We spent the past week traveling across northern Spain, the first half filled with numerous cathedral visits as per usual, but the second half of the trip was a nice, refreshing and very much needed change of scenery. I grew up in big cities and claim to be a city girl through and through, but it is so refreshing to get lost in the nature once in a while.
First, we got to spend a couple of hours in the quaint fishing village of Cudillero. It was truly magical – definitely one of my favorite places in Spain so far!
We also visited the magnificent Lakes of Covadonga, from which we got a wonderful view of Picos de Europa (literally “Peaks of Europe”).
Breathtaking, isn’t it? And last but not least, we reached Finisterre – the end of the world! (Or so it was thought…). Back when the earth was assumed to be flat, Cape Finisterre (derived from the Latin for “land’s end”) was thought to be the westernmost point of the world. Of course, the world moves on across the Atlantic, but Cape Finisterre is the westernmost point in Spain. Early pagan societies worshiped the sun here, and Christians have been making the pilgrimage known as El Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James) to this location since the middle ages. You can see the 0.00 kilometer bollard at the end of el camino, and if you visit the lighthouse, you can burn your boots or clothes in the steel bowls set up for this, echoing a ritual dating back to medieval times. It was a way for the pilgrims to get rid of the material things and start a new life, so to speak. It’s crazy to think how people believed this was where the world ended, and yet here we are, having traveled here from across the Atlantic. It made me realize how lucky I am to know there is so much more out there and that I am able to and have opportunity to explore it.
