Finisterre

Wow! I never was able to write about Finisterre (or A Coruña)... My first trip outside of Madrid.  Ok, so to refresh your memory... I had just finished seeing the dunes and driving through the crazy windy roads before Finisterre.  I arrived at my nice hotel and set my alarm for before sunrise - the main goal being to be at Finisterre (the end of the world as the Roman's called it) for sunrise.

Thank God for my dad because he called me and woke me up before sunrise.  Apparently I slept through my alarm.  I ran to the car and drove to Finisterre, about a 15 minute drive.  It was literally a race against the sun, but I beat it.  The above picture is the first thing I saw... beautiful purple and pink colors over a dark sea.

Because I was in such a rush, I forgot my camera.  So, all of the pictures that you will see during this post were taken from on my Blackberry Tour.

The scenery was beautiful and as the sun rose, things just kept getting more and more brilliant.  I approached the lighthouse and was eager to gaze out into the endless ocean - to experience what the Roman's did so long ago.

However, when I reached the end, I was a bit disappointed.  I didn't get the feeling that it was the end of the world.  I saw land to my left and to my right.  I didn't feel like I was at the furthest tip of the earth.  I was determined to get the full experience, I just didn't know how.  Then, I saw some fishermen.  They were climbing down the rocky face of the cliff and that's when I realized that I had to follow them.  Surely I was going to get the experience I so eagerly desired from wherever they were headed.  I followed them down and snapped some pictures on the way down.  The shoe that you see is made of a hard metal and is placed there as a monument to the hikers of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.  There were several burned pairs of shoes surrounding the monument - a sort of ritual for those who had hiked so long.

Note the steep area I climbed down...

Anyways, I continued along my journey and was slowly beginning to see why they called it Finisterre.  All of the surrounding earth began to disappear the closer I got to the sea.  I lost the fisherman for a little while, but then saw them off in the distance.

I don't know if you can see them, but the fisherman were waaaay below me when I spotted them again.  I kept on climbing down the mountain, completely forgetting about the fishermen.  My eyes were drawn to the edge of the rocks were the sea met the earth.  I knew it was a bit slippery and maybe a bit dangerous, but I knew if I was careful I'd be alright.  I headed for the edge only to find more fisherman!  Jackpot... they verified that my instincts were dead on.  I was at the best spot in Finisterre.

I decided to sit down and watch them for a while.  I also closed my eyes, took deep breathes, and soaked in all of the beauty.  I didn't want to rush it.  I guess I was probably at the bottom for about 45 minutes when I decided that I should head back to Santiago de Compostela to return my car.  They way up was much trickier than the way down.  In fact, I didn't remember how I got down because I was so struck by the beauty of my surroundings.  I eventually forged a new path and snapped a few more photos before I was on my way.  Truly an amazing experience!

Thanks again dad for waking me up! :)