Wild walks and wandering the globe have been with us for all time and in all parts of the world Pilgrims have traveled to places of rapture since significant sites took on their special meaning This is the universal and ancient historical legacy that drew me to walk the Camino to Santiago de Compostela I could have taken a different pilgrimage route — perhaps as a secular pilgrim on the picturesque the longest marked trail in the United Kingdom the history is one of smugglers and shipwrecks and the exaltation is in the breathtaking beauty of seaside villages jutting Jurassic cliffs and secluded beaches Or I could have journeyed to one of the other important religious destinations — Rome via the Francigena a holy city to three of the world’s great monotheistic religions But it was the Camino that set my mind on fire and the matter of relics that gripped my imagination and nagged at me during the COVID-19 pandemic when New Zealand’s borders were shut to international flights from March 2020 to August 2021 By the time Kiwis were finally free to move and tickets vaguely affordable I felt like a shaken bottle of sparkling wine ready to pop its cork I had ruminated on all aspects of pilgrimage and was about to explode with curiosity and the need to escape An ancient walking path across the top of the Iberian Peninsula to its northwestern corner was the perfect place to abscond to Christian pilgrims have traveled multitudinous miles to the town of Santiago de Compostela to worship at the shrine of St Medieval pilgrims often followed the trail on foot for months the risk — I was fascinated to know what propelled these pilgrims I wanted to understand what these journeys meant to them people still travel in increasing numbers to sites of pilgrimage when human experience is increasingly digitized do people still feel the imperative to be present in a place and to walk So my partner Sue and I joined the throngs of pilgrims seeking answers on the Camino The Daily Telegraph published an article predicting that 2024 would see nearly half a million pilgrims journey to the shrine of Santiago (St The article also pointed out the exponential increase in traffic between 1984 when just 423 pilgrims claimed the Compostela (certificate of completion) when numbers hit a record 440,367 — a number that is about to be exceeded because 2024 figures are up 12.5% The map to Santiago de Compostela looks like the crazy cracks a flicked stone creates on a car’s windshield Every line radiates out in a jagged pattern from the central point of impact From their end point of Santiago de Compostela the routes spread out across the country — heading upward along the west coast of Portugal or cutting straight across the country to the Mediterranean the Camino Frances — the one we chose — has emerged as the most popular the route was marked out by a local priest who made it his mission to reignite people’s passion for pilgrimage starting in the French town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and traveling in a westerly direction across the top of Spain money and our ability to walk that far meant our aspirations had to be more modest Our fast train from Madrid arrived close to midnight so it was hard to tell in the darkness what this ancient center and as the morning light began to flood the old town and the square in front of the cathedral It rises vertically from the flagstones of the square to a height of nearly 100 feet Its soaring walls support a tracery of magnificently carved stone and colored glass The complicated Gothic design of thrust and counterthrust supports the cathedral’s fragile height housing some of the most magnificent stained glass and crystal windows ever created The vaulted ceilings are a pinnacle of the architectural brilliance that blossomed throughout Europe in the Gothic period The cathedral captures that earth-movingly brilliant frenzy for God that must have captivated pilgrims but the whimsy and fantastical imagination are what fascinate me Medieval artists were acutely aware of death and damnation And they were unfettered by secular or clerical propriety when they depicted it — raw and writhing Hell was not just a state of mind but a place where you suffered every torture imaginable A pilgrimage to a holy shrine could mitigate some of the horrors of hell made as an act of penitence for sins committed But they were also an opportunity to purchase an indulgence An indulgence granted for walking the Camino removed all temporal punishment for sin The church granted them to encourage good works and acts of charity indulgences were not a “get out of jail free” card They simply substituted for a penance (or punishment) imposed for a sin already forgiven by the church But it was not long before scammers saw the loophole Hall writes in his 1965 book “English Mediaeval Pilgrimage,” indulgences became “fair game for rascals In less than no time there were hordes of false pardoners sometimes just travelling salesmen with the gift of the gab They wandered the country producing rolls of parchment with impressive seals and declaring they had come from Rome and were ready to provide their customers with a pardon for anything.” Then there were the miracles associated with relics at pilgrimage sites According to a 12th-century French guidebook for pilgrims a sick or disabled person or someone bitten by a snake could be healed a person possessed by a devil could be delivered a doe who was previously wild could be tamed and a dead person could be restored to life There was seemingly nothing a powerful relic could not do to make a pilgrim’s life better It was the promise of escape from the diseased and dangerous drudge of medieval life that kept the pilgrims coming there was the added bonus that pilgrimage was a very attractive way of taking a holiday Boulter in his 1928 book “The Pilgrim Shrines of England”: “The company was agreeable; the whole thing was undertaken with the sanction of the Church at a time when Catholicism was intertwined with every aspect of normal life; [and] there was exemption from taxes and arrest for debt.” The splendor of Leon Cathedral was as much of a sight to behold for the medieval pilgrim as it is for tourists today moody interior activated by carving and sculptural programs and its soaring walls punctuated by dazzling stained-glass windows Sue and I moved from the drama of the cathedral’s interior across a sun-flooded quadrangle to an adjoining museum a contemporary addition for modern-day pilgrims and tourists It houses a fabulous collection of medieval votive figures — Christ on the cross saints and martyrs — many of which would have been in place in their sacred settings Many would have been objects of prayerful offering these were not just objects rendered in wood and stone but symbolic representations infused with the spirit of their subject And the veneration of a votive figure was magnified many times when it contained not just the essence of the individual represented but a relic fragment or the real-life remains of a sacred person In a corner cabinet of the cathedral museum The quiet demeanor of this sculptural figure is quite unlike the grander crucifixes that writhe in agony and drip with blood and his raised hands (complete with stigmata) gesture to a small glass-fronted fissure in his chest that contains a small section of cord (The cord is purported to be almost certainly part of the girdle that would have gone around St The presence of the cord imbues this piece with special powers Francis and his carefully encased forensic remnant in the room — ready to work wonders and hear your prayers it was ruled that no church could be consecrated without a relic The consequence of this was a proliferation of relics and a rash of intermonastic feuds and theft “There were countless girdles of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” writes D “and at least 10 heads of John the Baptist; pieces from the True Cross and its Nails would have sufficed to build a ship; [and] the bones of the saints were distributed in their thousands all over Europe.” The competition between monastic groups to own important religious relics was bitter and fiercely fought and pilgrims brought endowments and wealth One of the most infamous instances of relic theft is recorded in Amelia Soth’s 2020 JSTOR Daily article “When Monks Went Undercover To Steal Relics.” Here she outlines a 12th-century theft committed by Bishop Hugh of Lincoln on a visit to the monks of the Abbey of Fecamp When they showed him their most prized relic bit off a piece of the relic with his teeth When the horrified monks accused him of desecration saying that “no relic was more holy than the Eucharist which passed his lips every Sunday.” He could also have defended himself using the medieval world’s belief that “relics were infused with the living presence of the saint” and were capable of defending themselves The list of possible relics was seemingly endless it included crumbs from the Last Supper and the Sudarium of Oviedo a handkerchief-sized piece of linen cloth used to wipe away perspiration that covered Christ’s face in the tomb (both arriving in Spain in 1075); the feather that the Archangel Gabriel left behind at the Annunciation; and a vial containing the sound of King Solomon’s bells Relics and miracles assumed an acceptance of signs and wonders and occasionally pushed things to the point of ridiculousness All the Camino trails are dotted with relics but these are simply the chorus to the superstar remains of the Apostle St According to our 12th-century pilgrim’s guide the remains are sealed within a marble sarcophagus in a finely arched sepulchre and housed beneath the high altar of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela but the whole ultrapowerful body of one of Jesus Christ’s favorite apostles The only two pilgrim destinations to match it are Rome James’ remains is a mix of history and legend According to the Pilgrimage Museum in Santiago de Compostela his disciples collected his body and carried it by ship to Spain involving a jail escape assisted by an angel and the slaying of a dragon.  The bones were subsequently lost in northwest Spain before being rediscovered in the ninth century A hermit alerted Bishop Teodomiro of Iria to a mysterious light he saw in a wood the bishop unearthed the sepulchre believed to be that of St Teodomiro’s discovery was confirmed by Alfonso II King of Asturias; a church was built on the site in 834; and the multitude of pilgrimages to visit the apostle’s shrine began James’ bones brought many strategic benefits They helped connect the western regions of Spain to Europe encouraged pilgrim traffic across the north of Spain and attracted wealth benefactions and power to a remote church close to Finisterre (translated as “end of the earth”) They became renowned for performing miracles and when some opportunistic thief tried to carry them away With some of this history in mind and much yet to be discovered my hands tingled with cold as we left behind the light industrial outskirts of town and picked up the scallop-shell (the symbol of St The terrain we were walking through is called the Paramo Desert Sue suggested we stop in the shade and have a drink Looped over it was a wooden rosary bleached by months or years of fierce sun People’s buried bones line the trail in parts of the pilgrims’ way their gravesites chosen so they can watch the procession of pilgrims wrestling with their earthly cares to be free to watch the worries of others for all eternity through strange little rustic villages of thick mud-walled houses with wooden doors and window shutters that looked like they were hewn from an ancient forest and people just go about their daily life oblivious to the fact that they are living in a museum Our first night was spent in a hostel in Villar de Mazarife we continued to Astorga and Rabanal del Camino and collapsing at night in our hostel or hotel we walked through tall fields of fully ripened corn and large stretches of towering sunflowers and sunbaked grapes waiting to be harvested The Camino winds its way through rich farmland then makes its steep 4,890-foot ascent of Mount Irago then down again to Molinaseca and Villafranca but it is the people you meet who are the unexpected treasure Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” was a flash of genius In his fictional account from the 14th century pilgrims share their stories to pass the time and to lighten their load on the way to the shrine of St And this sharing was exactly our experience Others were there to escape their humdrum lives to work through grief and loss or to find a spiritual touchstone in a world of increasing conflict and alienation just shy of his 60th birthday and having left his job of 28 years and he was grieving the death of his 17-year-old dog who were trekking in small chunks and out for a good time Courtney and Sharon — who were walking the entire Camino Frances to get closer to God.  And there were Liam and his mates Martin and Raymond from Ireland You need to tell Liam’s story,” Martin told me He saw two of his brothers shot dead in front of his eyes at his sister’s 7th birthday party.” Liam’s current Camino journey marked the 30th anniversary of his brothers’ killing Martin spoke rapidly like someone trying to convince himself: “It’s all over now I spent years in jail for things I didn’t do pointing to a tattoo of a semiautomatic rifle on his lower leg “But tell Liam’s story for me,” he exclaimed They just came in with their guns and shot people It’s still too hard.” So here it is — Liam’s story as I promised Martin Two lovely people that we encountered on the Camino talking and walking with their grief and trauma to Santiago de Compostela to find solace.  We met some pilgrims numerous times as we climbed Mount O Cebreiro reaching Santiago de Compostela in torrential rain That afternoon we were struggling to move one sloshing foot in front of the other I felt that the Camino was demanding something from us to the very end Our last refuge before the final push was a marketplace of memorabilia stalls they had to dismantle and pack everything away except for the outdoor cafe with minimal seating inside — where the throngs of pilgrims crammed a middle-aged Chinese woman rushed across to us with a huge cheese and egg panini It is a microcosm of life lived with psychedelic intensity your experiences play on a reel in front of your eyes the pilgrimage to Santiago was walked out of pious devotion to achieve a state of perfection as a means of purification and an act of penance Some were forced to walk it as a punishment the ever-increasing number of people walking and cycling the Camino suggests that some or perhaps all of these reasons still stand: that modern pilgrims are seeking a similar mystical sense of physical and spiritual wholeness; that traveling to Holy places and seeing things that have been cherished for a millennium or more are important; that pilgrimage is a chance to meditate on life’s deeply felt experiences — on grief We arrived in the main square of Santiago de Compostela battered and beaten (or almost!) Our religious experience was finding our hotel and peeling off our wet clothes the ecstasy of Santiago would have to wait until the next day The cathedral was an awe-inspiring vision of filigree and spires that somehow did not quite match our journey The enormous “botafumeiro” (incense holder) swung across the main altar during the Mass at death-defying speeds and the interior was dripping with gold Whether you are a medieval or contemporary wanderer walking mindfully and with intention is transformative And if I had any advice from the Camino to share it would be to choose your own pilgrimage route — sacred or secular — and walk it until you find yourself Sign up to our mailing list to receive our stories in your inbox Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy ​CategoriesCategoriesEnglishGENERALRoyal family complete final stage of Camino de Santiago pilgrimage16 April 2025 The Belgian royal family completed the final leg of the famous pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday, ending a years-long tradition of walking part of the route around Easter. Since 2017, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and their children have walked part of the Camino de Santiago every year. This year, the couple, with Princess Eléonore and Princes Gabriel and Emmanuel, set off from Santa Irene and arrived in Santiago de Compostela.  declared the first European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in 1987 attracts more than 200,000 pilgrims every year It is one of the three great Christian pilgrimages The highlight of the route is the arrival in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela where pilgrims are welcomed by the city's imposing cathedral with its richly decorated Baroque façade Copy linkGet updates in your mailboxYour email addressSubscribeBy clicking "Subscribe" I confirm I have read and agree to the Privacy Policy rapid and high-quality information 24 hours a day from Belgium and abroad to all Belgian media not to mention entertainment and lifestyle our journalists and press photographers produce hundreds of photos and news stories Since the end of March 2022 English has been added as a language businesses and various organisations that need reliable information Belga News Agency also offers a comprehensive range of corporate services to meet all their communication needs www.belganewsagency.eu forming the heart of this timeless urban fabric Read on to discover some of Santiago de Compostela's architectural highlights and contemporary projects that showcase Spain's Galicia region as a vibrant center of design and innovation Related Article Valencia Architecture City Guide: Unveiling 24 Architectural Highlights Across Spain’s Artistic Hub Santiago Cathedral. Image © Fernando Pascullo, via Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0Praza do Obradoiro Praza do Obradoiro. Image © slideshow bob via Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 2.0 The City of Culture / Eisenman Architects The City of Culture / Eisenman Architects. Image © P.Lameiro, via Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 3.0 Camino de Santiago Trek French Arrival Ramp / CREUSeCARRASCO Arquitectos Camino de Santiago Trek French Arrival Ramp / CREUSeCARRASCO Arquitectos. Image © Luís Díaz DíazA Trisca Socio-Cultural Centre / John Hejduk + Antonio Sanmartín + Elena Cánovas + Leonardo Rietti A Trisca Socio-Cultural Centre / John Hejduk + Antonio Sanmartín + Elena Cánovas + Leonardo Rietti. Image © Arquitectura galega (Santiago Rodríguez Caramés), via Flickr under CC BY 2.0 Santiago de Compostela Bus Station / IDOM Santiago de Compostela Bus Station / IDOM. Image © Aitor Ortiz SGAE Central Office in Santiago de Compostela / ENSAMBLE STUDIO SGAE Central Office in Santiago de Compostela / ENSAMBLE STUDIO. Image © Arquitectura galega (Santiago Rodríguez Caramés), via Flickr under CC BY 2.0 High-Speed Station, Pedestrian Walkway and Clara Campoamor Square / Estudio Herreros Galician Center of Contemporary Art Through the Lens of Fernando Guerra. Image © Fernando Guerra | FG+SG Cultural Catalyst / ARROKABE Arquitectos Cultural Catalyst / ARROKABE Arquitecto. Image © Luís Díaz Díaz Center for New Technologies / Francisco Mangado Center for New Technologies / Francisco Mangado. Image © Roland Halbe Musical Studies Centre / ENSAMBLE STUDIO Musical Studies Centre / ENSAMBLE STUDIO. ImageRaíña Fabiola Public School / Giorgio Grassi Raíña Fabiola Public School / Giorgio Grassi . Image © Arquitectura galega (Santiago Rodríguez Caramés), via Flickr under CC BY 2.0 Caramoniña Allotments / Abalo Alonso arquitectos Caramoniña Allotments / Abalo Alonso arquitectos. Image © Hector Santos Diez Proyecto Hombre / Elsa Urquijo Arquitectos Proyecto Hombre / Elsa Urquijo Arquitectos . Image Courtesy of Elsa Urquijo ArquitectosAuditorio de Galicia / Julio Cano Lasso + Diego Cano Pinto Auditorio de Galicia / Julio Cano Lasso + Diego Cano Pinto. Image © regueifeiro, via Wikipedia under CC BY 2.0"Luis Iglesias" Natural History Museum / César Portela “Luis Iglesias” Natural History Museum / César Portela. Image © Ruben Garcia, via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0 Alto Residencial Coop / Carbajo Barrios Arquitectos Alto Residencial Coop / Carbajo Barrios Arquitectos. Image © Luís Díaz Díaz Renovation of the Espellos Building Envelope / Díaz y Díaz Arquitectos Renovation of the Espellos Building Envelope / Díaz y Díaz Arquitectos. Image © Juan RodríguezXunta de Galicia Presidential Complex / Manuel Gallego Jorreto Xunta de Galicia Presidential Complex / Manuel Gallego Jorreto. Image © Arquitectura galega (Santiago Rodríguez Caramés), via Flickr under CC BY 2.0Polideportivo de San Clemente / Josef Paul Kleihues © Arquitectura galega (Santiago Rodríguez Caramés), via Flickr under CC BY 2.0We invite you to visit our list of Architecture City Guides You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Latest UpdatesCountries Why Join?IL MagazineFree Daily E-LetterVideoOur ExpertsTestimonialsFAQsTopics Living overseas since 2011 Terry and her husband went on a housesitting assignment to Portugal in 2018 and they knew they’d found a place they wanted to call home As I stood in the middle of the rugged carpet of cobblestones staring at the colossal cathedral in front of me I was filled with a sense of peace that wrapped around me like a fluffy blanket The elaborately carved facades and towers of the medieval structure seemed to reach up to the heavens and give off an unearthly glow Its presence made me feel tiny—like a speck of dust in the universe arriving here to understand a bit more about this magical I was surrounded by hundreds of pilgrims of all ages, sizes, and ethnicities who had landed here at the finishing line of the famous Camino de Santiago The Camino routes are scattered throughout Europe and consist of varying distances Some groups of pilgrims were singing; others proudly waved flags of their countries One couple in particular caught my eye and left a lasting impression The man looked out into the massive crowd of pilgrims with a grin from ear to ear her auburn curly hair