Camino de Santiago: We follow the main walking route in Portugal. The Way of Santiago: personal experience and advice to those thinking The Way of Santiago de Compostela routes from Spain

The Camino de Santiago, or in Russian the Way of Saint James, is a famous pilgrimage road that leads to the supposed remains of the apostle. They are located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia and a significant place for Catholics. The Camino officially began with the construction of a church in the 9th century on the site where, according to legend, the relics of Jacob are kept.

Today there are many paths leading to the city. The classic and most popular road is the French one, which begins in the village of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, 780 kilometers from the final point, but there are others - along the northern coast of Spain, through the mountains of Asturias, from others settlements France and Portugal.

At the beginning of the road, pilgrims receive a special booklet - a credential, where the seals of the monasteries that they meet along the way are affixed. By presenting this document, the pilgrim, for a nominal fee, gains access to special hotels for pilgrims - albergue. Popular routes are well marked with yellow arrows and shells - if you follow them, it is almost impossible to get lost.

24 years old, teacher English language. Was on the road in the summer of 2016

I walked the Camino de Santiago with my boyfriend and we spent 55 days on the road. There was no religious connotation in this - we are both baptized atheists, and neither of us is Catholic. The pilgrimage had, on the one hand, a sporting interest, and on the other, we just wanted to meet new people and see Spain. Let me say right away that our expectations that we would return home and have a bunch of friends around the world were not met.

We chose the French road because it is the most famous and quite easy. We started in Bordeaux, so before arriving at the popular starting point of the pilgrimage route, we spent another two weeks walking around southwestern France. During this time we met only four other pilgrims - three of them were French pensioners who decided to “adopt” us. We walked alone, because everyone has a different pace, but in the evenings we met in the same albergues and cooked together. Our companions constantly said: “Hey, young people, we bought too much, help!”

In general, I liked the pilgrimage in France almost more than in Spain. Knowing ourselves was our main occupation at this stage - what else to do when you walk tens of kilometers in a straight line? And then we got to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, where that very popular path begins, and we had to forget about self-knowledge. It was a real shock - after two weeks in almost complete solitude, we found ourselves in absolutely tourist place, where there were crowds of pilgrims, whom ordinary passers-by looked at with all their eyes.

It seems that walking for almost two months is unrealistic, but you get used to it very quickly

In general, we suffered for the first few days, but then the pilgrims somehow dispersed, and we got used to people, and even almost became friends with some. For example, we communicated with two Lithuanian women, one of whom spoke Russian well, constantly reminded me of sunscreen and complained that we were still not engaged. Periodically, she grabbed my boyfriend by the shoulder, pointed to her ring finger and said: “Nikola! Buy a ring!”

I can talk about the other pilgrims for a long time: there was the submarine captain Jonah, and the French womanizer Jerome, and the nameless Brazilian snorer, and the dog Zelda, and the boring Spanish grandfather who loved Putin and Franco.

Before leaving, I trained a little in Moscow on a treadmill, and also learned to move with Nordic walking poles. We walked an average of 25 kilometers a day. It seems that walking for almost two months is unrealistic, but you get used to it very quickly. My young man, in my opinion, was not tired at all and would have walked further if the ocean had not blocked the road. I generally held on, but I had breakdowns a couple of times. One time I just sat down on a stone in an open field and started screaming that I wouldn’t go anywhere else and that I was tired of the Spartan conditions, but it went away.

Before going on the Camino de Santiago, I thought that we would have a lot of free time in the evenings. In fact, everything is not like that. Firstly, the estimated time of arrival is constantly shifting: lunch was slightly delayed there, then we met beautiful landscape, where you need to take a million photos, your legs got tired and you had to rest. Upon arrival at the albergue, you need to shower, wash clothes, and buy food before the shops close. If the city is relatively large, another hour or two is spent on sightseeing. Then dinner, and then it’s time to sleep.

It seems to me that the real symbol of the Camino is not a shell or a pumpkin flask, but a plate of pasta. I ate so much pasta during the trip that I still avoid it

As for food, we disliked the much-loved “pilgrim dinners” that were sold in local bars for 10 euros. They consisted of three courses and a bottle of wine, but we don’t drink wine, and the food there is the most unpretentious - salad for the first course, pasta for the second and some yoghurt for dessert. It seems to me that the real symbol of the Camino is not a shell or a pumpkin flask, but a plate of pasta. I ate so much pasta during the trip that I still avoid it. If the albergue had a kitchen, we most often prepared something extremely simple - salads with canned seafood, rice, pasta, lentils.

Guidebooks are not needed - the only materials we had were relief diagrams and a list of settlements with the names of albergues, the number of places in them and prices. Trekking poles are actually not needed either, although many people read in guidebooks that trekking poles are a must, and become so familiar with them that they go into shops and churches with poles, knocking metal tips on tiles or ancient slabs.

