Way of Saint James - the world's most popular walking trail

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

What can people not come up with in order not to sit at home! They are even ready to walk several hundred kilometers through the countryside of Northern Spain, naming their route The Way of Saint James (El Camino de Santiago) … Moreover, due to its popularity and cultural influence, this road is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List!

The average city dweller walks only 3-4 kilometers every day. But people who travel along the Way of St. James only treat these modest indicators with contempt - they cover 20-40 km daily. And so on for a whole month!

The appearance of El Camino de Santiago is connected with the legend about the discovery in 813 by a hermit monk of the imperishable relics of the Apostle James, who moored in a boat to the river bank in the place where the city of Santiago de Compostella is now located. The news of the miraculous find quickly spread throughout Europe, and thousands of pilgrims were drawn to it from all over the continent.

In the Middle Ages, this route was so popular that the most beautiful churches and monasteries grew along it, serving primarily to help the pilgrims. Over time, due to the plague, the growth of Protestant sentiments in Europe and some other reasons, El Camino de Santiago was practically forgotten. And scientists of the 19th century were very surprised to find a huge number of real masterpieces of medieval architecture in northern Spain in towns far from civilization.

In the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century, several hundred, or even dozens of people a year walked the Way of St. James. Everything changed in the eighties when travelers from all over the world discovered this amazing route.

Now, one and a half to two hundred thousand people walk along El Camino de Santiago every year. Of course, for the vast majority of modern pilgrims, this route has nothing to do with religion. This is just a great vacation spot in which you have the opportunity to see a huge number of interesting places, meet many new people from all over the world.

A whole network of El Camino de Santiago roads stretches across Spain, leading to the end point from all major cities in the country. But the most famous route is the so-called. The French Way. It starts in the Pyrenean town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and ends in Santiago de Compostelle, passing through the largest cities in Northern Spain: Pamplona, Burgos and Leon. The length of this path is 800 kilometers, which can be covered on foot or by bicycle.

However, the pilgrimage is considered "credited" when overcoming the last hundred kilometers of the Way of St. James. Moreover, the route can be traversed in parts (this is what the Spaniards use, going to Camino on weekends and holidays for a long time).

And so that pilgrims do not get lost along the way, the entire route is marked on the ground with yellow arrows and stylized images of a scallop shell (a symbol of the Way of St. James, which pilgrims have long worn on bags and clothes to distinguish them from ordinary people).