pulled back into a ponytail glanced over at him with tears of joy running down her face It was apparent by their expressions that they had just accomplished something enormously special something that would leave an imprint on their souls forever Learn more about the lower cost of living in Spain and other countries in our free daily postcard e-letter Simply enter your email address below and we'll also send you a FREE REPORT — Live the Good Life in Sunny Santiago de Compostela, the capital of northwest Spain’s Galicia region has been an important Catholic pilgrimage site since the 9th century and is reputed to be the burial site of the apostle Saint James while “Compostela” translates to "field of stars," similar to the Milky Way According to legend passed down from the Middle Ages James the Apostle instructed pilgrims to follow the stars over 400,000 pilgrims commit to this walk for many different reasons UNESCO declared the Old Town of the city a World Heritage Site I wanted to know why people put their lives on hold for weeks or months at a time to walk the Camino I asked a few of our friends who had taken the plunge and lived to share their experiences it’s about setting personal goals or just enjoying the breathtaking scenery and meeting interesting people along the way I never thought I’d be fit enough to tackle 16 miles a day we hired a company to transport our luggage from one stop to the next so we only carried day packs with snacks and water We stopped for lunches along the way or to rest and admire the views It provided food for my soul and made me appreciate my life more.” walking the Camino helped bring us closer together It provided us with a welcome opportunity to spend time with each other without the usual background noise We overcame challenges along the way as a team—not me We held hands as we looked at the impressive building and thanked God for guiding our steps along the Camino It was a major accomplishment we tackled together,” Ken added The city of Santiago de Compostela has a population of about 95,000 and is situated just 358 miles from the border it shares with Portugal The official languages spoken are Spanish and Galician English is also fairly common in the Old Town with the obvious influx of pilgrims from around the world one of the oldest universities still in continuous operation The university offers some of the lowest tuition costs in Spain though most courses are only available in Spanish Year-round weather in Santiago de Compostela includes warm Average temperatures range from 40 F to 76 F Learning Spanish is advisable for anyone wishing to relocate to Santiago de Compostela as English speakers are far less common outside of the Old Town Our knowledge of Latin American Spanish managed to get us by All signs and menus are posted in both Spanish and what seemed to be Portuguese the city has changed to a more tranquil Spanish city with high-rise apartment complexes Corner cafes are filled with beret-wearing elderly gentlemen sipping coffee and watching the world go by with many cobblestone roads that may be difficult for some to navigate A one-bedroom furnished apartment can be rented long-term for $600 a month while larger two- or three-bedroom furnished apartments can be found for $900 a month Add another $135 for utilities (electricity A monthly bus pass can be purchased for $33 New residents will need to purchase private health insurance quoted a basic plan for a healthy 64-year-old couple at $326 a month After living in Spain for one to five years residents can access low-cost public healthcare through the “convenio especial.” Costs range from $67 a month for those under 65 to $175 for those over 65 A couple without a car could live in this historic city for as little as $1,644 a month with basic health insurance and a small apartment or up to $2,387 a month with a larger furnished apartment and top-tier health insurance like “Expats in Santiago de Compostela,” that help expats connect can also be a great resource for finding information and meeting others Taking Spanish classes—whether private or in groups—is a great way to meet people and make new friends but building friendships with people from different countries can be both rewarding and educational Knowing Spanish will make everyday life in Spain easier and show respect to locals For those needing a Spanish driver’s license any "autoescola" can provide more details with the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela taking center stage Construction of the Romanesque church began in 1075 and was completed in 1211 Built with three naves and a Latin cross floor plan Pilgrims wait in long lines to hug the statue of Saint James and visit his tomb Tickets can be purchased to visit the cathedral’s terraces and tower takes visitors 246 feet up to the pinnacle of the roof This may not be suitable for elderly visitors constructed in 1766 and originally used as a seminary for confessors it houses City Hall and other government offices built on a granite colonnade with fourteen half-moon arches offers a perfect shady spot to admire the cathedral located in the old convent of Santo Domingo de Bonaval offers insight into the Galician people through displays of their trades the Galician Contemporary Art Museum showcases local artists in a striking modern structure with terraces that provide views over the Old Town Believers from around the world come to Santiago de Compostela for various reasons—some after a long Tourists visit to admire its architectural wonders and learn about its legends and lore Students and expats arrive with their visas in hand ready to start a new chapter in this charming city Global Sisters Report a project of National Catholic Reporter Sign up now A marker is pictured along the road leading to Santiago de Compostela Ana González walked the Camino de Santiago the pilgrimage through Spain also known as the Way of St View Author Profile I began 2025 with abundant gratitude for the experiences of the past year and anticipation for the unfolding of new adventures As I reflected on my resolutions and dreams we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus June Fitzgerald at the start of their pilgrimage (Courtesy of Ana González) My journey of discerning religious life had been affirmed and I embarked on a pilgrimage that heightened my awareness of God's constant presence I became open to God's abundant love for me and all creation My lifestyle shifted from one focused on doing to one centered on being — with God and with the people of God I had the great fortune of uniting my discernment journey with the peregrina (pilgrim) journey of El Camino I was blessed to walk El Camino with two amazing Dominican Sisters of Peace: June Fitzgerald and Barbara Kane we prepared for our two-week journey — choosing our route and holding each other accountable as we trained for the trek We were fortunate to travel with experienced companions who knew the route and its history I felt overwhelmed by the thought of walking 275 kilometers to our destination Yet, my fellow peregrinas reminded me to take it one step at a time. The daunting numbers transformed: one step at a time, one mile at a time, one cruceiro at a time I was awed by the milliaria — Roman mile markers that bore witness to the footsteps of merchants travelers and armies who had walked this path for centuries I felt connected to countless peregrinos who had journeyed before me and to those who would come after me the landscape shifted from urban settings to vineyards my journey was enriched by encounters with fellow peregrinos the only thing we had in common was the shared journey We came from different places and backgrounds we formed bonds of mutual support and care Ana González pauses for a photo along the route with Las Musas a group of five best friends whose love and commitment to each other deeply inspired her One of my favorite encounters was with the Musas a group of five best friends whose love and commitment to each other deeply inspired me one of them had been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer she made a manda — a sacred vow — to walk the Camino if she recovered her friends upheld her vow and walked with her My pilgrimage was more than a physical journey — it was a deep spiritual communion with my fellow travelers I hold my pilgrim experience in my heart as a powerful lesson in the beauty of the journey My pilgrimage began in 2011 as I discerned religious life I embrace the call to be a "Pilgrim of Hope" with my church remain open to the wild and exciting journey where the Holy Spirit leads Scenic views along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela (Courtesy of Ana González) Photo taken along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela (Courtesy of Ana González) Pilgrims reach the end of their journey at Santiago de Compostela Pilgrims walk together along the road to Santiago de Compostela we do so with the awareness that we follow in the footsteps of many generations before us and hold in prayer those who will come after us. Our pilgrimage will lead us through diverse landscapes and bring us into communion with fellow travelers who will share in our joys I am challenged to walk with my faith community — not rushing which calls us to recognize God's presence in all creation and our responsibility as sojourners to be good stewards in our journey Our Jubilee Year begins with a single step and a wide-open door That step launches us into a pilgrimage of prayer guided by the wisdom of those who have come before us The focus of this pilgrimage is not the number of steps we take but the encounters and mutual accompaniment along the way The heart of our pilgrimage of hope lies in what happens between each step May our hearts and minds remain open to transformative grace we will encounter along our journey May we recognize the divine presence in every step we take During this Jubilee Year may we remain attentive to the unfolding richness of our pilgrimage toward a future filled with hope then enter your email address and click "subscribe" Global Sisters Report Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. Fernando Pascullo via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).SubscribeThe local pilgrims’ office, which is run by Santiago de Compostela Cathedral announced that it recorded 499,239 pilgrims in 2024 up from 446,035 pilgrims the previous year Last year’s numbers had also marked a record-high year for pilgrims at the famous pilgrimage site which continues to enjoy a resurgence following the COVID pandemic which saw only 54,143 pilgrims registered in 2020 Pilgrims to the site travel mainly on foot along ancient routes known as the Camino de Santiago The routes converge on Santiago de Compostela Cathedral Along the routes, pilgrims collect stamps on a document known as the Credencial del Peregrino, or pilgrim passport. When they arrive in Santiago de Compostela, they visit the pilgrims’ reception office, where they present the document and receive a “Compostela,” or certificate confirming that they have completed the pilgrimage Pilgrims flocked to Santiago de Compostela from all over the world last year but Spain accounted for by far the largest share The United States saw the next largest contingent of pilgrims The vast majority of visitors - 425,043 – travelled on foot Smaller numbers of pilgrims chose more unusual means of travel: 591 people came on horseback and 272 on boat The number of Camino pilgrims has risen steadily over the past three decades, with spikes in years that are designated as Jacobean Holy Years The last Compostela Holy Year was in 2021–2022 (extended due to the pandemic) and the next will be in 2027 the Camino attracted tens of thousands of pilgrims per year but it began to draw more than 100,000 people regularly after 2006 It passed the 200,000 mark in 2013 and 300,000 in 2017 James is the not the only pilgrimage site to attract large numbers of visitors as international travel picks up following the COVID pandemic The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southwestern France and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City have also seen strong pilgrim numbers in recent years National Geographic magazine predicted in 2021 that pilgrimages could be “the next post-COVID travel trend.” ReplyShare1 reply4 more comments...LatestNo posts Nearly half a million pilgrims visited Santiago de Compostela in 2024, marking a new record for the popular pilgrimage site in northwestern Spain. Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. Fernando Pascullo via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Subscribe now The local pilgrims\u2019 office, which is run by Santiago de Compostela Cathedral Last year\u2019s numbers had also marked a record-high year for pilgrims at the famous pilgrimage site Along the routes, pilgrims collect stamps on a document known as the Credencial del Peregrino, or pilgrim passport. When they arrive in Santiago de Compostela, they visit the pilgrims\u2019 reception office, where they present the document and receive a \u201CCompostela,\u201D or certificate confirming that they have completed the pilgrimage The vast majority of visitors - 425,043 \u2013 travelled on foot The number of Camino pilgrims has risen steadily over the past three decades, with spikes in years that are designated as Jacobean Holy Years The last Compostela Holy Year was in 2021\u20132022 (extended due to the pandemic) and the next will be in 2027 National Geographic magazine predicted in 2021 that pilgrimages could be \u201Cthe next post-COVID travel trend.\u201D Subscribe now Archbishop Julian Barrio Barrio enters the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Pope Francis wrote a letter to the archbishop to mark the opening of the door The Holy Year is celebrated in Santiago de Compostela in years when the July 25 feast of St (CNS Photo/courtesy Archdiocese of Santiago) 20210105T1215-POPE-SANTIAGO-MESSAGE-1012088crop.jpg Archbishop Julian Barrio Barrio and other prelates celebrate a service marking the opening of the Holy Door Dec at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela 20210105T1215-POPE-SANTIAGO-MESSAGE-1012090crop.jpg Pilgrims who embark on the long journey of the Camino to Santiago de Compostela remind others of the spiritual journey all Christians make through life toward heaven In a letter marking the opening of the Holy Door at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela the pope said that just like countless pilgrims who embark on the famed Camino toward the tomb of St Christians are “a pilgrim people” who do not travel toward “a utopic ideal but rather a concrete goal.” “The pilgrim is capable of placing himself or herself in God’s hands aware that the promised homeland is present in the one who wished to make camp amid his people to guide their journey,” the pope wrote in the letter sent to Archbishop Julian Barrio Barrio of Santiago de Compostela and published Dec The Holy Year is celebrated in Compostela in years when the July 25 feast of the apostle falls on a Sunday The most recent Holy Year was observed in 2010 pilgrims have traveled along the famed Camino de Santiago de Compostela to venerate the remains of St the pope reflected on the theme of walking on pilgrimage Just like many pilgrims who have embarked on the Camino Christians are called to leave behind “those securities to which we tie ourselves but still having our goal clear; we are not vagabonds who go around in circles without going anywhere.” “It is the voice of the Lord who calls us and we welcome him with an attitude of listening and searching taking this journey toward the encounter with God with the other and with ourselves,” he wrote Walking also symbolizes conversion in that it is an “existential experience in which the goal is just as important as the journey itself,” he wrote Pope Francis said that pilgrims who travel along the Camino often travel with or find companions along the way whom they can trust “without suspicions or doubts” and who share in their “struggles and achievements.” carrying things one thought would be useful but it ends with an empty backpack and a heart full of experiences that stands in contrast to and in tune with the lives of other brothers and sisters who come from different existential and cultural contexts,” the pope wrote “is a lesson that should accompany us our whole lives.” Arlington Catholic Herald200 N. Glebe Rd.Suite 615Arlington, VA 22203703-841-2590800-377-0511 Website Design and Development by New Target Suchaillou is a small shelter embedded within a rocky outcrop along the French section of the Santiago de Compostela route The project is designed by the collaborative effort of Constance Guisset Studio Referencing the surrounding geological formations the structure is integrated into the natural terrain and positioned slightly off the main path to offer a discreet resting point within the landscape The shelter is constructed using dry-stone techniques and phonolite corbelling drawing from local construction traditions and materials Its creation involved a collaborative process that included regional artisans such as François Januel and carpenter David Michel as well as stone supplied by the Pertuis quarry Additional contributions came from local residents students from Yssingeaux Agricultural College facilitating observation of the surrounding terrain Suchaillou is part of Fenêtres sur le paysage, an art trail coordinated by Derrière le Hublot in partnership with the Agence française des chemins de Compostelle The project receives support from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region including the European Regional Development Fund and the LEADER program a shelter embedded in a rocky outcrop along the Camino in Haute-Loire Suchaillou offers a discreet stop along the Santiago de Compostela route the structure is shaped by local geological forms and terrain a phonolite gong designed by Lucie Delmas introduces an interactive acoustic feature integrated box seats provide shelter and space for belongings built using dry-stone techniques and traditional phonolite corbelling shot-blasted glass oculus brings soft daylight and sky views materials sourced from the Pertuis quarry reflect regional construction methods regional artisans and students contributed to the building process the shelter is slightly offset from the main path an orientation table invites observation of the surrounding terrain Lucie Delmas designed a nearby fountain integrated into the site the fountain is made using locally-sourced stones Suchaillou blends functional refuge with sculptural landscape intervention designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here. edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style ACCIONA has brought into service the 11.7-kilometer Melide - Palas de Rei interchange (Galicia) section of the A-54 highway between Lugo and Santiago de Compostela of the 94 kilometers that make up the road the sections from Lugo to Palas de Rei and from Arzúa to Santiago are in operation 16.4 kilometers remain to be completed between the towns of Melide and Arzúa which connects to the AC-840 regional road which connects the expressway to the N-547 highway via a local road The section also includes a total of 18 structures Seco and Pambre Rivers; two over the Vilar and San Xulian streams and a final viaduct over the “Serra do Careón” Site of Community Important (SCI) to avoid impacting an area where the “santolina melidensis” plant is found four underpasses and a 270-meter wall at the Melide Sur interchange The most remarkable of these structures is the Pambre Viaduct which has a maximum height of 32.85 meters and a length of 977 meters making it the longest in the province of Lugo With a single deck and 16 spans (distance between the supporting points of the viaduct) it currently holds the Spanish record for the length of a span built by self-shoring (a type of special formwork that stands by itself without the need for external supports) the planned section runs along the Pilgrim’s Way to Santiago de Compostela which has influenced the design of certain aspects of the new highway such as the length and layout of the Pambre viaduct I accept Information on data protection In compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on Data Protection and with other Data Protection regulations in force you are hereby informed that your personal data shall be processed by Acciona whose identification data are as follows: Tax ID No (NIF): A08001851; Address: Avenida de la Gran Vía de Hortaleza No.: +34 91 663 28 50; email: protecciondedatos@acciona.com Your data shall be processed in order to send you information through the subscription to our Newsletter through electronic means activities and news pertinent to our activity sectors The consent given by the data subject by indicating that they have read and accept this data protection information comprises the lawfulness of processing the subscription Request cannot be satisfied We may also process your satisfaction or preferences Data shall be stored until the elimination is requested we may give access to your data to service providers (such as technology service providers) who assist us in fulfilling this purpose may be located outside of the European Economic Area in territories that do not offer a level of data protection that is comparable to that of the European Union we transfer User data with appropriate safeguards and always ensuring the security of the same The data subject can exercise their rights of access to or rectification and/or the restriction of or objection to the processing of such data by writing the Department of Data Protection located at Avenida de la Gran Vía de Hortaleza 28033 (Madrid) or by sending the form available in the link: FORM If we consider it necessary in order to be able to identify you, we may ask you for a copy of an identity document. Furthermore, at any time the data subject may withdraw the granted consent by contacting the aforementioned address and file a claim to the Supervisory Authority (Agencia Española de Protección de Datos www.aepd.es) You can also unsubscribe from the Newsletter communication For any