In the Middle Ages, the whole idea was to arrive in the holy city of Santiago de Compostela, and you started at your own front door there was no official “starting point”. While the walk itself is the main attraction today, that wasn't always the case. It passes through Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, and a host of smaller towns and villages, and is about 500 miles in length, depending on how many detours you take. Jean Pied-du-Port in France, crosses the Pyrenees, and continues westwards across Spain about 60 miles south of the coast. Also known as the Camino Francés (the French Way), this route starts at St. When most people talk about “the Camino”, they're referring to just one of many routes to Santiago de Compostela. The route was nearly lost to history until the past couple of decades, when a growing body of literature around the Camino sparked a resurgence of interest in it from abroad. James is buried, became a rallying point for Europeans fighting the Moors in the eighth century, after a shepherd claimed to have seen a bright light in the skies above.ĭuring the Middle Ages, the Camino was responsible for the largest movement of people in Europe: millions of people, both rich and poor, made their way to Santiago de Compostela, where the pilgrim mass and certificate of pilgrimage ensured they would spend less time in purgatory. The city, where legend has it that the martyr St. The focal point and namesake of the Camino de Santiago is the city of Santiago de Compostela, located in Spain's far northwest. Walking the Camino de Santiago: A Brief History (Mario Carvajal/Flickr) Ready to join them? Start with our guide. This modern take on pilgrimage is only getting more popular: The number of people walking the Camino Francés has jumped from under 10,000 in 1992, to over 190,000 in 2012. Like any other long-distance walk, there's a physical and mental commitment to the task, a simple rhythm of daily needs to meet. For me, a month-long hike sounded like an amazing challenge, but an achievable one too.īeing away from friends and family, work commitments and an Internet connection gave me the time I needed to decompress and follow my thoughts to wherever they wanted to go there's a kind of spirituality in that, too. The vast majority of pilgrims are on their own quests, either recreational or spiritual. Today, believers make up a small proportion of people walking the Camino de Santiago. But this was the real-life ending to my trip down the Camino de Santiago, a Catholic pilgrimage that was Medieval Europe's answer to the Appalachian Trail.
The hundred year-old ritual taking place before me, and the month-long walk I had taken to get there, seemed like something out of a George R.R. I shuddered to think what might happen if the cord snapped, spilling 175 pounds of heated metal and 90 pounds of coal onto the crowd below Eight priests in heavy robes acted as the counterweight, controlling a rope as thick as my forearm. A smoking silver thurible swooped through the gothic arches overhead, richly scented incense pouring from its sides.
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