There were also those who traveled some stages by bus or taxi, and others sent backpacks by mail. Perhaps I'm boring, but this is some kind of unreal pilgrimage. It seems to me that in all this there should be an element of overcoming oneself, and the French road already provides greenhouse conditions in many ways: at almost every step there are hotels, hostels and souvenir shops - in general, tourist attraction. Towards the end of the journey there are people who come only to walk the last 100 km and receive a pilgrim's certificate.

We were unpleasantly surprised by the fact that many people do not know how to behave at all. We soon began to call such people by the name of an American woman who shared a room with us. She got up around 5.30 am, turned on the very bright front lamp on her phone and began to apply makeup using its light. Then she rustled the bags for a long time and, checking to see if she had forgotten anything, began moving the lamp around the corners, shining it into all of our eyes. When she heard our moans and grumbling, she chirped: “Oh, I see everyone is already awake! Let's turn on the overhead light?" There was a lot of this, unfortunately. And that’s why I don’t want to go the French route again, even though I consider the pilgrimage one of the most important events in my life. True, now we are thinking about the Portuguese or northern road.

© Juergen Richter/LOOK-foto/GettyImages.ru

25 years old, public relations specialist. Was on the road in the fall of 2016

My interest in the Camino began with the movie “The Way”. I watched the movie and started looking for information - as a lover of long walks, I liked the idea of ​​traveling on my own. You could say that I was on the road twice: mentally and physically. Then I met the Spaniards, who strengthened my desire to go on a pilgrimage.

I started from Leon, which is 300 kilometers from Santiago, and the first two days I covered 30 km along the highway. It was very hot, so the journey was more like a search for shade and water. I woke up at 6 am, had breakfast and walked about 8 kilometers under the starry sky to one of the villages to drink coffee and stamp the pilgrim’s passport with a new stamp. After coffee, it began to get light, and the air became hotter every minute - everyone put their jackets in their backpacks, took out sunscreen and hats.

On the third day the ascent into the mountains began. I have never seen such stunning views before - compared to Spain Norwegian fjords looked like gloomy pieces of stones. Everything inspired enthusiasm: the smiles of passers-by, figs plucked from trees, a randomly encountered goat. The climbs were a big challenge and I'm glad I made it through without complaint. Sometimes, in moments of crisis and maximum wear and tear, I simply put the player in my ears and lost myself in familiar melodies, imagining how proud I would be of myself when I reached the finish line.

I was suffering, swollen, unable to sleep, so in desperation I changed my plane ticket and decided not to go any further.

Every day, when finishing the route, the first thing I did was lie down on the floor and put my feet up on the wall. From 15 to 30 minutes passed in such nirvana, then I did a back stretch, a light massage, took a shower and looked for food. I planned to buy groceries and cook dinner every day, but the first few days I was so exhausted that I only had the strength to walk to the bar. Pilgrim dinners have become for us not only the only complete meal, but also a good tradition. By the way, cooking in albergues was not so easy - some did not have utensils, others did not have a stove or refrigerator, in some they asked for a separate fee for using the kitchen, and besides, not every city had a grocery store. For breakfast, if conditions allowed, I cooked oatmeal with dried fruits, brought from Russia. During the 8-9 hour daily trek, I snacked on walnuts, figs, grapes, quinces and wild apples that had fallen from the trees. Sometimes on the way we came across local residents with pancakes or cookies, treated to pilgrims for donations. In the evenings, I wrote notes about the past day, surfed the Internet and walked around the new town. Around 10 pm, the lights out came and a symphony of snoring began, which could be heard even through earplugs.

I went at the beginning of October. Mostly along the way we met tourists from America and Great Britain, among whom the pilgrimage became popular after the film adaptation of Paulo Coelho’s book “The Diary of a Magician.” They were mostly pensioners who easily covered long distances - many of them used taxi services for their luggage, which allowed them to travel light with a bottle of water and a pilgrim's passport. These were very nice people, and, despite the abyss of years between us, I was interested in talking with them.

On the very first night, my sleeping bag was infested with bedbugs. It’s funny that in two years of preparing for the hike, I never saw any warnings about this scourge. I was suffering, swollen, could not sleep, so in desperation I changed my plane ticket and decided to get only to Santiago, although I initially planned to walk all the way to the ocean - the Spanish Cape Finisterre. So I would advise everyone to take bedbug repellent, as well as a water bottle, a phone dock and a silk patch, because even the most worn-out boots can torture your feet while jumping around the mountains.