further information you can visit the Privacy Police on the website https://www.acciona.com/privacy-policy/ Sexual aggression said to be ‘endemic’ on route through Spain Portugal and France with solo female pilgrims at risk Lone female pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago have spoken of being subjected to “terrifying” sexual harassment in near-deserted areas of rural Spain, Portugal and France nine women alleged they had experienced harassment while attempting the pilgrimage route over the past five years with several saying they had feared for their lives Seven of the women said they had encountered men in Spain and Portugal who were masturbating or touching themselves one of whom went on to chase the pilgrim through the countryside Another woman said she had fended off unwanted touching and lewd comments from several men while the ninth woman said a man had pulled up in a van as she walked and urged her to get in The incidents usually took place as the women were walking alone along remote stretches of the Camino Lorena Gaibor, the founder of Camigas, an online forum that has been connecting female pilgrims since 2015, said the reports were shocking but not surprising. “Sexual harassment is endemic on the Camino. It feels very common. Every freaking year we get reports of women experiencing the same things,” she said. said she was walking through a forested route in Portugal earlier this summer when she came across a man with no trousers on who was masturbating as he watched her The local police did not pick up when she tried to call them who asked that her full name not be published “I just felt completely alone at that point.” making her realise her unique vulnerability as a lone female pilgrim so physically challenging and so mentally challenging,” she said “But there is this extra element that female hikers face which completely affects your whole ability to face those other challenges or enjoy it in the way that other people do.” A pilgrim approaches Castrojeriz in Castilla v León More than 230,000 women are said to have walked the Camino last year Photograph: Nick Hatton/AlamyIn recent years the popularity of the various pilgrimage routes collectively known as the Camino de Santiago has soared Last year a record 446,000 people walked the Camino the Spanish central government’s representative in Galicia and many of them didn’t hesitate to do it on their own,” he recently told reporters self-described adventurer and feminist writer said there was insufficient discussion of the risks that female pilgrims faced “These routes are said to be safe for women and there’s a taboo around saying anything different,” she said In 2019, as Albert walked 435 miles (700km) across northern Spain to reach Santiago de Compostela, she documented a number of aggressions At times her aggressors were pilgrims who were walking the same route as her leaving her panicked that she would again cross paths with them Of the nine women who spoke to the Guardian In only one case was the perpetrator located and prosecuted Free newsletterA digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day In 2021 the Spanish government launched a safety campaign that has since expanded to 1,600 points across Galicia where female pilgrims can access information in several languages on how to contact emergency services Johnnie Walker, one of the admins behind the Camino de Santiago All Routes Group, a social media forum that counts more than 450,000 members said there had long been frustration over the lack of statistics even as efforts to combat these incidents had been stepped up so have reports of men exposing themselves to pilgrims,” he said “In response the Guardia Civil has stepped up patrols on a number of routes.” His forum has long advised pilgrims in Spain to download the AlertCops app which allows pilgrims to contact police directly “There’s always the balance to be struck between warning women and causing alarm,” he said a few of us feel that this issue now needs to be addressed more forcibly and coherently across the country.” Police in Portugal said that since 2023 they had received five reports from pilgrims all of them related to incidents of exhibitionism None of the suspects were identified and no arrests were made police had stepped up patrols along various routes in Portugal in order to better protect pilgrims Police in Spain and France as well as the interior ministries of those countries were also approached for comment but did not respond When asked whether there was an official tally of pilgrims who had reported incidents of harassment in the past five years the Spanish central government’s delegation in Galicia said in a statement that it was not aware of any cases of sexual aggression involving female pilgrims It pointed to a series of initiatives aimed at protecting pilgrims including specific police patrols along routes and an established protocol that requires security forces to be dispatched each time a call comes in from a pilgrim This article was amended on 11 November 2024 to remove details about a kidnap and rape allegation in 2018 Phone: 216-696-6525 Toll Free: 1-800-869-6525 Address: 1404 East 9th Street, Cleveland, OH 44114   Share this Page and reflect on what’s been accomplished over the past year reflection was certainly a summer priority but slowing down to do it was far from his mind Daniel set out from Saint Jean Pied de Port in France as a pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago the Camino or the Way dates back to the 9th century following the footsteps of Christian pilgrims who journeyed through the Iberian Peninsula to the burial place of St While pilgrims traveled to Santiago de Compostela to reverence the remains of St the Way and their journey to this holy site was as important as any finish line in Santiago “The journey is where human growth happens growth happens when we’re stretched beyond being comfortable It’s at these moments when we have the opportunity to grow into the best versions of ourselves — the people God is calling us to be,” said Liberatore “Arriving in Santiago de Compostela at the tomb of St I’m filled with abundant gratitude.” Of the possessions Daniel brought with him the book of daily prayers of the Catholic Church James himself may have taken with him as he set out to preach the Gospel of Jesus no money in their belt—but to wear sandals…” (Mark 6:7-9) The journey afforded Daniel the opportunity to experience in a new and profound way God’s unconditional love and recognize what one truly needs to live a joyful in the people I met along the Way—God surrounded me with blessings is so great that nothing we do can separate us from Him and peace lies in an encounter with Christ in our journey to experience the depths of Christ’s love.” Click on the photo above to view a slideshow of Daniel’s pilgrim journey please contact local law enforcement and: Kathleen McComb Response Services – 216-334-2999 Home - The Church - Pope Francis gives reflection on the Camino de Santiago before a group of pilgrims They traveled to the Vatican accompanied by the Archbishop of Compostela and the Guanellian Fathers who assist travelers at the end of the pilgrimage.The Pope met with a large group of Italian pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. They were accompanied by the Archbishop of Santiago and the Guanelli Fathers, who have been caring for walkers on this spiritual journey for years. The Pope reflected on the inner experience of making the Camino. POPE FRANCISThe pilgrimage is made by re-reading the path that Jesus took, to the extreme gift of self. The path is all the more true, all the more Christian, the more it leads us to go out from ourselves and give ourselves freely, in the service of our neighbor. Pope Francis said he was pleasantly surprised to see the high number of pilgrims who walked to Santiago in the last 30 years and remembered his predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who were also in Compostela. Among those present was also the Archbishop of Santiago. 2024Photo: Víctor Nuño / Getty ImagesSave this storySaveSave this storySave“Tu mochila es tan pesada como tus miedos,” says Leonardo San Sebastián as he lifts the bottom of my backpack to check its weight We’re standing before the Santuario de Santa María a Real do Cebreiro thatched-roof church located in a mountaintop town that feels more likely to be in Ireland than in Galicia an autonomous region in northwestern Spain I enter the building and make an offering before lighting a candle within a red votive holder then take a seat in one of the old wooden pews to contemplate the last several days spent hiking the Camino de Santiago which has left my feet and legs tired and sore but has given me hundreds of hours to be with myself and my thoughts amid rolling fields of poppy and wheat Photo: Michaela TrimbleGuided by the experts of Mountain Travel Sobek I’m walking the Camino Frances route of the Camino de Santiago a network of paths that weaves through the South of France and nearly every stretch of Spain and leads to Santiago de Compostela I’m not participating in the walk for religious reasons a calling of curiosity to learn more about the world’s great pilgrimages and why people do them I’ve had the opportunity to experience cultural rites of passages around the world from walking parts of the Kumano Kodo in Japan with a practicing monk to participating in the Qoyllur Rit’i walk in Peru to celebrate the reappearance of the Pleiades constellation in the sky I’m fascinated by the transformative power of a singular destination shared among many: when hundreds it creates a certain type of momentum—like magic A desire to feel what that meant for people walking the Camino de Santiago drew me to this pilgrimage Photo: Michaela TrimbleOriginally from the Basque Country Leonardo is one of the three guides leading me along my two-week journey along the Camino Frances one of the most popular routes of the Camino de Santiago Given that my bags were already transported to the next hotel he’s wondering what I have in my backpack that could weigh so much and nods to the greater meaning of a journey like walking the Camino de Santiago: The more fear we have whether alluding to the gear in a backpack or the fears and anxieties we hold as we move through life No matter which route travelers choose to take where the trails come together at the town’s eponymous Romanesque cathedral a structure completed in the early 1200s and believed to hold the tomb of the apostle St When the tomb was purportedly discovered in the 9th century the town and its cathedral became one of the most important Christian pilgrimage sites in Europe leading to the creation of the Camino de Santiago While each route has its unique history and heritage the Camino Frances has been the most popular trail since the Middle Ages and is about 500 miles Given that I only have a few weeks to spare a village on the French side of the Basque Pyrenees I’ve already crossed from France into Spain and walked along the historical Pass of Roncesvalles I’ve crossed through the oak and beech forests of the Erro Valley arriving in Pamplona before setting off for the 9th-century city of Burgos on the Rio Arlanzon beyond seemingly endless fields of billowing wheat and poppies home to one of the most famous Gothic-style cathedrals in Spain I’ve walked down country roads lined with vineyards until crossing into Galicia for the final stretch of the journey Photo: Michaela TrimbleJust a day away from reaching Santiago de Compostela tells me why he chose to dedicate his life to leading travelers along the Camino de Santiago until he had a fall that nearly left him paralyzed During his three-month stay in the hospital he began to form a unique view of the Virgin Mary He promised her he would dedicate his life to doing what he does today if she let him walk again The walk he’s leading me on marks his 127th journey “The Camino de Santiago is special that way Many people do it at significant turning points in their lives: graduation “Many pilgrims walk because their path forward is unclear Through days of silence and time alone in nature Photo: Michaela TrimbleThough the trail is a Catholic rite of passage most people I meet aren’t walking for that reason alone are stepping out of one phase of life and entering another One woman I met told me she talked to her late husband during her entire walk feeling his spirit near her throughout her journey he didn’t know how much longer he would be able to do such an athletic feat I felt like I had a chance to process my last relationships I hadn’t given myself much time between them and I thought about my contribution to where things had gone wrong Photo: Michaela TrimbleWalking the Camino de Santiago taught me many lessons Sometimes it’s a pleasure to trip past undulating fields of wildflowers and other times it’s a slog of rainy days where the path ahead is barely visible it likely means there’s unknown beauty ahead—usually in the form of a rainbow smeared across the sky above a distant valley I’ve yet had the joy to know The Danish Home Lighting Trend That Can Improve Your Mental Health In America’s Cities, Saunas Are Becoming the Hottest Social Spot Millie Bobby Brown Shares Her Favorite Paella Recipe—and Details About Her Wedding to Jake Bongiovi A Day-by-Day Guide to Hiking the Legendary Nakasendo Trail in Japan Never miss a Vogue moment and get unlimited digital access for just $2 $1 per month Oct 15, 2015 / Written by: Andrea F. Phillips 2015 two pilgrims arrived in Santiago de Compostela a work colleague and I did not walk with pilgrims who yearly make the famous “Way of Santiago de Compostela” or “El Camino” we helped deliver 14,108 red roses and more than 6,000 white roses to the Fatima Shrine in the name of a multitude of ANF Rosary Rally Captains and supporters It was a dream of Cyndee’s to make the “Camino” and I had long heard of the famous shrine and burial place of the great apostle of Spain James was martyred in Jerusalem in 44 A.D. and his body was immediately translated back to Spain where he had preached the Gospel of his Divine Master History having erased the memory of the place of the saint’s burial in 813 a shepherd boy saw a star that guided him to his tomb; hence “Compostela” or “Field of the Star” A cathedral was erected over the place where the apostle’s body was discovered two non-Spanish-speaking-just-arrived-by-bus pilgrims handing the taxi driver a slip of paper with the address to San Martino Pinario Hotel San Martino turned out to be a sixteenth century stone building lounge and patio-garden – bonus: directly across from the Cathedral of Santiago or St I noticed teenagers walking along the streets in band uniforms looking out of my ancient stone-recessed window we watched a procession of altar servers emerge from the cathedral holding aloft a float with a beautiful statue of Saint Teresa of Avila which wound through the cobbled streets for forty minutes to the prayerful cadence of the Rosary I finally discovered we were headed for the Carmelite Convent where the “Big Flower” as the Spaniards lovingly call their Teresa was crowned in honor of her 500th anniversary which was being celebrated on her feast day that very day and hour (October 15 And so privileged to have “crashed” such an auspicious celebration It felt like a special blessing after so many that week was the Pilgrims’ Mass where the famous incensor or thurible called “Botafumeiro” (Flame Thrower) is used Six men dressed in rich maroon cloaks worked in unison to swing the huge thurible so high that it almost touched the soaring ceiling of the cathedral as it delivered clouds of incense we met many people from all over the world from Denmark to New Zealand They all had come to walk or bicycle the “Camino” but all there for the same reason: looking for God spiritual experience they had while walking the Way of St the walk was an experience that brought them closer to God and gave them a better understanding of self pilgrims hailing from California/Atlanta/Fatima And considering we had just been to Fatima to deliver thousands of roses to Our Lady arriving for the celebration of the “Big Flower” felt like a not-so-far-fetched bonus blessing A pilgrimage site that holds a special place in the hearts of Catholics is the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Teresa of Avila about her talking to a statue of St who would report everything the nuns had done during her absence October 15: Teresa was brought up by her saintly father Several books were written by Teresa which give an account of her spiritual life She is known as "The Big Flower." A beautiful prayer for the Church composed by St Teresa of Avila I want to help America Needs Fatima spread the Fatima message The yellow arrow represents hope and the determination to continue spent her annual retreat on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela View Author Profile one can try to learn to live in a state of war even while knowing that the next missile or deadly drone might hit your home or your loved ones' homes at any time we have been running a marathon for survival And while two years ago there was still some hope in our hearts that this nightmare would end sooner or later I've noticed that we all share a common experience What once evoked surprise or emotion now barely touches our hearts service and sacrifice become compelling evidence that God is love We find ourselves less interested in hearing answers to questions we no longer ask; that is why we choose annual retreats that offer more silence and focus A backpack with the Ukrainian flag and Camino shell stands in front of Porto Cathedral the starting point of the Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago I live in a district of Kyiv that endures the largest number of Russian missiles and drones with explosives every night Everything around my house is constantly on fire Sometimes the air raid sirens don't stop all night you have to hide between the walls of the corridor or bathroom When news of the dead and wounded comes from all sides you can't help but thank God for the gift of your own life You begin to appreciate this life and even start to see it differently Perhaps the most tragic experience was when a Russian missile struck the children's hospital Okhmatdyt It's only 500 meters from my workplace and on my way home we heard explosions and the sounds of air defense and we read on our phones that this time the victims were sick children who You can't get used to something like this; it surpasses any notions of human cruelty it raises many questions about the meaning of life and death What struck me most was how people came from all directions to help clear the rubble It was a manifestation of love and solidarity that spoke more powerfully than any sermon There is indeed more goodness than evil in the world even when it sometimes feels like I am living in the very depths of hell Tweet this When the time came for my annual retreat, I chose an unconventional method of spiritual therapy. I needed to recover, reflect, and spend time alone with myself and God. I also wanted to pray and offer my small sacrifices in the pierced heart of Jesus, fervently asking for the war to end as soon as possible. I decided to embark on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela I planned it so that each day I could meditate on the letter of St pray the rosary and participate in celebration of the Eucharist It wasn't easy to walk 30 kilometers (19 miles) every day There were days when I had no dry clothes left felt every step and I pressed on my own blisters They sleep in bunkers and bravely hold their positions in the cold I prayed for the doctors and volunteers on the front lines they fully embody Jesus' commandment of love My thoughts were with those who have lost loved ones and friends to this cruel war Their grief can never be diminished or fully understood While staying in albergues (hostels) I woke at the slightest sound during the first few nights I felt as if I could hear explosions and needed to urgently seek shelter And when planes took off from the nearby airport I dreamed of a sky over Ukraine that would finally be clear and peaceful free from deadly missiles and fighter jets She waIked 30 kilometers (19 miles) every day sometimes in heavy rain or unbearable heat I felt grateful when pilgrims from different countries approached me along the way to talk They saw the blue and yellow flag on my backpack and wanted to express that they remember our pain warm hugs and words of support felt like messages from God: "I am here I love you!" Each act of solidarity was like a prayer being heard but it clearly highlights the light against the darkness I arrived in Santiago tired but very happy James' martyrdom in the Holy Land placed his body in a boat which sailed to the town of Padrón on the coast of Galicia from where the relics were transferred to Santiago de Compostela His love is stronger than any suffering and death And although I would soon have to return to the harshness of war I was filled with hope that God would surely ignite His campus stellae (field of stars) over Ukraine Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon The best of Time Out straight to your inbox We help you navigate a myriad of possibilities Sign up for our newsletter for the best of the city By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush) By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. Worldwide the Camino de Santiago is the most renowned long-distance trail on Earth The Camino de Santiago is featured on Time Out's list of the world's best hikes for 2025 I’d heard about it two years prior from a friend who’d recently been on pilgrimage ‘It’s this 500-mile walk across Spain,’ he said ‘You get to see the entire country’s landscape change before you and drink amazing wine and there’s hostels all along the way especially for pilgrims that serve huge meals for super cheap and you’ll meet so many incredible people from all around the world.’ it was the phrase 500-mile walk that enamoured me A month-long self-guided hike along a well-frequented path sounded like a doable challenge and the convenience of an affordable trip to Europe made it perfect for my first-ever solo international journey The walk he’d been speaking about was the Camino Francés One of many Caminos de Santiago – literally Ways of Saint James – this one begins in the French Pyrenees and evergreen highlands on its way to northwest Spain making it the most popular route among the year’s 400,000 peregrinos on record like the Camino Portugués and the Camino del Norte while the Camino de Madrid and Vía de la Plata pass fortified Arabesque hilltop cities and the inland plains separating the north from southern commercial centres While it’s known today as a Catholic pilgrimage the Way existed long before the Church enshrined what it claimed were James the Apostle’s remains at Santiago de Compostela it served as a route to Finisterre – or Land’s End – on the Atlantic coast where Druids and Romans prayed to their own gods Pilgrims who’d tasted the sea’s salty air carried scallop shells back home shell markings guide travelers along their journey and I heard of enchantments like a fountain that runs with wine and an iron cross that makes the weight you carry lighter I then drank from that fountain and lightened my load but thanks to its 2,000-year heritage as a spiritual quest even witless walkers like me who think they’ve come for mere sport can’t avoid the Camino’s profound experiences I’ve yet to meet a pilgrim who’s not felt their sense of self shifted by the time they reached the Pórtico da Gloria where the road ends the Camino did not challenge me against the wilderness Despite trying every preventative measure imaginable and each day I had to make the painful decision to keep walking knowing it’d be my own demise if I carried too much baggage it’s become possible to ship your backpack along daily for a nominal fee but I’d argue this easy out is environmentally unsustainable and denies you the transformative reward of letting go of your burdens once you reach Santiago The Camino’s wonders outweighed its woes Or receiving a homemade meal from someone who didn’t even speak my language Or stumbling upon an open-air farmhouse where modern-day nomads lived off the land and a place to rest in their bedouin shelter While intrinsically contemplative (most pilgrims walk 10–20 miles a day) but on a long and lonesome road where everyone had the same destination I couldn’t help spilling my secrets to strangers Time warped while walking eight-hour stretches together Days turned into lifetimes and strangers into age-old friends A retiree from Basque once found a hat I’d lost and carried it for two weeks until our paths crossed again While wearing low-top shoes that squished my toes I met a girl with the same size feet whose wide-toed boots were bruising her ankles — when we swapped we were like two Cinderellas who’d found their Prince Charmings Whether you walk with a deeper purpose or not On my first Camino – coming from a skeptical atheology – I found myself believing in a higher power: I’d experienced too many happy coincidences for there not to have been someone testing our ardour against the arduous road I set off with a fellowship of pilgrims whose tribe mentality pushed me to break out on my own Each Camino taught me its own lesson of trust – in God We peregrinos often remind each other: ‘Everyone must walk their own Camino,’ and if you you’ll create your own challenges and bring your own worries But there are so many people to help you along the way So much timeless tradition in which to enrobe yourself there is the unparalleled strength of body and peace of mind when you reach Santiago Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out Travel newsletter for all the latest travel news.   Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! tiktokfacebooktwitteryoutubeAbout us Contact us This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page This thousand-year-old network of pilgrim trails takes you from the French Pyrenees to the rugged Basque Coast.. Dani is Much Better Adventures' Deputy Editor and the author of a novel She's interested in helping everyone find their inner adventurer More posts by Dani Redd interconnected network of ancient pilgrimage routes stretching across Europe and is walked by around 440,000 hikers each year These routes converge at the tomb of Saint James the Apostle located in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela the flat plains of La Meseta and the green hills of Galicia The Camino Francés is part of a 932-mile (1,500km) stretch of the Camino network which has a UNESCO designation thanks in large part to the infrastructure which has been developed to cater to the needs of pilgrims over the centuries This includes everything from churches to albergues which are rustic inns with dormitory-style accommodation that pilgrims still use today “Each pilgrim brings their own motivations to the Camino,” writes Tiffany Gagliardi Trotman in her essay collection, ‘Walking the Camino de Santiago’ “Some seek purely to engage in adventure travel along a well-accommodated route; some are looking for answers There are those aware of the Catholic faith’s promise that completing the pilgrimage can absolve them of one-third of their sins (or the entirety if it’s a Holy Year) the Camino pilgrimage is unique to every individual.” The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela - also known as the ‘Way of Saint James’- has been popular among Christians for well over 1,000 years It is believed that the remains of Jesus’ apostle James are buried under the main altar of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral the apostle James preached on the Iberian Peninsula before returning to Jerusalem in 44CE where he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa - leading to his martyrdom his disciples put him on a boat which sailed across the Mediterranean to Padrón provided a small tomb for him to be buried when it was discovered by a hermit known as Pelagius The local bishop declared the remains to be of Saint James (known in Spanish as Santiago) ‘Compostela’ is a word deriving from the Latin ‘componere’ (“to bury”) or ‘compositum’ (“cemetery”) - so Santiago de Compostela means ‘the burial place of Saint James’ The simple church was replaced with the cathedral we know today Just as with the creation of modern hiking trails infrastructure sprung up to cater to the needs of pilgrims like bridges over rivers - unlocking access to remote towns - inns and shops which provided economic benefit to local communities (and continue to do so) Today’s pilgrims have a similar experience to their medieval counterparts traversing wind-battered coastlines and meandering through quiet forests They’ll be hiking up to 20 miles (32km) a day carrying everything they need with them on their backs Medieval pilgrims carried letters of conduct (which showed they were a pilgrim and asked for safe passage from thieves and other trouble makers) - while contemporary pilgrims have the updated Pilgrim Passport or ‘credencial del peregrino’ This is a document where you can collect stamps from churches and other landmarks; it’s used to get access to the albergues and to serve as proof of journey so you can receive a completion certificate when you reach Santiago the main Caminos are marked with scallop shell waymarkers The scallop shell is one of the most iconic symbols of the Camino its grooves representing the different routes as they converge upon Santiago de Compostela There are numerous legends associated with the scallop shell including that the body of St James was washed overboard during a storm enroute to Spain - it was found unscathed on the shoreline There are more than 200 recognised camino routes across Europe the best-known are the Camino Francés (which is hiked by 49% of pilgrims) and the Camino Portugués Camino Inglés and the Camino Primitivo are also relatively well known and each is hiked by around 5% of pilgrims each year (that’s around 20,000 people) The most popular and well-known of the Camino routes Beginning in the town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France you’ll cross the Pyrenees and descend into Spain You’ll cross through the vineyards of La Rioja the vast plateau of La Meseta; climb over the Montes de León mountains before crossing into the province of Galicia and finishing in Santiago de Compostela you’ll pass through numerous cultural landmarks including the city of Pamplona Logroño (the cultural capital of La Rioja) and the historic Templar castle of Ponferrada The Camino Francés is hiked by around 220,000 pilgrims a year The final 69 miles (111km) of the route from Sarria to Santiago is particularly popular and other Caminos join onto this final section Its popularity means that this route is well-signposted and has good infrastructure If you’re looking for camaraderie along the trail begins in Lisbon and travels north towards the final destination of Santiago diverse landscapes and cultural highlights (it passes through three UNESCO designated cities; Lisbon you'll trace the path of the River Tejo inland as it winds through vineyards and cornfields You’ll follow old Roman roads through shady forests to the medieval capital of Coimbra there’s the option to continue alongside the River Miño to the historic town of Tui or to do a variant tracing the picturesque Portuguese coast you’ll rejoin the main path in the Spanish town of Redondela to hike to the end point of Santiago The Camino del Norte begins in the town of San Sebastián and traces the northern coast of Spain to Santiago You’ll hike across the verdant hills of the Basque Country the rugged coastline and unspoilt fishing villages of Cantabria and Asturias You’ll pass through historic towns like Gernika through the forests and farmland of rural Galicia towards Santiago This is considered one of the more difficult Camino routes hilly terrain and cool northern climate (especially in the more exposed coastal areas) it’s within the grasp of experienced hikers This was the route initially used by pilgrims from the UK and Ireland who would sail to the northern Spanish port town of Ferrol The first couple of days are spent tracing the coastline to the town of Betanzos - from here you’ll head inland through the green hills of Galicia One major attraction of the Camino Inglés is its length - it can be completed in under a week - and the fact it never gets too busy; unlike some of the other caminos this route doesn’t join onto the busy Camino Francés as it draws towards Santiago The Camino Primitivo is the oldest documented Camino first used in the 9th century by King Alfonso II to visit the recently discovered tomb of St James the route crosses the Cantabrian Mountains - including an ascent to the summit of Puerto del Palo (1,146m/3,759ft) - to reach the town of Lugo From Lugo the terrain becomes less mountainous and the climate milder as you descend through forests and peaceful villages the Camino Primitivo is considered the most difficult path It’s hiked by only 5% of pilgrims each year meaning it’s the route to choose for quiet trails and mountain views A lesser-known camino taking you from Ribadeo on the northern coast of Spain and taking you west along the coastline towards Ferrol you can hike the Camino Inglés towards Santiago (which takes an extra four to five days) and hike across rugged clifftops jutting into the ocean Considering that this route hugs the coast it’s also possible to kayak stretches of it It’s the ideal Camino for those wanting a multi-activity journey or who want to get more off the beaten track - you’ll be sharing the route with very few other hikers so you'll definitely need a map or guidebook What Camino Route to hike depends very much on your time commitments and preferences If you’re a first time hiker of the Camino looking to integrate within a trail community we’d recommend all or part of the most popular route we’d suggest the Camino del Norte through the mountains of Northern Spain And if you’d like to get off the beaten path check out the Camino del Mar across the unspoilt Galician coast Inspired? Check out our Camino de Santiago walking and kayaking adventure and our Hike, Bike & Wine in Spain's Basque Country Adventure (where you can hike a section of the Camino) we probe the fundamental structure of particles that make up everything around us We do so using the world's largest and most complex scientific instruments Know more The Higgs Boson The W boson The Z boson The Large Hadron Collider The Birth of the web Antimatter Latest news Media News The research programme at CERN covers topics from kaons to cosmic rays and from the Standard Model to supersymmetry See all resources The exhibition Instruments of Vision comprises photographs and videos taken by Armin Linke during visits to experimental facilities such as CERN or the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (L'Aquila or the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (Vienna Armin Linke has produced images that portray some of the work pursued by staff from the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE) at CERN The photographs show how the scientific community has generated very complex instruments that allow us to observe and understand how the most fundamental elements of matter work These photographs are enriched by the unique location of the exhibition which is on display at Igrexa da Universidade a baroque church at the heart of the old town Linke invites visitors to witness spaces of research where various kinds of instruments or components – such as parts of particle detectors data processors archival images – can be found His work captures the dynamic nature of laboratories highlighting often overlooked elements and scenes in which physicists become intertwined with the precise instruments that underpin scientific inquiry These activities are depicted not merely as isolated scientific endeavours but as integral components of a broader social and cultural composition reflecting the interconnectedness of science CERN science and history are explored in three interviews with key voices in the community: Maria Fidecaro an experimental physicist and one of the first female scientists at CERN one of the founding fathers of ATLAS and a former spokesperson of the experiment.The three physicists shared with the artist their views on the development of detector and imaging technologies at CERN and the role these technologies play in advancing particle physics.  “Breakthroughs in physics over the past decades guided by complex instrumentation and sophisticated experiments have transformed our understanding of fundamental concepts such as matter our understanding deepens and becomes more diverse inviting everyone to participate in an intellectual and creative exchange that takes place across disciplines” Head of Arts at CERN and curator of the exhibition Instruments of Vision opens on 21 June and runs until 28 August 2024 The exhibition commemorates the 25th anniversary of IGFAE and the 70th anniversary of CERN IGFAE and Arts at CERN join forces to promote new models of dialogue between artists and scientists at the laboratories More Social Media Accounts By 2024-07-30T05:00:00+01:00 SPAIN: It was ‘incomprehensible’ that a high speed line equipped with ERTMS would not have it installed at a location where a speed restriction meant it was so obviously required the judge said when a criminal court reached its verdict on the July 24 2013 derailment of a Class 730 Alvia train The RENFE inter-city service from Madrid to Ferrol entered a tight curve on the approach to Santiago de Compostela at 191 km/h On July 26 — 11 years and two days after the derailment — the judge said that the RENFE train driver and the former Head of Operational Safety at infrastructure manager ADIF had breached the duty of care imposed on them by their positions Their actions represented an unlawful increase in a risk that they were obliged to prevent and capable of avoiding Both have been sentenced to 30 months in prison and prevented from resuming their professional activities for a further 54 months RENFE and ADIF insurers QBE and Allianz Global must now pay out more than €25m to those affected by the derailment The court found that the accident did not cause the death of one of the passengers 73 days later The court found that there were several causes The driver’s actions were deemed seriously negligent He was distracted by a 100 sec mobile phone call from the guard requesting a change of track at Puentedume station he did not see signals warning him of the approach to the curve Reducing the train’s speed after a long stretch of 200 km/h track was left entirely in the hands of the driver with no lineside automatic train protection equipment even though this was legally required where the line speed was abruptly lowered The signalling contractors had identified the curve as a possible derailment risk and had recommended using ERTMS as an overlay on the ASFA ATP but ADIF had not undertaken a risk assessment In autumn 2011 the Head of Operational Safety had ignored the gap in the line’s ATP when submitting documentation to the government stating that the line was ready to be put into use ADIF identified more than 300 other locations on the network where there were similar significant changes in permitted line speed GREECE: Rail and air accident investigation body EODASAAM exposes serious systemic failures in the Greek railway sector and makes 17 recommendations for improvement in its report into the head-on collision between passenger and freight trains near Tempi which killed 57 people on February 28 2023 FRANCE: On October 10 the Paris criminal court announced its verdict on the fatal high speed derailment of a TGV test train on November 14 2015 near Eckwersheim at the eastern end of LGV Est-Européenne The EU Agency for Railways is continuing its campaign to develop a risk-based safety culture across Europe’s rail networks as Executive Director Josef Doppelbauer explains to Chris Jackson Site powered by Webvision Cloud Please enable JS 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Y2K satire by Shukri Lawrence and Omar Braika in collaboration with Barragàn The Danish brand that questions contemporary manufacturing When personalisation and durability come together in your virtual dressing room, and not only a small town in northwestern Spain with around 14,000 inhabitants has also been affected by this transformation Located along the French Route of the Camino the most popular section of the paths leading to Santiago Sarria welcomed over 130,000 visitors in 2023 Despite its modest size and limited historical heritage the town is now filled with businesses catering to pilgrims including trekking gear stores and souvenir shops this shift gave rise to the term “turisgrinos” a blend of “tourists” and “pilgrims,” to describe travelers who combine spirituality and tourism new services have been introduced to make the journey more convenient such as shuttles that transport pilgrims’ luggage between stops reducing the physical strain of the experience Get access to exclusive contents and keep yourself updated Get access to exclusive contents and keep yourself updated Select the topics in which you are interested: Every month a newsletter to receive updates from our creative media agency So you don't miss the chance to attend nss world events Every month the latest news from the French vertical of nss A transformation on the Camino de Santiago I was entering Santiago de Compostela with 89 other people after having walked the Camino for 5 days Today I sit down to remember what I experienced with deep gratitude for everything I received I want to remember the experience and pass it through my heart again I had been wanting to do the Camino for quite some time but I have to admit that I was unconsciously waiting for the travel plan and the entire organization to somehow rain from the sky All wonderful and surely great travel companions And when the topic of doing the Camino de Santiago comes up it has not yet occurred to me that my interlocutor tells me that he has no interest in doing it has the curiosity to do it for the first time or even many times for another year it seemed that my wish was going to remain just that the University had organized a pilgrimage and I I think that the holy Don Santiago was already a little tired of me asking him to take me every year Accompanying 85 young people along with 4 other trainers Equipped with everything recommended by experts with great enthusiasm and some expectations And although I offered the route for various intentions of mine and other people I cannot deny that I went with a certain tourist spirit But along the way something happened that turned me into a pilgrim And being a tourist or a simple walker is not the same as going on a pilgrimage it is the way we position ourselves before things that will largely determine what we find We can stay on the surface of reality or go deep We can look at the path as a simple (not easy due to the demand) progression of stages towards a destination or we can let it envelop us and soak us with each event experienced With each step… And the pilgrim searches it is not satisfied with visiting and putting a check on the list of destinations knowing that he is a small link in a chain of steps that many have taken before him for centuries With a deep look that makes you not only see but go beyond what is apparent to be able to be amazed and grateful for each step taken It is the look of someone who sets out with the hope of reaching a destination It is the look of one who knows that he does not walk alone and allows himself to be accompanied It is that of the one who knows that hard stages will come; many uphill climbs It is the look of someone who is capable of living and savoring every moment of the now it is the look of someone who knows he is vulnerable but even so he does not stop walking because he trusts in that goal It is the look of one who knows that life itself is a journey I have always liked the expression that we are pilgrims on earth and that we walk towards heaven We are passing through and even if you don’t have faith I am sure that it is possible for you to see yourself like this Searcher for the meaning