Shiny Happy People

CAMINO PORTUGUÉS – Day 13+1: Monday 8 June 2026 – Free Day in SANTIAGO de COMPOSTELA

I have had a quiet day today, just chilling and ‘hanging out’ in Santiago, people watching, and meeting all my Camino Buddies from the trail who have not already departed for home. Those who have followed my Blogs for a while may recall that last year, after arriving in Santiago at the end of my Camino Francés trek, I spent a day on a bus tour out to the coast, to Finisterre and to Muxia, and then a morning touring the sights of Santiago including a dramatic mass in the Cathedral that featured the swinging of a huge incense thurible (casket) over the heads of the gasping and awe-struck congregation. So today I decided to avoid repeating everything that I did last year, and to take advantage of an easy day, watching the hoards of pilgrims rejoicing madly at their destination (as I guess I did yesterday). Those who wish to see my photos and observations from last year can scroll down through my past Blogs to ‘Somewhere Beyond The Sea’ from 11 May last year, and to ‘Hasta Mañana’ from the following day, that cover my coast tour and the mass at Santiago Cathedral respectively.

All of the Camino routes in this part of the continent lead to Santiago, and hence there are considerable crowds arriving on foot (and by bike and, occasionally, on horseback), especially at this peak time of year before the heat of the summer: my sources tell me that the official number of registered pilgrims completing their walk with me yesterday was 3,127! Herewith a few shots of the celebrations in Santiago’s Praza do Obradoiro, and of my ramblings around the city.

Aside from the memories, I also have a couple of souvenirs from my Camino Portugués trek: namely my Certificate for completing the walk on foot (obtained yesterday from the Pilgrim Office in Santiago on production of my Pilgrim Passport), and secondly of course the passport itself and all the stamps within, providing a record of some of the many places that I have visited en route.

The shops focus on more conventional souvenirs and on food and drink.

I will finish today with a couple of pictures of my last night on tour, ahead of my flight home tomorrow, and I will return shortly with a final Blog on my reflections of the Camino Portugués.

My Blog heading today ‘Shiny Happy People’ is taken from a song title by US rockers R.E.M. released as the second single from the band’s 1991 album ‘Out of Time’. Kate Pierson (of the B52s) joined the group for this number, and her ebullient vocals add to the infectious sing-along chorus. The songwriting credits are shared between the four R.E.M band members (Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry) in keeping with the group’s apparently democratic convention. But despite its commercial success and enduring place on the airwaves R.E.M are reputed to hate ‘Shiny Happy People’, having only written it as a joke to mock music industry executives – and the number is thereby excluded from all the band’s compilation albums. A shame really, because I have always quite liked it.