Fitness instructor. Left Leon in February 2017, still on the way

When I was first told about the Camino de Santiago, I was immediately hooked on the idea. I watched all the films, videos on YouTube, re-read a bunch of blogs. I chose the French road, although initially I wanted to take the Camino Primitivo - this is a path through the mountains, and they are my weakness. In terms of distance it is almost the same, but in February there are very few pilgrims, so many albergues are closed, and I had to take this into account. Now even on the most popular section you have to walk 15–20 kilometers to the next hotel.

I collected almost all the equipment from friends in just a week, and also bought boots. At first I didn’t have a map, because I read on the Internet that everything was marked, it was easy to go, there were a lot of people, shops, everything was open. In reality, it was just the opposite, and many times I spent the night in the albergue alone. I was going to walk 50 kilometers a day - I’m a coach. But after turning thirty, on the first day I could barely crawl to bed. The next day it was difficult to walk, because there were terrible calluses, and with every step it felt like my foot was being cut with a knife. At first I hurried after the other pilgrims, even tried to overtake everyone, but then I realized that this was not why I was following the path of Santiago. When I started walking slower, life became easier. Now I have a company with whom I regularly cross paths - sometimes they wait for me and deliberately slow down the pace in order to spend the night together.

Here I met a guy who has been wandering for 6 years without any means. He spends the night either in monasteries or in local houses, and eats what they treat him to. Now he has gone ahead because he is in a hurry to Finisterre, to the hippie community. Many people walk the Camino five hundred times - one Italian, for example, has been pilgrimaging a couple of times a year for 12 years. Here I met a strange guy from Britain who comes with only a sleeping bag, a knife and a pilgrim’s passport. After the shower, he wipes himself off with napkins, but walking is easy.

On the way, all the senses become heightened, and unreal problems from ordinary life cease to worry at all, because the main thing is to drink, eat, sleep, sit, think

When pilgrims are not walking, they sit, because spending the whole day on the road is really hard. We often take the pilgrim's menu for 7–10 euros - first, second, third, compote. The portions are so large that we often buy one for two. During the day you spend more on drinks and fruits.

You should definitely take flip-flops on the road, because when you arrive at the albergue, you really want to take off your sneakers. The exit time depends on the season - in the summer it is simply sold out, so people leave at 3-4 in the morning to have time to take a bed in the albergue. In winter you can go out at 7 am, but you will need a flashlight on the way. Shoes should be waterproof, because walking 30 kilometers with wet feet is difficult. They say that poles help with descents and reduce the stress on the knees, but they only get in the way for me - I wasted my time dragging them. I also advise you to take a sleeping bag, because disposable bed linen is not provided everywhere.

I have 50 kilometers left to the end - that's about two days. On the way, all the senses become heightened, and unreal problems from ordinary life cease to worry at all, because the main thing is to drink, eat, sleep, sit, and think. Already now I can say that this is simply an extraordinary experience that has added flexibility and tolerance to me. I also began to appreciate simple things more: a roof over my head, food, the kindness of people around me. The Camino de Santiago gave me a feeling of happiness.

34 years old, steward. Was on the road in the spring of 2015

I first decided to go on a pilgrimage in 2005, when my Spanish friend told me about the Camino de Santiago, and we went on this adventure with his friends. I have always liked hiking, especially in the forest, I love being in contact with nature and, of course, I appreciate good company. There was no highly spiritual motivation then - I just wanted to have a good week of vacation. Then I walked for only 5 days, but what days they were! Since then, I dreamed of going on the road again, but I only got this opportunity 10 years later.

The second time I went to explore the Camino Primitivo is a shorter and less popular route that starts in Oviedo. Then I wanted to be alone with myself, so I chose it. The route from Oviedo to Santiago lasts 350 kilometers and passes through the mountains between Asturias and Galicia. I really enjoyed exploring the local communities with their rich history and culture, and the nature there is simply stunning. The landscape around was green because this path passes through forests and mountains. Sometimes the road was dry and easy, and sometimes it was covered in liquid mud, but the main thing was always away from tourist trails.

There were also eternal wanderers who spent years on the road - one man, for example, walked on foot from Jerusalem itself

Of course, I did meet some pilgrims, and most often they rejoiced at the rare opportunity to exchange a few words. So I made friends with a local guy who turned out to be a good travel companion. We woke up very early and started our journey before sunrise, then made a short stop to rest, and another to have a snack. Once we reached our destination, we went grocery shopping and then cooked together. Hotels for pilgrims cost 5–6 euros, but on more popular routes they are more expensive. You can get to such shelters only by presenting a pilgrim’s passport, which you receive at the beginning of the journey. Albergues are like hostels - bunk beds, shared kitchen, some kind of shower. In the evenings, everyone gathered in the albergue and talked, although they went to bed quite early. Before going to bed, my fellow travelers wrote in diaries, called relatives, read, or just lay there.