of your life and knowing that this is a journey I say it to myself and I leave it here to share it with you open your eyes and don’t stop searching Open your ears and let yourself be accompanied Be silent to listen to others and the desires of your own heart knowing that it is well done Walk leaning on the staffs of hope and charity Don’t forget to put those people you love your loves and all your pains in your backpack Sleeping Well for a Better Life: Ideas That Will Make You Rethink Your Nights Tweets by Pontifex And great chefs do not deviate from the rule: they usually make do with a raffish or otherwise very quick ration often so as not to be influenced or incur a tedious déjà-vu effect they prefer small places that are as easygoing and typical as possible Ferran Adrià already said it: out and about better the shabbiest dive bar than the fine dining wannabe Tarrio is a son of art: he cut his teeth in his parents' restaurant a "real" place that unfortunately no longer exists convinced that cooking in Spain would explode I asked myself where I could eat my mother's dishes and it was impossible." like rice or some flashes of French cuisine which I really like." A dream that in 2017 took up residence in an old-fashioned virtually windowless eatery that has nevertheless become a gourmet destination a 1970s restaurant that Tarrio chose to preserve in its entirety "It remained as it is because you can't touch it We just uncovered the beams and paneled the walls because it was very noisy." The proposal gradually refined: it is written daily on a blackboard who renamed Mos's rooster in rice the "cococha di terra," alluding to codfish throats But also seated several times were Paco Morales who reported visiting few restaurants with such personality Do you want to discover the latest news and recipes of the most renowned chefs and restaurants in the world La nostra società utilizza inoltre cookie funzionali per registrare informazioni sulle scelte dell’utente e per consentire una personalizzazione del Sito; ad esempio Questi cookie possono essere installati dalla nostra società o da Terze parti In caso di disabilitazione di questi cookie la qualità e l’esperienza di navigazione potrebbe non essere soddisfacente Questi cookie sono installati da social media per consentire la condivisione dei contenuti del presente Sito Essi sono in grado di monitorare la navigazione compiuta anche in altri siti e creano un profilo dell’utente sulla base dei suoi interessi Ciò potrebbe avere un impatto sul contenuto e messaggi visualizzati sugli altri siti visitati non sarà possibile utilizzare o visualizzare questi strumenti di condivisione per l’installazione e l’uso di tali cookie occorre il consenso dell’utente Per maggiori informazioni consulta la pagna cookies policy The different pilgrimage experiences offered by La Via di Francesco in Italy and the Camino de Santiago in Spain is not about which one is “better” than the other Their differences and similarities point us to finding the Way in an increasingly wayward world Can one commit pilgrimage “adultery” In the months of planning leading up to my taking a group of pilgrims along a portion of La Via di Francesco—the Way of Saint Francis—to Assisi in Italy I felt a strange sense of unease about how I might be engaged in a form of betrayal I owe a great deal to Saint James—in addition to him being my namesake—and to the Camino and to Spain By now I am so conditioned by my continual encounters with the Camino that I can spot a scallop shell—the symbol of Saint James and the Camino—from 100 yards away; the sight of a spray-painted yellow arrow on a concrete wall releases a shot of dopamine every time Some people chant the Om mantra to connect to the Absolute Principle of existence—I just have to close my eyes and say the word Camino in my head or touch a backpack still covered in the dust of the day’s trail There are no yellow arrows or scallop shells on the Via di Francesco It is marked by small yellow and blue striped patches—think mini-Ukraine flags a somewhat incongruous coincidence given current tragic events—and by the Tau the symbol of Saint Francis that looks like an elegant “T” As our Via di Francesco group proceeded north from our starting point at Terni—about 70 kilometers north of Rome and 108 kilometers of walking from Assisi—it was impossible not to compare and contrast the Way of Saint Francis and the Way of Saint James pilgrimages as we followed and got used to the different way markers there is no genuine substance to the idea of a pilgrimage “standoff” between the two Ways—both pilgrimages are remarkable experiences taken in their entireties But in interrogating the differences between the two the pilgrim is brought to a better and deeper understanding about his or her role in life and about what both pilgrimages aim to reveal: the Tao amid the thickets and thorns of our contemporary world The Camino de Santiago is far more popular than the Via di Francesco: the former attracts around 300,000 pilgrims a year while the latter is down around the tens of thousands the fact of the matter is that the Camino de Santiago is far less historically assured in comparison Everything about the Way of Saint James is likely based on legend with most scholars disputing that the apostle ever went to Spain Whereas the Via di Francesco is unequivocally rooted in fact and concrete connections to Saint Francis and the region of Umbria that he called home and through which the route traverses Saint Francis arguably speaks to our age more acutely He was born at a time in the 13th century when “money was becoming more than simply a social convention a medium of economic exchange,” Donald Spoto writes in Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi “People were beginning to pursue money as a primary goal and the amount of money one acquired determined one’s status in the community.” alongside the pursuit of wealth as an end in itself a process Francis dramatically turned his back on In the courtyard of the Bishop’s Palace in Assisi and in front of an assembled crowd he stripped naked and handed his clothes with a bag of coins on top to his father the Father in Heaven.” Francis’ treatment of his parents is hard to reconcile and applaud Less so his brave resistance to the pressures of an emerging social order that ruthlessly prioritized money making over taking care of the less fortunate But those trends that Francis shunned have only accelerated and ensnared so much of the Western world and its mindset in subsequent centuries operates on the same tacit assumption that began in the 13th—namely “Francis called into question the folly of relying on money While Saint Francis would appear to have the edge in terms of relevance to the challenges posed by today’s consumerist and careerist societies Saint James and the Camino de Santiago is hard to beat when it comes to that moment of crescendo at pilgrimage end It casts the entry into Assisi as a somewhat diminished experience in comparison “For anyone accustomed to the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela the process of arrival in Assisi and obtaining a certificate of pilgrimage—a testimonium—is anticlimactic,” says Russ Eanes in Pilgrim Paths to Assisi “There are no crowds of cheering pilgrims falling on their knees in celebration of arrival…Walking through town with backpacks Assisi is crowded with tourists and pilgrims who may have arrived via bus or car or train with streams of pilgrims carrying backpacks.” It was just like that when we arrived in Assisi Our hiking gear and walking sticks were the exception among the hordes taking selfies and wolfing down ice cream By the time we got to the Basilica di San Francesco it was bedlam when we entered its lower chamber that is blanketed in pre-Renaissance frescos considered one of the most precious collections in all of Italy The Irish friar acting as our tour guide kept warning us to not block the aisles or else the ushers would be onto us We crammed ourselves into the available pews as our radio headsets kept cutting out It felt a long way from Francis’s Canticle of the Creatures prayer and “Sister Moon” and “the stars” that “in Heaven Thou hast formed them Though I’ve had similarly conflicted arrivals in Santiago—especially when having to wear a face mask to go into the cathedral Whether having to deal with crowds or dehumanizing face masks no end of pilgrimage can ever match the buildup of expectations While the point of pilgrimage is just as much about the journey and transformative experience on the way The good news is that later on in the day in Assisi once the coach loads of visitors have left or early in the morning before they arrive if you wander the narrow empty streets that wind along and up through its different levels you encounter a more contemplative and holy place there is something about the stone walls of Assisi that is reassuring but they were themselves created by geologic action over millions of years,” writes Eanes noting how stones “were once alive” having been created by “pressure and heat of the earth It leaves him pondering how the “energy of the earth [and] rocks” might be transferred and how this might have been one of the reasons Francis sought out caves and spaces hidden in the landscape to better connect with “Sister Mother Earth” While walking toward Assisi I can’t deny I missed my yellow arrows though the Assisi way markers had the same desired effect and many times we wouldn’t know where to go,” notes a leaflet I picked up during a Camino that describes both the tangible and intangible benefits of the Camino’s ubiquitous yellow arrows “Whenever we find [the arrow] again we are reassured that we are on the right track How did we feel when we can’t find the arrows [Unnerved would be the inference based on my experience!] What a huge help that someone came before us to mark the way!” Amid all the confusion and distractions that blight our societies of secular progressive modern liberalism has there ever been such a need for clarity and guidance along the Way But where are those societal yellow arrows when you need them—many seem to be getting scrubbed out while too many politicians don’t appear willing to speak out about that resulting in people becoming unmoored as our democracies creak under the strain “The West lives under a single political regime that integrates the interests of commercial and bureaucratic elites,” says James Kalb in The Decomposition of Man: Identity “Liberal modernity claims to be based on freedom and equality but it attempts to turn social life into an industrial process under detailed expert supervision and control.” leads to disruptive consequences for “local non-market and nonbureaucratic institutions” and for the “traditional identities and patterns of life” that go with them this suppresses “the things people actually live by their ability to live in accordance with nature and reason and even their understanding of who they are.” Saint Francis is famous for his embrace of the natural world But he also shines as a blistering repudiation to the inauthenticity of today’s emerging social order based on vapid pronouncements about inclusiveness equity and open-ended self-definition to achieve your “best life” and fulfillment anything specific he said or wrote—had an integrity that challenges our presumptions about what constitutes a good life not to say a respectable approach to religion,” Spoto says “His life bears witness to the fact that holiness is not by necessity a denial of one’s humanity Holiness may in fact be the deepest achievement of what is authentically human Here we are very close to the Christian mystery of the Incarnation.” Francis’ radical poverty and humility stands entirely at odds with the pursuit of power and wealth by our elites—not to mention too many of the general population—who “believe they are the most enlightened and well-informed people who ever lived,” Kalb says to make their aspirations the standard for all mankind.” The sorts of free-wheeling open conversations and debates you have on the pilgrim trail are nigh on impossible in many contemporary settings and encounters especially if a conversation dares take on the shibboleths of the modern world Ideas and views that during normal daily life you might rarely get to share—both through lack of opportunity or unwritten censure—when on pilgrimage you find yourself suddenly having a chance to develop increasingly “alternative” views through your fellow pilgrims In addition to proving stimulating and educational these sorts of conversations are uplifting and galvanizing too Through rubbing shoulders with your fellow pilgrims—on whichever route you are following—you realize you are not going it alone despite the impression created by mainstream media echo chambers and the shrinking parameters and moral relativism that characterize the public square now Every step you take on pilgrimage becomes a physical declaration in defense of your beliefs what you stand for and the sort of person you hope to be from those paths bathed in the tranquility of a tired sun [they all seem] nothing more than one long-drawn-out disaster,” Frédéric Gross writes in A Philosophy of Walking because whenever you remember the former signs of your commitments in hell—name Pilgrimage serves as a physical act of rebellion against the “exhausting artificial passions that rule the social world,” as Gross puts it as well as against the sedentary desk- and laptop-bound lives in which we only communicate with people through screens and message boxes During pilgrimage you are existing in the manner you were designed for—by boldly striding out and existing in harmony with your surroundings—while encountering strangers in the flesh both within your pilgrimage group and all along the route in chance encounters with other pilgrims “We need real experiences more than ever,” says Eanes “During the pandemic I heard repeatedly that ‘virtual’ i.e. We need actual experiences with others—physical experiences We need physical activity and social engagement with each other with the resultant negative consequences.” This physical element relates to a theory I’ve increasingly pondered on pilgrimage: morphic resonance Proposed by British biologist Rupert Sheldrake morphic resonance is the idea that “memory is inherent in nature” and that “self-organizing systems inherit a memory from previous similar systems.” It’s one of the reasons that holy places “resonate” for people Sheldrake argues—when we enter a holy place we are exposed to the same stimuli as those who have been there before and by participating in the same rituals practiced across space and time we “come into resonance” with previous generations and their actions but it strikes me as doing a decent job of accounting for much of what I experienced during Caminos when entering churches and also when simply walking along the route So often there has been this unexplainable “sense” of tapping into an energy flow a sort of intangible forcefield that one bonds with Eanes describes it as “the connections of landscape and culture to the sacred” and “the ambiance of history” Morphic resonance—or whatever is this strange sense of synchronicity—is more keenly felt on the Spanish Camino That is probably attributable to the fact that many more pilgrims have walked the route across the centuries contributing to a more powerful “resonance” I have read reviews of the Assisi route by pilgrims that described how despite the endless beautiful landscapes eventually the pilgrimage began to pale due to the lack of other pilgrims and encounters the more important became other pilgrims I had befriended and crossed paths with I fretted after I hadn’t seen them for some time Would our paths cross at the next town where I’d be spending the evening in many cases; a short sharp lesson in how all too often we take people for granted.) Increasingly my pilgrimage wasn’t about a destination or even religious affirmation: it was simply about the other pilgrims if you need a break from the maddening crowd certainly compared to the Camino de Frances on both pilgrimages I’ve been struck by how the experience enables you to escape what Kalb calls the “spiritual slavishness” that characterizes so many of the bureaucratized organizations that either run our societies or which people have to work for Following these holy trails also allows you to have a break from the relentless “distraction and dissipation” of modern pop culture enabling you to re-engage with and turn your mind back to “the heights and depths of human experience—love He describes the “deeply unsatisfying” bland landscape bequeathed by the politically correct and increasingly incoherent public culture of today is a desperate need for something to “make life larger and above all less boring.” Walking to Santiago de Compostela or to Assisi you get a sense of what that something might be or where it might come from as an example of what God can do—which is primarily to astonish to alter radically the way we live and move,” Spoto says and the remarkable ways in which a genial but rather shallow young playboy became a model of service to the world he revealed that God is present in time and history he has such credibility because he demonstrated that we are at our best when we dare to allow God into our lives.” By following in the steps of Saint Francis or Saint James we are drawn away from the mirage of daily life and its “important” and “vital” tasks toward that dimension where space time and love escape their perceived boundaries and fold together into a consciousness and Godhead most of us can barely dare to consider or confront Such rare moments are similar to what the saints experienced vision or even a child’s whisper—in the case of Saint Augustine—changed the course of a life “changed the world and revealed the intersection of the timeless with time Each of our lives is like a pilgrimage; in fact, that may be entirely what a life is when set against the eternal so often we feel lost and frustrated when we can’t find the right way or the signs to reassure and help guide us “Everywhere the way of the pilgrim is twofold the simultaneous movement of the feet and the soul through time as well as space,” Phil Cousineau says in The Art of Pilgrimage If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter Patrick’s Cathedral hosts reparation Mass after ‘scandalous’ funeral for trans activist Diocese of Rapid City announces death of Bishop Peter Muhich James does not say anything against inclusiveness but only against “vapid pronouncements about inclusiveness” Whether or not you agree that such vapid pronouncements are common (I very much think they are) it is the self-aggrandizing vapidity that is the issue A similar argument can be made about “equity” as opposed to “equality” and the problems with “open-ended” self-definition I don’t think this debate is the cause for the exodus of people from the church and certainly would not lay it at James’ feet Maybe we can agree that James just bought too much politics into this topic which is so much more important than all the current hot-button issues (gay marriage etc) which was that through pilgrimage we can focus on the more important and grander things in life “Vapid inclusiveness” is also the way to Hell All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/ Sign up to receive a weekly email with news, analysis, and commentary from a voice you can trust! (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[3]='MMERGE3';ftypes[3]='text';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';fnames[4]='MMERGE4';ftypes[4]='text';fnames[5]='MMERGE5';ftypes[5]='text';fnames[6]='MMERGE6';ftypes[6]='number';fnames[7]='MMERGE7';ftypes[7]='radio';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true); The best walking shoes, backpack, and even underwear—here’s everything you need for embarking on this once-in-a-lifetime journey. I’ve made the trip twice, on two routes: the UNESCO Heritage-recognized Camino Francés and Camino Portugués. Between the two trips, I walked more than 700 miles for 50 days in June. Along the way, I’ve learned a few things about packing for the Camino.   Because both of my pilgrimages took place in the summer, I was able leave heavy outerwear behind. However, the potential for rain meant I had to consider waterproof materials. I carried my own backpack, so I prioritized lightweight and multifunctional items. Here’s everything I packed and how they held up, plus what I wish I had brought with me.  There’s nothing quite like the pressure of choosing what to bring on a pilgrimage, especially if you’ve never been on one before. Below, I detail the products I carried for hundreds of miles, including what I wish I had packed.  Photograph Courtesy OspreyBuy it now at Osprey When shopping for a backpack, I looked for something multifunctional. I wanted a backpack that could be used as a travel carry-on, a daypack, and an overnight bag. Osprey’s Tempest was highly recommended by other Camino de Santiago pilgrims. I chose the 30-liter, knowing that I would be filling it to the brim. It was the perfect size for my month-long Camino and two-week pilgrimage.  I especially appreciated the hip belt pockets, where I stashed my sunscreen, and the mesh pocket in the front panel. It served as a catch-all for everything from my snacks to my rain jacket within easy reach.  Photograph Courtesy HokaBuy it now at Hoka The most important gear for walking the Camino is footwear I saw pilgrims wearing traditional hiking boots I also saw pilgrims in Hoka’s top trail runner Because I knew I’d be walking on different surfaces including asphalt They were roomy enough in the toe box and had a good amount of support for seven hours of daily walking (We wore Hoka’s Clifton 9 on a 600-mile journey. Here’s our review.) Photograph Courtesy REIBuy it now at REI Trekking poles turned out to be a game-changer for my journey through the Pyrenees they were important to every pilgrim I met REI’s Flash Carbon trekking poles provided much-needed support on the inclines and stability on the demanding descents They were also helpful insurance against potential sprains my trekking poles helped lessen the weight with each step Buy it now at Ridge Merino I first wore sun hoodies on the Camino Francés and found them to be a less-fussy alternative to reapplying sunscreen throughout my walk. For my second pilgrimage, I knew I could find something lighter and more temperature-regulating. The Ridge Merino hoodie is mainly made of Merino wool and offers UPF 30 sun protection. I put the manufacturer’s claims of temperature regulation and odor resistance to the test on multiple scorching days. They held up, keeping me cool and smelling fine.  