Having completed the final 117 km of the Camino Frances from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela Bridget and I had another full day of our holiday before our Monday evening flight home.
Keen to explore beyond Santiago de Compostela and see the coast we had pre-booked a tour with Viator.com called ‘Excursion to Finisterre + Muxia + Costa da Morte’ which included 7 different stops.
We joined the tour at 9 am in Santiago de Compostela where a bus took a group of around 30 of us to the first of our 7 stops was the small hamlet of Ponte Maceira.
Ponte Maceira has only around 70 inhabitants and its star attraction is the magnificent stone Roman bridge which crosses the river Tambre.
According to legend, the disciples of the apostle St James were fleeing the Romans and as they crossed the bridge it collapsed and they fell into the water.
But things were all calm and serene for us on this slightly hazy start early in the morning.
Ponte Maceira is on the Camino Finisterre the 55 mile route from Santiago de Composela to Finisterre. We soon spotted the familiar blue and yellow way marker.
Our next stop was Muxia which, as well as Finisterre was one of the final stops for pilgrims who had made it to Santiago de Compostela. Muxia is located on the Costa da Morte, or the Coast of Death due to the large numbers of shipwrecks that have occurred on this jagged rocky coastline. Muxia is pronounced (Mu-she-a).
We spent about 45 minutes having a look around the lighthouse, rocks and church of Muxia.
Allegedly this is the place where the Virgin Mary arrived in a boat to assist the Apostle St James to spread the word of christianity. This church was recently rebuilt following a fire on Christmas Day in 2013.
A boat can be seen in the church towards the right of the above picture.
It was on these rocks that Martin Sheen threw the ashes of his son into the sea in the final scenes of the 2010 movie ‘The Way‘.
The 0 km way marker in Muxia… this is because this camino starts in Santiago de Compostela and finishes in Muxia.
From Muxia, next up was Cap Finisterre which means ‘the end of the land’. Before Colombus ‘discovered’ America it was thought this very tip of Spain was the end of the world.
As mentioned Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre is another short Camino and this is the end point at 0 km.
We came across a bronze walking boot fixed on the rocks behind the lighthouse at Cap Finisterre. This marks the end of the pilgrimage and symbolises pilgrims who have cleansed their mind and are ready for a new start. They traditionally burn their boots and clothes at this spot!
It was now lunchtime and the bus drove us for the 3 miles or so to colourful Finisterre town where we had free time of 1.5 hours.
Bridget and I found a shaded open air restaurant in the quaint square near the harbour. I pondered over the menu for a while deciding whether to have a local Galician dish or some freshly caught local fish! Sitting opposite the fishing boats this was an easy choice!
After lunch we were driven the short distance to visit Fervenza do Ezaro a 40 m high waterfall on the Xallas River.
Having disembarked the bus everyone walked along a boardwalk beside the scenic Xallas River until we reached the waterfall.
We were fortunate to have had great weather for this day and by the middle of the afternoon it was about 30 degrees.
Next stop…
Carnota to visit the longest horreo in Spain!
We had seen many horreo’s during our Camino Frances walk however nothing like this one! As a recap, horreo’s are used to store things such as grain and are raised above the ground to deter rodents. This one was constructed in 1768.
Our final stop was to Muros
Muros is a Galacian coastal fishing town with an attractive harbour and a creepy church!
Inside the church, as well as some scary looking murals, paintings and models, the baptism font contains a stone snake!
Having had a look in the church and a short wander around the old streets of the historic par of the town, we made our way along the attractive harbour and back to the bus.
Summary
What an excellent day! A day tour of this nature gave us a wonderful introduction to the ‘Coast of Death’ and has whetted my appetite to visit again! I would love to do a coastal camino at some point and also maybe a bit of a road trip driving right along the north coast of Spain and exploring some of the gorgeous beach locations.
frombluetogreen.com 
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