I met a lot of interesting people and learned that some former pilgrims opened their own hotels and cafes on the way to Santiago. The reasons why people go on the Camino are different: some are religious, some have had trouble in their lives, others are simply looking for themselves or want to escape from the hustle and bustle of life. There are pilgrims who go with their pets - cats, dogs, horses, goats. There were also eternal wanderers who spent years on the road - one man, for example, walked on foot from Jerusalem itself.

My pilgrimage was full of discoveries and challenges, and it gave me much-needed time to reflect on life. In the end, every wanderer finds new, unknown sides and resources in himself, which, I think, can help everyone in life.

© Ricardolr/GettyImages.ru

28 years old, pharmacist. Was on the road in September 2016

The impetus for the pilgrimage for me was personal experiences. I knew that Saint James, aka Santiago, is the patron of many believers, so I decided to take the Camino, or rather, part of it. I took the most popular road - the French one, but I only had five days, so I started my pilgrimage from the city of Sarria, 115 kilometers from Santiago, and walked 25-28 km a day. For many pilgrims, the journey does not end with arriving in the city, and they go further - to Cape Finisterre near the Atlantic Ocean. Legend has it that this is where the boat with the remains of the apostle washed up, so this is where I wanted to come in the end.

Some people prefer to improvise on the go, but I devoted more than one day to preparation - I chose places to stay for the night in advance, drew a route, read reviews, and made a list of necessary things. Comfortable shoes and a backpack are a must. You need to put only the essentials in your backpack - I often observed how pilgrims left their things in the albergue to lighten the load. My most unnecessary purchase turned out to be a whistle - I bought it in case someone bad came to me or if I fell and broke my leg. In fact, there is no need to worry: the French road is not physically difficult, and at the final stage there are always a lot of people, and most of them are friendly. But you can also meet scammers on the Way of Santiago. There are cases when pilgrims were offered a backpack and their belongings disappeared.

I spent an average of 20–25 euros per day - on the albergue and the pilgrim's dinner. Breakfast is sometimes included in the price of an overnight stay, but most often you can have a snack on the way. In the evening I put a couple of fruits in my backpack and had breakfast during a stop somewhere at dawn.

It's like a long trip in a reserved seat, when on the fourth day of the journey you feel like you've known your neighbors all your life

The hardest part was on the third day: calluses, joints, and muscles began to ache. No matter how hard you try to prevent the appearance of calluses, they will still happen, so you need to take care of plasters, antiseptic and a simple needle in advance, which will get rid of water bubbles.

Along the way, of course, you meet many interesting people, but not everyone is eager to talk with fellow travelers. Someone starts a conversation, treats him to something, and someone may simply mutter: “Buen camino” (“Have a good trip.” - Note ed.). I still communicate with some of my former travel companions, because this path brings us closer together. It's like a long trip in a reserved seat, when on the fourth day of the journey you feel like you've known your neighbors all your life.

I would advise all future pilgrims to take a sleep mask and earplugs. There are usually a lot of people sleeping in the same room, so you'll need these things if you don't want to listen to someone else's snoring and see the light bulb turn on right above you. A flashlight will also come in handy - firstly, so as not to disturb those who are still sleeping, turning on the overhead light, and secondly, to illuminate your hands before sunrise.

The Camino de Santiago is an opportunity to resolve some internal issues, meet new friends, see different cities and villages, spend time surrounded by nature. This is a feeling of freedom when you feel that you belong only to the world around you and to yourself, as well as the opportunity to understand how dependent we are on external factors. On the journey, everyone is equal: it doesn’t matter what language we speak, what part of the planet we come from, what position we occupy in life. There is a new day, a new goal and only the path.

There are two Portuguese routes - one along the coast and the other inland. Walking along the shore is very cool - the views are simply breathtaking, but swimming in the ocean is quite cold. Halfway through the journey, we realized that just walking and being terribly tired was not such a great pleasure, so we began to shorten the distances. Sometimes we even allowed ourselves to skip the albergue and book a hotel to lie on the beach.

A couple of times we took shortcuts by bus and train - we cheated because we wanted to have time to take a place in the albergue. The best thing about this trip was that we saw cool non-tourist places - lighthouses, thermal springs.

My feet really hurt a lot, and besides, I didn’t have time to break in my shoes in Moscow. The most effective way to deal with this suffering is to drink alcohol. Luckily, Portugal is famous for its drinks. I remember how after drinking a bottle of port on the steps of the monastery and singing songs about a blue moon, my calluses magically stopped hurting. The official soundtrack of the journey was Taylor Swift.

If going on vacation on a regular tour is boring and you want to collect your thoughts or, conversely, disconnect from thoughts, try a different vacation. Our author Svetlana Khlyzova walked more than 250 km along the roads of Portugal and Spain and wrote a report. Here is a short introduction to it about what the Santiago de Compostela, or Camino, path is.