Photograph Courtesy REIBuy it now at REI I first heard about Injinji toe socks through online forums and Facebook groups while preparing for my first Camino walk reducing sweat and chafing for fewer blisters They worked so well during my walk that I wore them again later for a marathon (These sacred paths have attracted a new set of pilgrims: Fitness buffs) Photograph Courtesy BackcountryBuy it now at Backcountry Photograph Courtesy HokaBuy it now at Hoka I consider myself a minimalist when it comes to packing for the Camino But the one comfort item I will always bring are Hoka recovery slides They’re neither the lightest nor the slimmest pair of slippers but the comfort is worth the packing trade-off I looked forward to slipping into these sandals to help rest my tired feet (The best recovery shoes for relaxing after a workout) Photograph Courtesy AmazonBuy it now on Amazon Photograph Courtesy AmazonBuy it now on Amazon I heard about 2Toms SportShield from an ultramarathon runner and fellow pilgrim. He swore they were the reason he never got blisters. For my second Camino, I found his claim held up. Every morning, I’d roll on the liquid before putting on my Injinji toe socks and shoes, and I didn’t have any issues with blisters either.   Photograph Courtesy AmazonBuy it now on Amazon There’s nothing better than a multiuse product when you need to pack light Bronner’s solid soaps can be used in 18 different ways from washing your hair to washing your clothes The soap’s versatility came in handy on my pilgrimages you never know when you’ll be able to wash your clothes in a washing machine Though technically it can replace your shampoo and toothpaste and I never had the courage to test it in my mouth (3 ways to plan a Camino de Santiago hiking pilgrimage) Having walked more than roughly 620 miles along the Camino, my packing list has become quite tailored. However, there were two things that came to mind on the road that I wish I had packed.   Photograph Courtesy Paka ApparelBuy it now at Paka There was significantly more rain on my second Camino. Although I prioritized lightweight, quick-drying fabrics for my outerwear, my undergarments took the longest to dry. After my trip, I started looking for moisture-wicking alternatives that dry quickly. The alpaca fiber used in Paka’s underwear is known for antimicrobial and odor-resistant qualities, making this line a travelers’ favorite that I’ll be packing on future trips.  Photograph Courtesy AmazonBuy it now on Amazon While I used a backpack rain cover and a rain jacket on my two trips I regretted not bringing a lightweight poncho While the cover kept the front of my backpack dry rain soaked through the shoulder straps and the padding onto my back It is also takes up much less space than my backpack’s rain cover (Pilgrimages could be the next post-COVID travel trend) A great thing about carrying your own pack is understanding what is truly essential. You learn to eliminate what you don’t need because the weight of an item isn’t worth carrying. An easy guideline is to pack less than 15 percent of your body weight.   Choose items that serve multiple functions, such as a hoodie for sun protection and warmth or slides for walking and showering. Small ways to reduce weight can make a big impact on the road.   Take your pack for an extended walk, ideally overnight, and ask yourself if it sits right on your back. Is it too heavy to carry comfortably for a dozen miles? Check the fit of your shoes, understanding that your feet will likely swell from hours of walking. Trying out your pack well before you set off for the Camino will give you time to make adjustments.   Unlike other trekking routes, the Camino de Santiago passes through towns and cities. That means that if you left your towel in the last albergue or forgot something, you’ll likely be able to replace it. There are also plenty of pharmacies along the Camino routes.  I first learned about the Camino de Santiago from a fellow volunteer at a cheese farm in the Netherlands. I was sold on the picture she painted of charming little villages, ancient ruins, and hundreds of other people walking along the same path. I was determined to walk the Camino while I was able-bodied and in a career that offered flexibility.   From the breathtaking views of the Pyrenees to ancient vineyards and churches decorated in classic Portuguese blue-and-white tiles, unforgettable images filled each of my walks. But what I remember most were the meaningful conversations I had along the way and the pilgrims I met.   Some had walked for months from distant hometowns, while others had been on the road for just a week. I spoke to devout Catholics and travelers who had never stepped foot in a church. As we walked, we learned about each other through our life stories, building what pilgrims call our “Camino family.” Even though each person was there for a different reason, we were united in our journey, taking it all one step at a time.  Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, seen from Alameda Park. Fernando Pascullo via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).The office, which is run by Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, announced that it recorded 446,035 pilgrims in 2023 The figures underline the pilgrimage destination’s spectacular resurgence following the pandemic year of 2020 in which only 54,143 pilgrims were registered Share Pilgrims travel mainly on foot along ancient routes known as the Camino de Santiago of the total number of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela in 2023 The next-largest contingent came from the U.S. Pilgrims came from all the inhabited continents The Asian country with the most pilgrims was South Korea The leading African country was South Africa Twenty countries were each represented by a single pilgrim The office said that 93% of pilgrims made the journey to Santiago de Compostela on foot Others opted for less conventional means of transport with 606 arriving on horseback and 276 by sailboat (with the last stretch completed on foot) Leave a comment The most popular months to complete the pilgrimage were May and September The Way of St. James was not the only pilgrimage to attract record numbers in 2023. More people than ever also attended the annual Paris to Chartres Pentecost pilgrimage which dates back to the 12th century but has undergone a revival since 1983 drew an estimated 16,000 pilgrims last year The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, in southwestern France, drew more than 3 million visitors in 2023 Around 4.4 million pilgrims visited the Shrine of Fátima in Portugal between May 1 and Oct a significant rise on 2022 but fewer than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 The National Geographic magazine predicted in 2021 that pilgrimages could be “the next post-COVID travel trend.” And at Zwickau in Saxony there is a bizarre and highly symbolic intersection. Direction signs point in different ways: one shows the Way of St James, the other shows the Lutherweg. ReplyShare3 more comments...LatestNo posts The number of people making a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, in northwestern Spain, reached a new high in 2023, according to the local pilgrims\u2019 office. Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, seen from Alameda Park. Fernando Pascullo via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).The office, which is run by Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, announced that it recorded 446,035 pilgrims in 2023 The figures underline the pilgrimage destination\u2019s spectacular resurgence following the pandemic year of 2020 Share Leave a comment The Way of St. James was not the only pilgrimage to attract record numbers in 2023. More people than ever also attended the annual Paris to Chartres Pentecost pilgrimage The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, in southwestern France, drew more than 3 million visitors in 2023 Around 4.4 million pilgrims visited the Shrine of F\u00E1tima in Portugal between May 1 and Oct The National Geographic magazine predicted in 2021 that pilgrimages could be \u201Cthe next post-COVID travel trend.\u201D Home > Blog > Santiago de Compostela hosts a new edition of the forums ‘Challenges and opportunities of rural Spain’ the Forum ‘Challenges and opportunities in rural Spain: Galicia’ an event organized by Fundación MAPFRE in collaboration with the Galician Regional Government and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) with the aim of highlighting the business opportunities in rural Galicia and the possibility of attracting and retaining talent from the local area This meeting is part of the actions carried out by Fundación MAPFRE as the Intermediary Body of the Social Inclusion, Child Guarantee and Fight against Poverty Program of the European Social Fund Plus projects will be financed for a total value of 30 million euros a community created to fight depopulation in rural Galicia; Beatriz Gallego director of Inserta Empleo Galicia of the ONCE Group; and Carlos Martínez mayor of the Vedra municipality in A Coruña Julio Domingo referred to the European Social Fund Plus “one of the main EU instruments for promoting social inclusion and announced that in the first half of 2025 a new call for +Rural Grants will be announced this time endowed with 20 million euros co-financed by the ESF+ and Fundación MAPFRE and which will be targeting entities in the third sector the social economy and labor organizations More information on this call will be released in the coming months and will be communicated through Fundación MAPFRE’s website You will be the first person to know all our news we can multiply the scope of our initiatives Exhibitions Exhibitions in Madrid Exhibitions in Barcelona Social Action Art and Culture Education and Outreach Awards and Aids ESF+ Contact 50th anniversary of social commitment Learn more about us Publications Documentation Center ‘La fundación’ magazine MAPFRE Group Corporate Cookies Policy Configure cookies Copyright Fundación MAPFRE "Pope Francis has always shown interest in promoting the values of the Way of St His visit to Santiago de Compostela would be very significant John Paul II and Benedict XVI," Marta Pedrajas director of the Chair of European Studies of the Camino de Santiago of the Paul VI Foundation European Youth Pilgrimage to Santiago in 2022 At the end of last year, the Archbishop of Santiago, Francisco José Prieto, stated in the constitution of the ChairTo say the road to Santiago is to discover the roots of what we are so that we are also very clear about the roads we have to travel The road to Santiago reminds Europe of who it is and where it comes from and what it has to continue to mean at this moment This road continues to be a horizon of hope and meaning Omnes has been giving informative attention to the Camino de Santiago since its launch. In July 2021, for example, it published in the July-August summer issue a Special of 48 pages entitled On the way to SantiagoThe book on the occasion of the Compostela Holy Year numerous photographs and practical information for pilgrims director Marta Pedrajas points out that "the Camino is more than a route; it is a journey of encounter with oneself My personal experience is that they should let themselves be carried away let themselves be surprised and be willing to let themselves be transformed by the experience" the Chair of European Studies of the Way of St James of the Paul VI Foundation and the Archbishopric of Santiago de Compostela was launched Can you point out some of its main objectives?  - The objectives of the Chair are to revitalize the Christian roots of Europe and to create and strengthen the culture of encounter as proposed by Pope Francis in his magisterium it seems appropriate to recall some ideas of the Archbishop of Santiago - Bishop Francisco José Prieto emphasized in his talk that the Way of St James is a transforming and spiritual experience The pilgrimage is not only a physical journey he invited to be open to a process of inner change to launch into the adventure with an open heart since the journey offers a unique opportunity for reflection Both the general director of the Paul VI Foundation, Jesus AvezuelaYou have referred to the importance of this route for the structuring of Europe and how the values it embodies can help to face current challenges such as the search for peace in the face of the wars in Ukraine and Russia Both Jesús Avezuela and myself have highlighted the importance of the Way of St James as a symbol of European unity and identity encounter and peace that the Camino promotes can serve as a guide to face contemporary challenges These values are essential to build a more peaceful and cohesive fairer and more united future in Europe and in the world John Paul II and Benedict XVI visited Santiago de Compostela on historic occasions Will Pope Francis be able to visit Santiago - The visit of Pope Francis to Santiago de Compostela would be very significant given the impact of the visits of his predecessors Pope Francis has always shown his interest in promoting the values of the Way of St and his commitment to the spiritual and cultural revitalization of Europe A word of encouragement to this year's walkers and to those who are hesitating to undertake the path To this year's walkers and to those who are considering undertaking the Camino de Santiago I would say to them that they should be encouraged to live this unique experience with an open heart The Camino is more than a route; it is a journey of encounter with oneself let yourself be surprised and be willing to let yourself be transformed by the experience Subscribe to Omnes magazine and enjoy exclusive content for subscribers The TimesMore than 12 centuries ago a shower of stars descending upon a field led a hermit named Pelayo to discover an ancient mausoleum in northwest Spain After three days of meditation and fasting the local bishop declared that the tomb contained the remains of the apostle James — or Santiago in Spanish — and two of his disciples “It marked the beginning of the legend of the apostle Santiago’s tomb which continues to draw millions of pilgrims and visitors to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela an archaeologist investigating the origins of the famed pilgrimage route Bishop Teodomiro declared that a tomb found in the area, now the centrepiece of the city’s cathedral, belonged to the apostle JamesALAMYThe identity and whereabouts of the remains of Bishop Teodomiro, who founded the city of Santiago and the pilgrimage to The underground rapid transit lines have been under construction for almost two decades due to various project delays The cross pinnacle on the Tower of Jesus Christ will be ready to receive visitors in 2026 on the centennial of Gaudi’s death Now you can get your wine in Talence by paying directly in Bitcoin That’s because the state has to spend money on updating the railway infrastructure rather than subsidizing the cost of the popular pass Steffen Romstöck said that he would respect the residents’ choice and would take over the helm of the municipality which will come into force from 1 January 2025 Rethinking renewable energy sources for the urban landscape But operating them is still illegal under the country’s legislation can inform and inspire communities and entrepreneurs that still feel trepidation at the prospect of energy transition it has a unique modular design that allows it to be shortened and lengthened like a train that’s the promise made by the mayor of Paris the district has long been known as the hangout spot for the artsy crowds Hostal de Pinós is located in the geographical centre of the autonomous region the ranking considers several distinct but essential factors these quiet areas will now be available on all main routes in the country The academic institution shows a deeper understanding of the well-being of its students which means that this is also the official holiday of the Spanish region of Galicia and its capital This is the day when the year-round pride of being a galego/a finds its ultimate culmination Galicians decided to make this day their nation’s official holiday in 1919 when several regional cultural organizations got together and agreed to hold celebrations starting the following year The celebrations of this expression of regional patriotism were banned during the regime of Francisco Franco (1939-1977) the feast has both a political side (for those who want independence for Galicia) and a more religious side (for those who want to venerate the legacy of St the celebrations begin on the night of 24 July and continue onto the next day The night festivities include fireworks at the Praza do Obradoiro in Compostela the celebration actually extends over the last two weeks of July as part of the so-called Festas do Apóstolo (The Apostle Festival) These combine religious and traditional elements with contemporary music filling the city’s old town and its main squares When July 25th takes place on a Sunday it’s called an anniversary year And in those years the party in Santiago de Compostela gets even bigger the Puerta Santa (holy door) of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela opens for pilgrims At the end of the year the door closes again and will not reopen until a new Xacobeo The 10th European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns (ESCT) sets the stage for stronger cooperation between the EU national and local level to fast track Europe's transition to climate neutrality Urban dwellers across the EU are having a say in making their surroundings friendlier to people and the environment Forests in the EU can help green the European construction industry and bolster a continent-wide push for architectural improvements Apply by 10 November and do your part for the transformation of European public spaces An interview with the Mayor of a Polish city that seeks to reinvent itself An interview with the newly elected ICLEI President and Mayor of Malmö A conversation with the Mayor of Lisbon about the spirit and dimensions of innovation present in the Portuguese capital NAGOYA — Oil paintings by a former Aichi prefectural employee depicting the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage in northern Spain were recently displayed at an exhibition at the West Gallery of the Denki Bunka Kaikan hall in Naka Ward please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent started oil painting while at university and continued the craft even after he began working his work was selected for the first time for an exhibition by Issuikai an organization which holds art shows displaying pieces by public applicants Fascinated by Spain since watching a coming-of-age film in high school Kimura visited the country for the first time in 1994 he has visited Spain a total of 18 times and mainly painted landscapes of the country’s various regions including the one of the Pyrenees and clouds detailing the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route he walked with his wife “I hope that people can feel a little of the natural climate and culture of Spain [through my paintings],” Kimura said Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun This is the 14th installment in “Postcards from the Camino” by Gareth Thomas a series of reflections on the Camino de Santiago the pilgrimage route leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain The last days on the Camino de Santiago usually turn into a race This is particularly true of the final week before the Feast of Saint James on the 25th of July in a Holy Year Many extra pilgrims join the route at Sarria to walk the final 100k which is the minimum to qualify for the compostelana (pilgrim certificate) so the Camino is filled to capacity in the last four or five days of walking Pilgrim hostels fill up quickly and it is unwise to continue walking after mid-afternoon unless you carry a tent So the last part of the journey can be challenging for pilgrims who have walked hundreds of miles or in some cases count their miles in thousands I was feeling pretty pleased with myself in the year I walked all the way from the west of England to Compostela but in the last days I met a woman who was eighty years old and had walked from Norway on a circuitous route through Germany and France and had completed nearly a thousand miles more than me All the long-distance walkers in this last stretch are now in competition with those fresh starters who walk with a spring in their step and start walking by torchlight before dawn it can now seem like a Monday morning commute in the city pounding the busy main street along with the crowd Sometimes on this last stretch you find the sight of those whose physical struggle to complete that 100k minimum—to get their compostelana—is very inspiring and a reminder that each person fulfills their pilgrimage obligation according to their capacity The heroic walk across Europe can be quickly put into less heroic perspective when the striding pilgrim meets a party of severely incapacitated people with motor neuron disease with their helpers struggling to haul wheelchairs up a rough track in the rain Disabled pilgrims and helpers on the Camino with the author explaining he is raising money for a mobility charity while walking from England The landscape of these last days is gentler with the pleasant green pastures of Galicia cooled by Atlantic-driven breezes and the occasional refreshing shower of rain This is a welcome change for those who have walked the entire route and have spent weeks in the arid plains of the Meseta and climbed rugged mountains Long gone are the days of nervously checking