Where's everyone going?

As the last leg of our trip neared, I began to get tired of driving, and wished the car would just drive itself. From Leon to Santiago was about 4 hours, and that was 4 hours too long in the car. The drive was long a tedious and there the views were not as beautiful. There were no snowy mountains or green hills, and that made the drive seem longer than it really was.
However, as we were driver we noticed backpackers with walking sticks and they looked to be walking. When we saw the first group of walkers, I thought well it's not that bad of a day for a little hike, but then there were more of them down the road. It was a little confusing, I wasn't sure where they were going. The sign "Camino de Santiago" didn't give me any clues because I just assumed that's what the highway was called. So yeah, rather than seeing the beautiful mountains or nice ocean views that we were getting used to... our new views were of groups of travelers either on bikes or walking... to who knows where?
We arrived in Santiago, and lets say that parking was once again an issue... we drove around and around not really knowing where to go. I was forced into doing an illegal move, but that lead us to a nice parking spot. Tiago our host met us in the center and gave us a tour of the city. He is from Brazil (I guess we just have a thing for Brazilian couchsurfers) and studying tourism. He showed us the sites of the town... the beautiful cathedral, the main plaza area and another church. From the outside the cathedral is breathtaking and once again we were not able to capture it on photo. The inside was "regular" sorry to sound uncultured... but I've seen so many cathedrals and I'll tell it like it is... if it's spectacular I'll call it like I see it, but if it's "regular" it's regular, it doesn't take away from the work that was put into it... i guess I just need to stop going to see cathedrals, basilicas or churches.
The park that we walked around in was pretty interesting, it was very serene and green like a park should be unlike those found here in Huelva. It had a great view of the cathedral. However, my favorite part of the city was the plaza were 4 of the most important buildings are found, the cathedral, the government bldg, the university bldg and something else I forgot... sorry Tiago I really was listening. I was just distracted by the group of men in suits singing and playing instruments in the middle of the plaza. He told us they are alumnis and they normally gather around this time to play in the plaza. They were singing, dancing with the people it was really cool. Then we found out they are from a Portugese University and so it was very weird... they must have done the Camino de Santiago also.
Talking about that... Tiago finally enlightened us on why so many people were walking to Santiago. Once again, it showed how very little we knew of the cities in the north. It turns out that the city survives on the people that make pilgrimages to the city every year. I'll spare the history, only because I'm sure I'll get it wrong, however the amazing part is people WALK from other parts of Europe to arrive at this city... let me repeat WALK, and here I am complaining about driving from Leon. People come from all over the world to do this pilgrimage and he himself plans on doing the route from France to Santiago... that's 1 month of walking. That is just incredible. I myself can't imagine doing something like that... but I guess people had to walk before their were cars. Ally and I thought about how we like to just do things because they seem cool... and thought for a split sec maybe we could suck it up and get one of the routes done before we left for Seattle... does arriving by a motorized scooter count?????
Either way, Santiago is a very beautiful city, with lots of culture and history. Unfortunately we didn't have that much time to enjoy it, however, it was nice to be able to see it and learn something new. It was a great city to end our trip. Our last morning we drove to the airport, and it was a rollo to drop off the car, however we managed and went to take our flight back to Madrid and finally the long, LOOOOOONG bus ride back to home sweet Huelva.
All in all, this has been one of my favorite trips, because it was something we have never done before. i still don't see how we managed to not get killed, damage the car, get lost in France... it is truly a miracle. Enjoy the photos.
I promise to attempt to blog more... but don't hold it against me if I don't, my Spanish life is pretty exhausting :) Sending hugs and kisses to everyone back home.

Un abrazo fuerte!
Ngoc :)