Camino Way or Way of St. James – pilgrimage road to the supposed tomb of the Apostle James in spanish city Santiago de Compostela became a monument world heritage UNESCO. According to legend, after the martyrdom of the apostle in 44 in the Holy Land, his remains were placed in a boat and launched Mediterranean Sea. The boat was brought not just anywhere, but to Spain, where the saint had preached earlier. When in 813 the hermit monk Pelayo accidentally found a boat on the shore at the mouth of the Ulya River, the relics remained incorrupt.

The amazed King Alfonso III issued a decree according to which a small church was built on the site of the find over the relics. The place was named Compostela (Latin: Campus Stellae, "Place designated by a star").

Saint James, who miraculously appeared during the battles with the Moors - Santiago Matamoros, became the patron saint of Spain and the Reconquista. As an apostle who, during his ministry, undertook a long journey from the Holy Land to Spain, he began to be considered the patron saint of pilgrims.

We will not retell the entire story about the miraculous discovery of the relics of St. James in the town of Compostela - there is an article in Wikipedia https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki and other sources. As a result, the city of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain became the largest Christian shrine, the third after Jerusalem and Rome.

There are many ways. They all converge in Santiago de Compostela. But you definitely need to walk 100 km of the main part of the route in Northern Spain. And you can start your pilgrimage from many European countries - Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland.

The meaning of religious pilgrimage is that pilgrims who walk 100 km or more, or ride a bicycle or horse for at least 200 km, receive Compostela - indulgence (absolution of sins).

There are fewer people going for religious purposes than those who go on a journey to test themselves. There are just athletes, and just young people walking around. There are “sick Camino” people who walk and walk along different routes for months. Fortunately, such a trip requires a minimum of funds: albergues are open everywhere along the way with payment of 5-6 euros per night or “donativ” (as much as you put in a box), in September there is an abundance of free fruits and nuts along the roads.

You can start anywhere and go as far as you can. It is officially prohibited to use transport. But no one checks, because here everyone has their own Path, their own goal. The Spaniards like to go through several stages over the weekend, then another and another. Australians, Canadians, and Americans try to cover the entire route. There are also Russians on the roads, but not often.

Route Caminho da Costa with a transition to the central path after Caminha. Distance is about 260 km. Overnight locations are marked in bold.

Porto— Santa Clara — Povoa de Varzim – FAO–Esposende— Mariñas Viana do Castelo— Caminha– Walesa- Tuya - Porinho - Redondela - Pontevedra - Caldas de Reis - Padron - guest house in the forest 12 km from Santiago - Santiago de Compostela.

This map from the site http://portugal-galicia.com shows options for the Portuguese Way. Svetlana walked to Caminha as close to the ocean as possible.

Flights

If you plan your trip in advance, you can buy air tickets inexpensively on the websites of airlines and various aggregators. A couple of months before the trip, S7 silently, without apology, canceled the Moscow-Madrid flight (returning the full RUB 7,500), “breaking” the further Madrid-Lisbon route. I had to buy a Moscow-Lisbon ticket from Aeroflot. There was no inexpensive flight to Madrid (taking into account the flight from Orenburg to Moscow).

Flights around Portugal by TAP Portugal (purchase on the TAP Portugal website) cost the price of a bus: Lisbon - Porto 19 euros.

Tickets to Spain and Russia by company Vueling Airlines:

Vigo – Bilbao, 13 euros.

Bilbao – Barcelona – Moscow 89 euros.

Travel time

08/29/17 – 11/10/17 (13 days) directly on the route. The Portuguese route can be completed in 1-2 days faster.

Equipment

Equipment depends on where you plan to spend the night. If you are not always indoors, then you need to take a tent; it is cold at night on the coast. If you stay in an albergue, you need a sleeping bag - not everywhere they provide underwear. The weight of the backpack should not exceed 10% of your body weight, otherwise trekking will turn into a difficult hike. You definitely need well-worn, proven shoes with hard soles - trekking sneakers or boots.

Their warm clothes in early September are sufficient: a light windbreaker and a sweater.

Be sure to take:

Raincoat, replacement flip-flops, sandals, slippers, walking in an albergue, medications you need, sunscreen. A minimum of light, quick-drying clothing - the less, the easier it is to carry it all on yourself.

Communication, Internet on the go

You can use an Orange SIM card with the Mundo tariff for Europe, but you can get by. For Skype calls, Wi-Fi speed is sufficient everywhere in Portugal and Spain - in any cafe by the road in a remote village, in the mountains, and even more so in albergues and hotels, it is available. But this information only applies to the Portuguese Coastal Route.

MAPS.ME maps on the phone were used for navigation. If you download it in advance and open it where there is Internet, then they open perfectly offline.