water bottles in a scorched landscape with few sources of drinking water For those who have walked across Europe and spent many days or weeks trudging through continuous rain the temperate climate of Galicia is also a welcome reminder of earlier days in wet northern climates in a journey whose first days after setting off from home are now a fading memory A three-month walk from home to Compostela can seem like a lifetime within a lifetime and the pilgrim will be conscious in these last days approaching Compostela that there will be a reckoning at journey’s end How will it feel to end such a long journey And think of those in medieval times: arrival in Compostela was merely the halfway point: for they had to walk all the way home again I have frequently heard it said by some pilgrims that their arrival at Compostela seemed an anti-climax The road itself—the Camino—can become the endpoint of the experience and the destination is of lesser importance Bland statements such as ‘the Camino will teach you everything’ are sometimes substituted for the Catholic idea of being guided by God and the saints in a journey to venerate an apostle at his shrine That is a spirituality more focused on linear time If your worldview is governed by cyclical time maybe arrival in Compostela is an anti-climax because you missed the point of the journey All this was brought into sharp relief on one occasion when I had reached the Monte del Gozo (the Mount of Joy) overlooking Santiago de Compostela where pilgrims have always paused for their first sight of the cathedral—another half-day’s walk ahead—and I sat down for a lunch of sandwiches and fruit with another pilgrim I had been walking alongside that morning It was the very place where Pope Saint John-Paul II had celebrated Mass in the open air during an earlier Compostela Holy Year We picnicked on the step of the commemorative bronze sculpture “Just think of the millions of pilgrims who have stopped and looked at this view There was a heat haze over the city but the towers of the cathedral could be plainly seen in the distance My companion on that day’s walk was from Germany He had walked from the Pyrenees on the full length of the Camino Francés and he was beginning to feel sorry the journey was nearly over We had set out from a hostel that morning and breakfasted together “I think it will be just an anti-climax to arrive there,” he said now that I can see the cathedral and I feel sad I enjoyed the Camino and I don’t really want to reach the end already.” “A Catholic pilgrim does not feel a sense of anti-climax on arrival at the shrine of Saint James in epilogue,” I replied “It is like a practice run for presenting yourself at the Judgment Seat of Christ at the end of time and walking into the cathedral square in Compostela approaching the figure of Christ in Glory above the door… it’s like the soul’s preparation to be received in judgment.” “I don’t believe in organized religion,” he said “So you at least follow some guiding ideas “It’s the name of the young man who became the Buddha,” I said “A good novel by your fellow countryman and namesake I read it long before I became a Christian But you don’t believe in reading about organized religion either not even the one you say you feel closest to?” the resting place of the relics of the saint and apostle of the Christ and His Church that Hermann didn’t believe in but had walked five hundred miles to reach He formulated his question with great care but voiced it in the tone of skepticism of his own dismissal “You believe the body of Saint James was brought all the way from the Middle East in a stone boat with no pilot and it sailed up the Atlantic coast to northwest Spain and washed up on a beach then people all recognized that it was the body of the Apostle because of miraculous signs in the stars?” “You’re asking the wrong question,” I said and it is fitting that we recognize his shrine in the west and that tradition inspires the Christians of Syrian-Malabar tradition They took the Gospel to the four corners of the world To focus on the stone boat is to enter a world of medieval narrative but bringing a 21st-century scientific view with you We both laughed at the outcome of the discussion and stood up to continue our last stage into the city But I was left with some sadness for his sense of emptiness wondering—ever the parish missioner!—if I could help him make the jump to faith I suggested he follow me when we arrived at the cathedral We would walk together through the Pórtal de la Gloria and imagine how we would stand before the throne of judgment in the Last Days and then embrace the statue of Saint James Just to see if it helped overcome his sense of anti-climax “You’re actually going to hug the statue of Saint James?” Sometimes pilgrims used to put their hat on the saint and put his crown on their own head That all stopped one day when the crown got stolen But Hermann did go up the steps and entered through the Pórtico de la Gloria looking at the figure of Christ seated in majesty on the throne of judgment and quoted the creed: “He will judge the living and the dead.” I explained that these are powerful and intimidating words if you put the emphasis on the word judge but when you put the emphasis instead on the pronoun He He who has accompanied me on this pilgrimage Sustaining through my temptations to give up or occasionally want to stop walking and just get on a bus I walked through the door into the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela knowing I have walked every step of the way and I am the guest of honor here: the Christian pilgrim for whom this magnificent building was constructed to provide a glimpse of the heavenly Jerusalem and the special blessing of a moment of encounter with Saint James the Greater the Apostle whose mortal remains we believe are kept in this place I strode forward to the queue to the stairs leading up to the silver-covered statue of Saint James The entrance into the cathedral during the renovation work In this series of Postcards from the Camino I have tried to give a pilgrim’s perspective on people and places with some occasional thoughts on contemporary discussion This is the way that pilgrims converse informally as they are traveling together The timescale of the series ranged over half a century of my experience of the Camino—from the 1960s to the present—in a changing Europe and art of the Way of Saint James are a source of fascination but in the end—from a Catholic perspective—the pilgrimage is a devotional exercise and that is central This is the way I have tried to present it the faith is inseparably intertwined with European history and culture which was fundamentally and lastingly informed by Christian tradition The Camino de Santiago is one of its concrete expressions and a continuing means of evangelization and let’s take one last glance back at the German pilgrim who thought the end of his journey would be an anti-climax As I began descending the few short stairs after my brief tactile greeting of the statue of Saint James Other pilgrims waited patiently in the queue behind him I continued down the steps and made my way to the pilgrim Mass The polychrome Pórtal de la Gloria after completion of the 21st-century restoration work The pilgrim’s entry into the cathedral through the Pórtal de la Gloria as described in this piece is now no longer possible as the magnificent polychrome restoration work has meant that the entire front area with the medieval statuary is now enclosed in a temperature-controlled zone and incorporated into the cathedral museum complex It can be visited but is no longer the pilgrim entry into the cathedral This sadly ends a pilgrim tradition that is over a thousand years old but is justified for scientific reasons of the preservation and conservation of a piece of outstanding world heritage entry into the cathedral is by the Holy Door which is open until December 31 This is the last of the present series of Postcards from the Camino but I have yet to return to the road in this Holy Year When I do so—and plans are underway—I will write a shorter series of additional postcards direct from the Camino in two sections of the route one in France and the other in Spain in the last stage to Compostela and I look forward to passing through that Holy Door Images: Photo of restored Pórtal de la Gloria Compostela Tourism board; all other photos Keep the conversation going in our SmartCatholics Group! You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter Gareth Thomas lives a solitary life in the mountains in Spain with his donkeys he is a veteran of the pilgrim routes to Compostela Tags: Modern travellers can follow the tradition in search of their own personal fulfilment This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).To begin at the end: the remains of the apostle Saint James (or Sant Iago in Spanish) are believed to repose in an urn in the looming medieval cathedral of the city named after him Santiago de Compostela was built around the saint’s burial site as revealed to a shepherd by a guiding star almost a millennium after the body was carried here by stone boat from Jerusalem It has since led more than 1,000 years’ worth of pilgrims to this convergence point of myth and history via the network of cross-country trails known as the Camino de Santiago a record 438,000 people completed one of those routes some of them covering only the final 62 miles (or 124 miles for cyclists) required to qualify for the official pilgrim certificate It’s a measure of how popular the pilgrimage has become drawing not just the Catholic faithful but recreational trekkers coming to work off their worries — or a few extra pounds — in the wilds of the Iberian peninsula There are seven main caminos (ways) and while they all end in Santiago de Compostela has some of the best infrastructure and is by far the busiest the Cantabrian Mountains and the inland plains of Castile and León Each route offers its own distinct pleasures in terms of climate monasteries and albergues (simple hostels that have served the routes since the Middle Ages) There’s always camaraderie among the wayfarers A bottle of water or wine shared with strangers in the ruins of a hilltop hospital built for early pilgrims might be the defining moment of your trip and the profound satisfaction of moving through all this natural beauty under your own steam there is at least the promise of deep peace and quiet Itinerary one: The Coastal Portuguese WayThe classic Portuguese Way from Porto is a largely inland option but there’s also a 170-mile coastal alternative that skirts the Atlantic coastline through northern Portugal and Galicia — the edge of the known world in Roman times With its Romanesque facade and ethereal blue azulejo tiling Porto Cathedral makes for an eye-catching starting point Divert to Matosinhos and follow the ocean along wooden walkways through landscapes of dunes Browse for lace in the old naval town of Vila do Conde sample cod in 18th-century fishing port Póvoa de Varzim and watch kitesurfers off the protected shores of Esposende en route towards Marinhas in far northern Portugal This stretch turns from the sea to follow the Neiva River inland on a long A magnificent iron bridge by Gustav Eiffel takes travellers over the Lima River into Viana do Castelo where a funicular ascends to the Templo do Sagrado Coração de Jesus (‘Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus’) The path winds upward into eucalyptus forest passing coastal bastions and windmills to reach yet another river famous for its lobster and for its ruins of an ancient Celtic shrine Further up the coast is the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Oia once defended from attacking Turkish ships by Cistercian monks handy with cannons The route here is nicknamed the Monastic Way in their honour the port that received first word of the New World from the returning ship La Pinta in 1493 across floating mussel farms and the misty Cíes Islands in the Vigo estuary before turning inland to join the classic Portuguese Way then cross Ponte Sampaio bridge to the former Roman road that leads to Pontevedra Pontevedra’s historic centre is worth exploring before the last push Wander the gothic basilica of Santa María la Mayor and the Santo Domingo convent ruins before crossing bucolic Galician farmlands toward Caldas Soak tired bones in thermal springs and refuel with a lamprey-filled empanada the river port where the disciples are said to have first brought the body of Saint James The end of this route follows the footsteps of Bishop Teodomiro who found those remains some 900 years later and brought them to the resting place now known as Santiago de Compostela SpainPhotograph by AlamyA waymarker painted with a scallop shell a symbol of the Camino de SantiagoPhotograph by Getty ImagesItinerary two: The Original WayThis 200-mile trail is said to be the oldest of the Camino de Santiago routes the first pilgrimage having been taken by Asturian King Alfonso II around 820 CE but pilgrims are rewarded with glorious mountain views and hearty food King Alfonso II commissioned Oviedo’s basilica on the site of which now stands the Cathedral of San Salvador Look across the valleys from the Nuestra Señora del Fresno (‘Our Lady of Fresno’) Sanctuary and rest beneath the fortified walls of Salas the riverside ‘gateway to the west’ of Asturias The path proceeds to Tineo through chestnut forest passing vintage hórreos (stilted grain stores) and the ruins of a pilgrim hospital where locals still speak Eonaviego (old Galician-Asturian) Stop to behold the 14th-century hilltop Palace of Cienfuegos de Peñalba and try local Oscos cheese in Puerto del Palo Then it’s down again to the Salime Reservoir and across to Grandas de Salime Head onwards across Galicia on paths that are often monkishly hushed A quiet trail through ancient oak groves leads to Castroverde’s 14th-century the evening sun glowing on Roman walls that encircle a town known for its good food and wine Dirt roads flanked by chestnut trees pass by late-Roman ruins including those of the temple of Santa Eulalia de Bóveda Galician seafood is reliably terrific even this far inland with octopus grilled to perfection in villages like Melide Pilgrims connecting from the Northern and French Ways make the last stretch much busier at the oak-fringed hermitage of San Pedro and the monument atop Monte do Gozo you’ll see the spires of your final destination at Santiago de Compostela Cathedral — a sight that moves some to tears of religious humility or sheer following the Via de la Plata routePhotograph by AlamyItinerary three: the Sanabres wayWhile the Vía de la Plata is the best-known Camino de Santiago route from Andalucia (transposed over historic trails for traders and herders) the 220-mile Sanabres Way makes an appealing alternative forming a chain of enigmatic monasteries through plains and forests and over high The Cistercian order built its first Iberian abbey just outside Granja de Moreruela in the 12th century the monastery’s ruins set the tone for this initial stretch of dirt roads and river crossings You’ll find wineries dug out of clay amid the chestnut groves around Tábara and of the two possible routes from Bercianos de Valverde towards Mombuey the thyme-scented way through Villanueva de las Peras is more pleasant Cyclists should also take the service road via the reservoir of Our Lady of Agavanzal where a Napoleonic-era musket bullet was recently found embedded in an altarpiece another long phase alternates between deep woodlands Stop by the Iglesia de la Asuncion (‘Church of the Assumption’) with its looming belltower built by the Knights Templar in the 13th century and rest in the shade of ancient oak and yew trees outside Requejo before climbing up and over the A Canda mountain pass After a first taste of Galician-style grilled meat and seafood across the regional border in A Gudiña cyclists usually proceed via Verín while hikers tend to take the shorter trail through remote mountain villages The path through unpopulated countryside leads you upward again over the mountains of Requeixada and Talariño (the latter topped with a wooden cross) Then it’s slowly back down on dirt and asphalt surfaces to recuperate in the medicinal hot springs of Ourense a storybook-pretty Roman town with a landmark bridge over the Miño River Another hard climb out of this valley is made easier by the promise of an overnight in Cea a village famed for its signature bread baked in special wood-burning granite ovens Food again becomes the motivator on the journey through the pastoral idyll of the Deza valley with the promise of cocido (chickpea stew with pork shoulder and chorizo) awaiting you in the town of Lalín onwards section through pines and eucalyptus It links to an ancient Roman road that makes the most beatific of all final approaches to the tomb of Saint James Expend the last of your energy on climbing the peculiar pyramidal mountain Pico Sacro the disciples Atanasio and Teodoro defeated a dragon with a simple sign of the cross before continuing on to bury the body of the apostle but a 14-day pilgrimage requires some conditioning start taking incrementally longer walks (up to 15 miles per day) ideally with an ever-heavier backpack if you plan to carry your own bags Only if you want to. There’s no shame in booking luggage transfers via Spain’s state-owned postal service, Correos, or private providers like Pilbeo which pick up and drop off bags for around €5-10 (£4-8) per stage of the route probably didn’t haul his own gear around either a first-aid kit and comfy footwear are essential Most public albergues are run by the local municipality and charge less than €10 (£8) a night for a dorm bed consider booking into private albergues or guesthouses along the way No. Cycling is a popular option, but only serious mountain bikers should try the Original Way. Horse-riding is doable The Sail The Way initiative has also opened up the possibility of travelling between stages by yacht along the coast travellers should seek out the relatively untrodden 620km Camino from Lisbon Since medieval times, pilgrims have journeyed on foot to the magnificent Romanesque cathedral in Santiago where the relics of St James are housed. The network of trails from various starting points in Europe are known as Caminos – or "ways". The French Way which begins at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port near the Pyrenees is so popular that the number of walkers is almost equal to medieval times half a million people walked the route each year 446,000 pilgrims registered their arrival in Santiago (the total number of walkers is likely far higher) – and 2024 is expected to be the busiest year yet you can spot pilgrims at almost every turn especially in the summer months when hostels and eateries are full to bursting and the queue for the cathedral can be up to three hours long By contrast, the Portuguese Camino which runs 620km north from the bustling heart of Lisbon Were it not for the ubiquitous scallop shell (the sign of St James) and yellow arrow waymarkers I might have wondered if I was on the wrong path as I left Lisbon winding my way along the banks of the Tagus Estuary into bull and horse breeding country "The Portuguese Camino offers a very different experience," veteran walker Colleen Sims told me. She walked her first Camino, the French Way, in 2013  and has walked another every year since, exploring a variety of routes and sometimes leading groups and writing for her blog "I was first drawn to the Portuguese Way by the promise of better winter weather but found it offered so much more," she said "It feels less iconic than the French Way It has it all and is also relatively easy to walk as there are no major climbs or mountain passes." major towns and cities - Colleen SimsLike its French counterpart this route has attracted pilgrims for centuries Queen Isabel (later Saint Isabel) made the journey twice it has been walked by countless others: the faithful and the intrepid; culture seekers and the simply curious It's both a spiritual route and a trail through history. Much of the way follows Roman roads peppered with ancient milestones, and passes impressive sights like the walled Roman settlement of Conimbriga with its beautifully preserved mosaics walled monasteries and statues of the Virgin Mary or crosses at the centre of almost every roundabout are a reminder that in secular Europe Portugal is still very much a Catholic country People I met still talked excitedly about a visit to Portugal by Pope Francis last year and the open-air masses he held near the start of the Camino in Lisbon and Porto However, 2024 is also a significant year for Portugal. On 25 April, the country celebrated the 50th anniversary of its peaceful "Carnation" Revolution that overthrew a dictatorship and paved the way for democracy a flower seller in Lisbon began placing carnations in the barrels of the soldiers' rifles The image has endured: along the route I passed numerous carnations strung on lampposts and scaling the side of buildings – a constant reminder of this chapter in Portuguese history • The Lighthouse Way: Walking Spain's 'other' camino • The return of the UK's medieval highway • Portugal's mysterious 'birthing stones'  Many who walk the Portuguese Way do so for religious and spiritual reasons At one of many azulejo (Portuguese tile)-covered churches Both lost their husbands to cancer in the same year and one had also lost her child to drugs "I'm not religious but walking this route has given me a very different perspective on life," she told me It feels as if the place is here to remind us that we are all journeying on this Earth for a limited time but that nature and human endeavour carry on regardless." through picturesque fishing villages and historic shipbuilding areas that flourished in Portugal's golden Age of Discovery (1450-1750) This part of the route becomes a lot busier as pilgrims begin to mingle with regular tourists Of every 100 bookings, 60 will be on the French Way, 30 on the Portuguese Route from Vigo, and from Lisbon just one or two - Jeremy Perrin"We've been operating on the Camino for 15 years from all the different starting points," says Jeremy Perrin, general manager of Camino Ways a Dublin-based tour operator specialising in walking and cycling holidays "While the Portuguese route is slowly drawing more visitors most of them are on the last 100km from Vigo the route between Lisbon and Porto is still relatively undiscovered this made for a quieter and more contemplative journey through eucalyptus and cork forests and fields of horses and bulls as I left the busy Lisbon suburbs and headed through the centre of Portugal to the mouth of the Douro River in Porto It also showed a very different side of Portugal, one far from the busy coastal resorts and popular attractions like Sintra. There, I have queued for several hours to gain admittance to its palace I walked straight into the Knights Templar castle and had it mostly to myself The quietness of the route does have its downside struggling to find his way back to the path He had previously walked the French Camino and was used to following people with backpacks he was finding the lack of them hard to handle But the emptiness was offset by the hospitality of the Portuguese people doubly delighted to see pilgrims far from the madding crowds of the usual tourist hotspots home of the eponymous peppers and Galician poet Rosalía de Castro but it was still less populated than the busy last part of the French Way The popular Spanish name for the Milky Way is El Camino de Santiago too numerous to be individually distinguished was formed from the dust raised by travelling pilgrims The less-travelled Portuguese way is more like a constellation its sites and shrines brighter and clearer for not being eclipsed by the hordes CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled the Minho River Slowcomotion is a BBC Travel series that celebrates slow self-propelled travel and invites readers to get outside and reconnect with the world in a safe and sustainable way If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. 