Two excellent resources for finding out more are this Camino de Santo forum and the blog Trepidatious Traveller by Maggie Woodward. There are dozens of other established routes from all over Spain, from Portugal, France and even beyond. The caminos mentioned here are just the most popular ones. An alternative starting point is A Coruña, just two or three days’ walk from Santiago. It combines stretches along picturesque rías (coastal inlets) with sections across green countryside and through the medieval towns Pontedeume and Betanzos. Practicable year-round, this is an obvious choice if you have limited time, and the Inglés’ popularity has mushroomed in the last decade with around 15,000 walkers a year. It owes its name to medieval pilgrims from Britain, Ireland and other northern locations, who would sail to ports like Ferrol then complete their journey to Santiago overland. The “English Way” runs about 115km/71 miles (five days) to Santiago from Ferrol in northern Galicia. Short, relatively easy route within Galicia The French Way or Camino Francés is the most famous and popular of the Camino de Santiago routes, attracting nearly 70 of all Camino pilgrims. It’s about 86km (53 miles) from Santiago de Compostela to either Fisterra or Muxía across mostly gentle countryside, and a 28km (17 mile) stretch links the two places. At Muxía an 18th-century church on the rocky seashore marks a spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in a stone boat. The name Fisterra/Finisterre means Land’s End: cliff-girt, lighthouse-capped Cabo Fisterra (Cape Finisterre) certainly has an end-of-the-earth feel. Three or four additional days to Fisterra or Muxía (four to six days for both places) can be the perfect coda to your odyssey. Believe it or not, plenty of camino walkers don’t want to stop when they reach Santiago. This route runs not to Santiago but from it, to the small fishing ports of Fisterra (Finisterre) and Muxía on Galicia’s dramatic coast. On from Santiago to the “end of the earth” Its route is drawn throughout the north of the peninsula along 760 km, which are often divided into 31 stages that begin their journey in the French town of Sant Jean Pied de Port.ĭespite the fact that since the eleventh century pilgrims walked through northern Spain saving great difficulties and leaving behind an important cultural, artistic and social development, the most important increase in the French Way began in 1993, a Jacobean year that brought with it a very important revival of the Camino de Santiago as a tourist element, backed by the declaration of the Jacobean Route as the First European Itinerary of Cultural Interest by the Council of Europe and World Heritage by Unesco.Some pilgrims continue beyond Santiago de Compostela on the Camino de Muxía-Finisterre to Cape Finisterre © Iryna Kalamurza / Shutterstock Camino de Muxía-Finisterre The French route is the most famous route in the world, the most traveled (in 2015 more than 260,000 pilgrims arrived in Santiago) and the best conditionedbecause of the economic potential it represents for the towns it crosses. The French Way is the most documented, existing since 1135 manuscript archives in the Codex Calixtinus, whose “Book V” is the first source of information on the cultural, religious and even tourist treasures that walkers could find in each of the sections that separated the tomb of the apostle from the main capitals of Europe at the time. HistoryĪfter becoming the most important pilgrimage route of Medieval Europe for the pilgrims who, moved by the Christian faith, walked towards the tomb of the Apostle Santiago in the city of Compostela, the French route was becoming more and more important until gaining the title of the most internationally recognized route and, therefore, the most important at an economic and social level. The other very common alternative is to start from Sarria, as it meets the more than 100 km required for the Compostela and can be covered in 5 days, very useful for people who start or have little time to enjoy the Camino. Throughout the middle ages, thousands of pilgrims walked from their homes to make their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Within its great layout there are two very common starting points among the pilgrims, although the main start is the locality of Saint Jean Pied de Port, many decide to start the Camino de Santiago from Roncesvalles, to avoid crossingthe border between Spain and France, and not to climb the great slope that separates them. The Routes The Camino de Santiago is not just one route, but a network of routes. In addition, the convergence of personal and religious motifs, personal challenges and spirituality, Romanesque and Gothic styles, Templar castles and Benedictine monasteries, lush forests and murmuring rivers, medieval legends and Celtic magic They serve to erect themselves as one of the most amazing experiences that everyone should experience.
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