Where to sleep

The choice is great, especially if you walk briskly and don’t arrive at the next point in the evening. The earlier you arrive, the cheaper you can find accommodation for the night. No one stays on the street, but sometimes you have to walk a couple of extra kilometers or fork out some extra cash.

Where to eat and drink

For pilgrims, many cafes along the route offer a “pilgrim menu.” For 6-10 euros you can get a salad or soup, a second dish with meat or fish and a drink of your choice. There are many shops along the way, and even in the deep forest there are “food points” where you can drink coffee, buy fruit, and baked goods.

There are no problems with drinking water. Everywhere along the route, in cities and open fields, there are specially equipped sources of drinking water. It is enough to take a 0.5-1 liter bottle with you so that you can collect water along the way.

Visa

A Schengen visa is required. It is better to submit documents yourself visa center Spain in Moscow, there is an article about the details. The cost is 2 times cheaper than through a travel agency, and most importantly, a visa is issued for more long term than when applying through a travel agency.

It must be shown that the stay in Spain will be longer than in Portugal. A printed itinerary is quite suitable, in which you need to indicate that there are no exact dates and places of overnight stays. You can also cheat - provide hotel reservations (cancellable), although in this case you run a high risk of having your visa canceled after an unscheduled additional check of the package of documents by the consulate. And of course, for a visa you need air tickets.

Useful sites for preparation

Telegram channel describing the experience of walking the Camino Way in 45 days (over 1000 km):

The Way of Santiago (St. James) is an ancient pilgrim road leading through Europe to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela. Millions of people have walked this path over the past hundreds of years.

OTHER NAMES

The Way of St. James is sometimes called the "Road of the Stars" or "The Road of the Stars" because ancient pilgrims navigated by the stars at night, with the Milky Way guiding them. A very simple term for the Path is also common among pilgrims - Camino (from Spanish camino - which translated means “path, road”).

FOR WHAT

Everyone has their own motives for making a pilgrimage: some go for religious reasons, others are looking for themselves and their place in the world, others go to ask for their relatives and for their healing, others go in search of adventure, others hope to lose extra pounds along the way. For some, such a pilgrimage is simply new look travel, because on the Way you can see another country, learn more about its traditions, meet new people and take a break from city life.

WHERE

The main part of the route passes through Northern Spain. You can start your pilgrimage from Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, Great Britain or from any other country (the question is how far you are willing to walk). The final destination of the pilgrimage is the city of Santiago de Compostela, in whose cathedral the relics of St. James are said to rest.

WHEN

The Way of Santiago has a long history. This pilgrimage route has existed since the first centuries of Christianity (see section).

HOW

Pain Most pilgrims make the pilgrimage on foot. But quite often you can find pilgrims covering the distance on bicycles and even on horses or donkeys.

HOW MANY

There are approximately 15 paths leading to Santiago de Compostela. The length of the most popular French Way (Camino Frances) is more than 800 km. This is more than a month of walking. Pilgrims walk from 15 to 40 km per day. In order to obtain a certificate for completing the Santiago Way (Compostela), you must walk at least 100 km or ride 200 km by bicycle or horseback.

Each pilgrim can receive a pilgrim's passport, where he will affix special stamps, which will become evidence of completing the Path. Seals can be placed in almost all hotels (shelters) on the Path, as well as in churches and monasteries. You can get a credencial at the beginning of the Path at one of the shelters or at the pilgrims’ office.

Compostela is a personal certificate of completion of the Way of Santiago, written in Latin. It can be obtained from the pilgrims' office in Santiago de Compostela (next to the cathedral).

Every year on July 25th St. James's Day is celebrated. The year when this holiday falls on a Sunday is called Holy or Jubilee. In such a year, everyone who completes the Path of Santiago receives remission of all sins. The next coming “Jubilee Years” of St. James are 2010, 2021, 2027.

Along the entire Path, in every city and almost all villages there are special shelters for pilgrims. They are called albergue or refugio. Many shelters are free (just show the pilgrim's passport). There are private (8-12 euros per night) and municipal (3-7 euros per night, this is the so-called donativo (voluntary donation)). You can stay in good 3- and 4-star hotels, but the price will be appropriate. Shelters usually consist of one large bedroom or several small ones, usually equipped with bunk beds. There are toilets, washbasins and hot water showers. Almost all shelters have a dining room and kitchen with a stove, refrigerator and necessary utensils.

As proof of the perfect journey, the ancient pilgrims, having reached Finisterra ("Edges of the Earth") - Santiago de Compostela is located a few kilometers from the ocean - picked up shells that abound on the coast. This shell has become a symbol of pilgrimage along the Way of Santiago. In Spain it is called vieira ("comb") or concha ("shell").