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When three siblings hike the Camino de Santiago the fact that one has Down’s syndrome makes some things tricky The Camino de Santiago has been a confluence of culture since the eighth century a trail where like-minded souls from all over the world share the sacred act of pilgrimage east and west of Europe crisscross Spain but all converge on the shrine of Saint James the Apostle in Galicia’s capital city Not that it’s a pious walk Of the 178,912 people who reportedly completed it in 2021 But pilgrims of all creeds share a common goal and a “Camino culture” of reaching out to help other walkers and sharing what food you have in your rucksack Everyone works for the common good and that alone is reason for going I had a dream that I was walking the Camino with Reuben But would he be able to do it in real life One of the attributes of his Down’s syndrome is flat feet my other brother and his response was “Let’s do it!” After several months of planning Brothers Reuben (left), Nathan (centre) and Manni in Santiago’s Plaza de Obradoiro. Photograph: Manni CoeA friend had treated us to a night in the Parador de San Marcos a splendid former Renaissance convent at the start of the route eating as if it was the last time we’d see food for weeks I noticed Reuben had a whole pack of felt-tips with him he likes to draw images from his favourite books and films: lions backgrounds and creeds share a common goal and a “Camino culture” of reaching out to help othersPacks duly adjusted a series of metal scallop shells cemented into the pavements and yellow arrows marking our route which runs from the French Pyrenees across the arid plains of Castilla-León and then dramatically as we neared the fertile pastures of Galicia Within minutes Reuben sat down on a park bench We tightened Reuben’s waist clip so his hips took the weight away from his shoulders and his face changed from grimace to scorn Every step was made with trepidation and the pace was agonisingly slow just before residential merges into industrial Reubs spied a cafe with food photos in the window Yellow arrows mark the route Photograph: My Travel Lessons/Alamy“I’m done We had walked just three of that day’s planned seven miles so we bunked down in a truckers’ motel on the industrial estate dubbed the Perrogrino (peregrino is pilgrim across pastures and along paths through maize fields Our pace might have been slow but it was constant we started to believe we could actually do it The route passes through countryside around Sarria Photograph: Hemis/AlamyIn the town of Astorga the furthest of all his commissions from his Barcelona base In the idyllic cobbled village of Castrillo de los Polvazares we gorged on traditional cocido maragato Nathan and I had been neglecting ourselves for the sake of Reubs I’ve since learned that carer burnout can creep up on you like this very easily which give walkers the right to a bed in any of the dozens of refuges dotted along the route for a nominal fee But for us it was rare to find a bed available as we were always the last to leave and the last to arrive Other pilgrims often made sure there was a bed for Reuben but his brothers had to sleep on cold corridor floors the doubling back to see where Reuben was and the sleepless nights were taking their toll Nathan and I were spent and had a blow out “Look – there’s a fork in the path after the next village: the official route and an alternative one to visit the monastic community of Samos We had assumed we were taking Reubs on a pilgrimage but it was becoming apparent that he was taking us on one“Fine,” Nathan replied You take the Reubs and I’ll see you in two days’ time.” Reubs and I slept in Samos monastery that night and I had one of the deepest night’s sleep of my life We met up with Nathan in the town of Sarria a popular starting point a mere 67 miles from Santiago We apologised to each other and enjoyed a brothers’ hug both realising that this experience was changing us – mainly because of the little guy sitting cross-legged next to us We had assumed we were taking Reubs on a pilgrimage but it was becoming apparent that he was taking us on one We were learning what it was really like to have Down’s syndrome walking at his pace and experiencing life through his eyes It was a truly transformational travel experience and the beginning of my understanding of Reuben’s reality Reuben Coe’s Narnia drawing Photograph: Manni CoeReubs knew that mum and dad would be waiting for us near the steps of Santiago’s magnificent cathedral Nathan and I looked on as he charmed his way into people’s minds and became a beacon of hope One day he placed his drawing on the bunk bed of a young pilgrim from the US put this on my bed.” I admired the particularly fine drawing of a wardrobe in brown and black ink That’s the wardrobe from Narnia.” He looked puzzled a portal into a different world.” The penny dropped that he had been planning to quit the following day as he was struggling with the isolation of his solo pilgrimage I think you’ve probably changed his life.” We spent our last evening on the Hill of Joy where pilgrims would traditionally celebrate their arrival with dancing and bonfires looking down the towers of the mighty cathedral in the valley The external reaches its destination; the internal never doesThe following morning as we entered Santiago’s Praza de Obradoiro – which has to be one of Spain’s loveliest squares – our legs finally gave way Nathan and I fell to the ground in amazement at what we’d achieved – and sheer relief that we’d made it took our hands and led us through the crowds to find mum and dad Some were praying; others were simply taking the time to bottle the “Camino culture” and take it home The external reaches its destination; the internal never does Manni and Reuben Coe’s memoir, brother. do. you. love. me, is published by Little Toller (£22). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com making small talk with her favourite chicken farmer or eying a basket of red peppers so shiny they look like they've been polished the market is currently home to about 70 producers and artisans who sell seafood produce and other quality comestibles from the region of Galicia in north-westernmost Spain a mountainous web of coastal villages and lush green valleys the Mercado is more than just a place to buy ingredients; it's an endless source of inspiration including two restaurants and a third on the way and it has been a lifeline during the most challenging periods of her career thanks to the paisanas (rural women) who sell their wares in the stalls that line the old granite corridors As we walked through those halls last October she nodded toward a seafood merchant at the end of a row "I couldn't have survived without women like Mari Carmen She saw me here every day when I was pregnant with my belly out to here," said Freitas "She knew I was a single mom and that I was struggling to keep my restaurant afloat so she'd sell me the most amazing fish at cost." the paisanas dote on the boy as if he were the Mercado's collective child she told me about some of the challenges these women have faced and the bonds she has forged with them "They know what it means to have to fight for things." Even as she was working 18-hour days at A Tafona the restaurant's inexpensive menú del día (a set price menu typically with a choice of appetiser main and dessert) was strangling the business financially her co-chef and business partner abruptly left the venture She remembers the conversation she had with her father as if it were yesterday "I was holding my son in my arms and crying out of sheer frustration If I could barely keep the restaurant afloat while working nonstop with a partner how was I going to do it alone?" But somehow he convinced her to hold onto her dream a little bit longer in Manhattan's Little Italy neighbourhood he told her to determine her consulting fee she was still in the throes of postpartum hormones and only getting a few hours of sleep per night She couldn't bring herself to utter the proposed figure so he scribbled something down on a piece of paper and passed it to her "He had added a ZERO at the end of the amount I was about to ask for," she said my entire team and I started hugging each other It was as if we'd won the lottery." Not only did the consulting project boost her visibility but it also provided the capital she needed to begin revamping her Santiago restaurant and designing the kinds of tasting menus she'd always dreamt of offering a little more than a year after making the changes (Tomiño also earned Michelin's Bib Gourmand and a slew of rave reviews for her line-up of traditional Galician tapas.) Freitas began cooking at home at a young age alongside her father she was also a devoted viewer of Basque chef Karlos Arguiñano who has been on the air for more than 30 years she would head home to watch his show and then attempt to make some of the dishes she'd seen Freitas' relentless work schedule made it nearly impossible to travel but she soaked up everything she could from the few trips she was able to take Some of her dishes have roots in those experiences and her keen sense of smell and vivid taste memory allow her to know exactly how various flavours will work together even before she's tested them ditching the menu's à la carte options freed her from worrying about what would sell which allowed her to create more of the vegetable-focused dishes she loves Freitas' menus at A Tafona are a deft blend of all her strengths as a chef they always include at least a few of her cromatísmos which are built around a particular colour like her yellow-orange composition of carrots cucumbers and slightly piquant guindilla peppers pickled with a kombucha-based vinegar made from a tea of lemony herbs The end result was notable for its bold vegetal flavours and a freshness that runs through much of her cuisine Her food also features many subtle nods to local classics Lacón con grelos is the kind of rustic fare that has warmed Galician farmers for centuries during the region's damp it is a hearty stew of dry cured ham and mustard greens with boiled potatoes but Freitas reimagines it as a mini-snack of thinly shredded dried pork that she fries into a nest-like shape and serves atop a crisp sheet of fried kale The richness that comes from that intersection of cultures is intenseThe day I visited lunch began with several of these bite-sized creations which are meant to be eaten with your hands They included a fresh fig filled with a parfait of duck liver herbs and Pedro Ximénez wine – the dessert sherry adding its signature sweet and syrupy notes – as well as Freitas' version of nigiri a single slice of monkfish liver soaked overnight in milk (the lactose-free kind so that her customers with that dietary intolerance can still enjoy the dish) It was served atop a small mound of vinegared rice and a picture-perfect perilla leaf the fish's surface glossy from a mahogany slick of sweetened soy sauce The menu also included a small empanadilla – the spiritual love child of the puffed-up puri breads she sampled in India and Galicia's traditional large-format empanadas pizza-sized pies stuffed with meat or fish mixed with a sofrito mixture that's heavy on the onions and peppers It's unlikely that my Galician-émigré parents would have recognised their traditional empanada in Freitas' perfectly shaped globe filled with bacalao (dried and salted cod) and raisins but the spirit of her dish felt very much in keeping with the character of Santiago a city that has long been a crossroads for visitors from all over the world "The richness that comes from that intersection of cultures is intense," she said Beyond the inspiration that she derives from local culinary traditions her cuisine is also an homage to region's first-rate ingredients like the produce she buys from the paisanas or grows in her parents' garden and the pristine fish and shellfish harvested from the icy-cold waters off Galicia's jagged Freitas stopped at Mari Carmen's stall and purchased a whole bonito lacquered with an amber soy-sauce-cured egg yolk and accented with katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) – yielding an elegant balance of creaminess "I like to work with contrasts and complexity but then there's also that bonito," she said "I never would have offered it in the past While her success has earned her the freedom and courage to experiment, that confidence was hard won, forged by struggles like a host of serious food sensitivities – including but not limited to anisakiasis fructose and gluten intolerances – which often leave her physically depleted she considers herself lucky because her ailments are not the kind that regularly send people to hospital in anaphylactic shock taking only miniscule bites of forbidden items while she is working the line or testing a new dish The rest of her diet is extremely plain (mostly farm-raised chicken and fish whose provenance she can trace) Another challenge has come from being a woman in an industry dominated by men but rather the attitudes and behaviour of some of her male counterparts She told me about attending a big culinary event in Galicia a few years ago where she was one of four women (along with more than 20 men) and was assigned to lead a discussion on gender differences When it came time for her to address the group she spoke honestly about the ways that women are segregated into pastry and rarely allowed to lead the main area of professional kitchens a significant number of the men openly jeered and mocked her "These guys always talk about how their cooking has been inspired by their mothers and grandmothers," she said "but then you ask them how many women work on their teams Although the experience was crushing at the time it ultimately motivated her to work even harder and lift other women up along with her Now that she has hit her professional stride At the first iteration of this now annual conference focused on women chefs held last autumn in the neighbouring region of Asturias she encouraged participants to communicate with and promote each other across all branches of the culinary field when she is up on the stage for her culinary demos she will often use dishware created by Galician ceramicists and then share these women's stories with the audience she is a fierce and loyal supporter of Galicia's food producers and artisans and she urges them to charge more for their premium goods a paisana will ask me to pay two euros for a product It's a message she has carried halfway around the world thanks to the support of an influential mentor named Mari Watanabe a writer and food historian who Freitas refers to as her "Japanese mother" When Watanabe first visited A Tafona several years ago to be running her own restaurant at that age and as a single mother," said Watanabe "I also liked her minimalist style of cooking It reminded me of Japan." She pointed out that the so-called Rias Coast of Japan's Iwate Prefecture was given that moniker due to its resemblance to Galicia's rías (inlets) like those of the latter's famed Rías Baixas wine region Watanabe brought Freitas to Japan to speak at a conference she'd organised on the island of Hokkaido One of only a few foreigners and the only woman to present the Galician chef regaled the audience with tales of her team but that kind of direct connection to a specific region is not seen here very often Lucía's passion for Galicia gives her a lot of strength and it supports the work she's doing."  While Freitas has certainly influenced others she has also gained a great deal from these interactions but probably the most significant recent impact on her career has been the pandemic she nearly lived (and sometimes slept) at her restaurant but lockdown allowed her to spend uninterrupted days with Mauro "It was the first time I really felt like his mother instead of the aunt who rarely gets to see him I couldn't even take him to school before because I was always working by then." Now that she has glimpsed an existence that is about more than just work you have to be happy outside of it," she said you have to be happy outside of it.She has seen many talented female chefs leave the profession when they decide to have children but they are not the only ones negatively affected by industry expectations men today also want to be fathers," she said "The pandemic has been very positive in this regard because we all want a life that's bigger than our jobs Which means I have to charge more to hire enough people so that each person doesn't have to work crazy hours and she refuses to repeat the mistakes she witnessed you realise that people are not more loyal to you because you're a jerk," she said "My team is my family." Currently all but one of those team members are women and she ensures they don't get pigeonholed in the dessert realm (Even though Freitas and her original co-chef were equals many people assumed he was the lead and she was the pastry chef In a country where it's not unusual to start dinner at 23:00 she forbids customers from ordering her tasting menu after 21:30 so her staff can get home at a decent hour "It doesn't matter if you're the King of Spain or the Pope," she said adding that diners are informed of the rule when they make their reservations As for her reality, Freitas continues to grow her mini empire. While designing the menu for New York's Tomiño gave her the chance to branch out to traditional Galician food, at Lume which she opened in July 2020 and is located in the Mercado she's created a "gastronomic bar" with a six- to eight-course tapas menu that's all about fusion which is expected to open by the end of the year will focus on à la carte options of grilled dishes – such as pizzas made with local grains including Galician staples like rye and corn as well as local seawater and creamy Arzúa-Ulloa cow's-milk cheese in lieu of mozzarella She also makes gourmet ice creams for home delivery as well as other artisanal products that are sold directly to consumers such as chocolates and her gorgeous turrón (nougat) Although she just turned 40 in March, Freitas shows no signs of slowing down. A few days after her birthday, the global Paris-based Académie Internationale de la Gastronomie named her "Chef of the Future" While an honour like this might exert pressure on some she seems unperturbed by the gauntlet that's been thrown at her feet "Your food evolves with your life," she said "and I'm not afraid of anything now." Galician Mussels in Citrus Escabeche with Red Lentil Soup (serves 4) By Chef Lucía Freitas (adapted for BBC Travel) 20 mussels in citrus escabeche (see below for sub-recipe) 300g of red lentil soup (see below for sub-recipe) carrot fronds and mini-basil (for garnish) Confit the vegetables in the oil for 20 minutes over a low heat along with the garlic pour in the wine and vinegar to stop the cooking process Let the mixture rest overnight in the fridge reserving the vegetables and escabeche liquid separately Steam the mussels to open them and extract them from the shells Add the mussels to the escabeche liquid and let them rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours 1 tbsp Yondu sauce (a naturally fermented gluten- and lactose-free seasoning made from soybeans and vegetable stock; you can substitute with half the amount of soy sauce) and sauté in olive oil like a sofrito until lightly caramelised Allow the mixture to cook for 10 more minutes over low heat so that the spices release their flavours strain and reserve soup for the plating of final dish Assembly and plating of final composed dish: Purée the reserved vegetables (the ones that were strained out of the escabeche) until creamy Briefly cook the carrots and bok choy lightlyin a pan or steamer and dress them with some of the escabeche liquid Drizzle ¼ of the vegetable purée into each person's dish Add a few slices of grapefruit and blood orange Add some freshly zested orange to each dish and then pour one-fourth of the red-lentil soup into each dish BBC.com's World's Table "smashes the kitchen ceiling" by changing the way the world thinks about food Join more than three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "The Essential List". 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