyone.
Take joy from what you have experienced with your girls that's wonderful and priceless !!
That joy will last a lifetime.
I have one Compostela and that's enough.
My slightly knackered pilgrim passport like your daughters means more to me.
It's a tangible reminder of the journey and places you visited; no more Compostela's for me when i walk!
Did your walk make you feel like doing another one?
All the best
Buen future Camino
Woody
 
The process of receiving your Compostela has been highly improved in the last years.
I remember when in a tipical summer day you had to wait in the line outside the old office in Rua Do Vilar something like four hours to receive it. If you arrived late, you had to wait till the next day, so many people that have tight plane, bus or train connections couldn't wait and they missed it.
Then, some years ago they introduced the IT system by which you received a number and you could check in your phone how many numbers you had ahead, so you didn't have to wait in line and could go to visit Santiago and return when your number was near.
Now, with the preregistraton and the digital printing of the compostela it only took me five minutes to receive my Compostela in a day of July this year¡¡
That's a great improvement over the years and a great work of the Pilgrim's Office.
And sure the volunteers check your stamps, quickly but they do. They have to process something like 2.000 or more a day. They only check the last 100 kms stamps (two per day) and they know at a glance wheter you have the required or not.
It could be a more formal and satisfying process?. Yes, but that will probably bring again the long waiting times.
Somebody can cheat?. Yes, but he himself kows it and it's for its shame.
I also agree that the credential full of stamps is a more cherished memory of your trip.
 
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For those of you who want to keep your pilgrim passport in good condition while you walk, I recommend getting the plastic covers that Ivar sells. They are perfect and large enough to put your pilgrim pass, your passport and day money. I wouldn't walk a Camino without them.
 
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Well done!
 
Hi Doug, If I want to buy the distance certificate also, do they issue it at the same time as the Compostela?
 
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What you have posted is the Certificate Of Distance. It is not the Compostela. Compostela is roughly A4 portrait and the certificate you posted is landscape, larger than compostela
 
Uh - oh - I pre registered today and got my QR code - but there was no box to select that. There was some option to request but it seemed to involve sending an e-mail so I didn't pursue it because I'm not going until Sept. Maybe because I'm only doing from Vigo - is that possible?
 
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BarbC said:
Hi Doug, If I want to buy the distance certificate also, do they issue it at the same time as the Compostela?
Click to expand...
I see this question has been answered, and you are considering doing another registration to get the Certificate of Distance. You could do that, or you could tell the person at the counter that you want that as well as the Compostela, and let them do whatever is necessary to make that happen.
 
Thanks - I ended up doing a second one - because decided I wanted our middle names included to match my Compostela - I will just show the 2nd QR code - I wonder what the original pilgrims would have thought about QR codes....lol
 
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Get a Spanish mobil number + data while on the Camino
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
I checked "no" for the distance certificate when I pre-registered, because I thought you had to go to a different office. However, the woman issuing my certificate asked me again & issued one. I was very surprised by the speed and joyful service she provided
 
IMO the passport and process is a very personal thing. If you want to "cheat" then the only person you are cheating is yourself and why would you want to do that? I arrived at the office (30th june) ready to show my two cards (started from St Jean) only to find i had the left the second card at a church near santiago airport. The look on my face convinced the office I was genuine, my one card was stamped and the certificate printed. The gentleman also suggested I return a few days later to see if it had been brought in. Sure enough on return I was given about 20 cards and amongst them was mine. Great joy all round and a big thank you to the person who brought it in for the final few km's.
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
When I was handed my compostela I burst into tears. The staff member quickly grabbed my hands. It was a very tender moment; one I will always remember and cherish. Also, it was raining on that day in Santiago and it caused the ink from some of the stamps on my credencial to run. I simply regard that as a sort of celestial stamp (though the compostela was safely ensconced in a tube, purchased at the office).
 
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