The red cross is the symbol of the Order of Santiago. This knightly order was founded in 1161 in the territory of Galicia and the Duchy of Portugal. The main task of the knights was to protect pilgrims on the Path. This cross also represents the sword with which Santiago "Matamoros" ("Slayer of the Moors") was armed. According to legend, in 844, the troops of the Asturian king Ramiro I clashed in the town of Clavijo (18 kilometers from Logroño) in a battle with the superior Muslim troops of Abdurahman II. Suddenly, Apostle Santiago appears in the center of the battle on a white war horse. He begins to strike the Moors with his sword left and right and,
in the end, the Christians win, against all odds.

This ancient mysterious symbol also appears in Christian teachings. So in the Bible Hezekiah says: “No one can harm a person who has the symbol of TAU.”
The monks of the Order of St. Antonio, founded by order of King Alfonso VII, wore the TAU cross over their cassocks and gave it to pilgrims.

The English king Edward I, Jean de Brienne (King of Jerusalem), Francis of Assisi, Jan van Eyck, Pope John Paul II, the famous Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho and many others made a trip to Santiago at different times.
According to rumors, Julia Robertes and her lover Denny Moder, as well as Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie, were going to celebrate their wedding in such an unusual way, but whether the star couples made the pilgrimage is still unknown...

• Paulo Coelho "The Diary of a Magician"

• David Lodge "Therapy"

The pilgrimage along the Way of Santiago is described in feature filmsLuis Buñuel's "Milky Way"(1969) and Emilio Estevez's The Path (2010).

Currently, there are dozens of marked paths to Santiago de Compostela: shells can be seen not only in Spain, but also in Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland and even in Eastern Europe. But the most popular and well-developed, of course, are primarily the Spanish route options; only the Portuguese route from Porto can compare with them.

1. Camino Frances (French Way)

Most popular route, very diverse both in terms of culture and natural surroundings. Popularity is a plus for those who are going for the first time and are afraid of being alone on the road, but also a serious minus for those who want to be alone. The length of the Santiago Way from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela is about 780 km.

2. Camino Portugués (Portuguese Way)

The Porto - Santiago section of the Portuguese route is the second most popular. Beautiful nature, good infrastructure and short length make it very popular among people going for the first time and limited in time. From Porto to Santiago the walk is approximately 240 km, from Tui - 115 km.

The Lisbon - Porto section is much less populated, poorly marked in places, there are few shelters and the distance between them is long. From Lisbon to Porto the walk is about 400 km.

3. Camino a Fisterra (Way to Fisterra)

According to tradition, the pilgrimage ends not in Santiago, but at the “end of the earth” on the Atlantic coast (Fisterra literally means “end of the earth” in translation from the Galician language). Pilgrims visit two villages by the ocean: Fisterra proper and Muscia, for which they will have to walk another 110 km.

4. Camino del Norte (Northern Route)

This path goes along the northern coast of Spain (you can start in France in Bayonne). The scenery along this route is very beautiful, and north winds bring down the heat, but it is distinguished by a small number of shelters in not the most convenient places for an overnight stay. IN summer period this makes it not very convenient and pleasant to pass. The distance from Bayonne to Santiago is about 860 km.

5. Camino Primitivo (Primary Path)

The word "primitivo" in Spanish means not only primitiveness, but also a reference to the beginnings. Today, the Camino Primitivo is limited to the section of the ancient route from Oviedo to Santiago. This route goes mainly through the mountains and is considered physically the most difficult of the main options of the Way of Santiago, but the difficulty is more than compensated by the abundance gorgeous views from the mountains and to the mountains. The length of the route is about 315 km.

6. Via de la Plata (Silver Path)

The longest among the main options of the Path: it begins in the very south of Spain, in Seville. Unlike the routes already described above, it goes from south to north and passes through a variety of historical and natural areas: ancient Roman amphitheaters and the legacy of the Cordoba Caliphate; vast plains giving way to beautiful highlands - all this is the Silver Path. However, this route is not very popular, as it has long stages and unbearable heat in summer, and don’t forget about its length: almost 1050 km.

7. Camino Sanabres

The word "Sanabrés" comes from the name of the region of Sanabria, where this path begins. In fact, it is a continuation of Via de la Plata from Zamora to Santiago, and in many guidebooks it is not distinguished separately, although from a historical point of view it is more correct to consider that La Plata after Zamora goes further north and joins the French Way at Astorga. The path is beautiful and interesting, but not the easiest. Those who want to go through it usually start a little earlier, on the Silver Way from Salamanca: this is the old and interesting city, and it’s also easier to get to from Madrid. The distance from Zamora to Santiago is just over 400 km, from Salamanca - about 470 km.

8. Camino Inglés (English Way)

The route established in the 12th century. thanks to the English crusaders heading to fight the Moors in Portugal or the Holy Land and visiting the tomb of St. James along the way. This is by far the shortest marked route: from the start in Ferrol to Santiago it is just under 120 km. The path is beautiful, varied and secluded: the markings on it were put in order quite recently, and it has not yet gained much popularity. Thanks to new shelters that have broken up the long (over 30 km) stages, the English Way is now an excellent choice for your first trip to the Camino.

Other ways

In addition to those listed above, there are many more marked path options: Camino Mozarabe(9) from Granada through Cordoba, joining the Silver Way before Caceres; Camino de Levante(10), also coming from the south of Spain and even longer than the Silver Route; routes from Madrid (11) and Barcelona (12) to the French Way; roads from France and Holland to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port... They are all interesting in their own way, but the infrastructure around them is generally poorly developed (lack of shelters, often poor markings), which greatly reduces their attractiveness for inexperienced pilgrims . In the diagram we have indicated these paths with an orange dotted line. Let us separately note only the most famous of them - Via Podiensis, starting at French city Le Puy.

The most interesting of the non-main paths are: Camino del Salvador (13), connecting Leon and Oviedo and allowing you to move from one route to the other; Camino Lebaniego-Vadiniense (14), connecting the Northern route with the French one (here the transition is preferable only in this direction, since the path goes from northeast to southwest), Camino Vasco del Interior (15) from Irun to Burgos. They are well marked and there are a sufficient number of shelters open during the season, but the first two are extremely difficult physically, since they cross the Cantabrian Mountains almost in their highest part. If you adore mountains, then you can go through all three mountain paths in one link: Vadiniense - Salvador - Primitivo; it will be easiest to start in Santander, since it is easy to get there from Madrid.

On the diagram, these routes (as well as the aforementioned difficult section of the Portuguese Way from Lisbon) are indicated by a yellow dotted line.

One of the most famous and popular pilgrimage routes in Europe, the main part of which is in Spain, to the tomb of the Apostle James in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain.

The Way of Saint James (El Camino de Santiago) is one of the most famous and popular pilgrimage routes in Europe, the main part of which is in Spain, to the tomb of the Apostle James in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela on northern Spain. This ancient road is considered a historical landmark of the country and is included in the List of World Natural and cultural heritage UNESCO.

The appearance of the road has to do with ancient history associated with the name of the saint Apostle James. According to legend, in 813, a hermit monk discovered in a boat that mysteriously landed on the river bank the relics of a saint who had preached here earlier. In 896-899. King Alfonso III decreed that a small church be built at the site of the find, and the site was named Compostela, “The Place Marked by the Star.”

The fame of the Way of St. James quickly spread throughout the Old World. During the Middle Ages, the route became so popular that numerous monasteries and cathedrals began to rapidly grow around it, which served primarily to help pilgrims overcome the long and difficult path.

Cathedral of Saint James (Catedral de Santiago de Compostela), photo Quimg

In the 16th century, the glory of the route of St. James faded somewhat due to the plague, famine, frequent wars, and political instability that crippled Europe. Only in the 19th century did the Spaniards begin to turn to it again. Far from civilization, in a deserted and uninhabited area, scientists have discovered a whole treasure trove of beautiful ancient architecture, forgotten in difficult times. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people annually come to the vicinity of Santiago de Compostelle, traveling many kilometers on their own, to see with their own eyes the miraculous relics of St. James. The popularity of the route continues today. Of course, these days many do not associate such a trip with religious feelings and traditions. For most modern tourists, the main goal is to visit an interesting historical site, rich in examples of medieval architecture.

In Coelho’s book “The Diary of a Magician” and in the film “The Path” by Emilio Estevez, we talk about the route Roncesvalles - Pamplona - Burgos - Leon - Santiago (Camino Frances). The Burgos - Leon section is not particularly popular, so it is usually skipped. This is a desert plateau with a minimum of vegetation and attractions. It is better to start from Leon.

Pilgrims (photo by flydime)

The path stretched for many hundreds of kilometers across Spain. According to rough estimates, it is about eight hundred kilometers. You can cover the distance on foot or by bicycle. As a rule, pilgrims travel for about a month, moving 25-30 kilometers per day.

Some tourists are not so strict about this action and prefer to perform a simpler and less burdensome task, covering only the last hundred kilometers of the journey. According to customs, even in this case the pilgrimage is still considered valid. In addition, the route can not be covered at once, but in several stages (many Spaniards go here on weekends and walk small sections of the route in parts).

The long-awaited end of the road - this is it ancient city Santiago de Compostelle, the “Christian Mecca”, where the relics of the Apostle James, the country’s heavenly patron, are kept to this day. To prevent travelers from getting lost along the way, they are helped by special symbolic marks in the shape of shells (they have been considered signs of pilgrims since ancient times) and yellow arrows.

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