Spain
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Trekking the Camino de Santiago |
The Trip Accompanied by El Casal staff, you'll sleep in hostels set up exclusively for the peregrinos, or pilgrims. At the end of the trek, we'll spend a couple of days in Santiago de Compostela before flying back to Barcelona. Besides seeing the monuments, historic towns and remote villages, you'll get a feel for the incredible variety of Spain — landscape, people, cuisine — that is denied the typical tourist. Walking the Camino de Santiago also makes you a direct participant in a centuries-old historical tradition which, in a lot of ways, hasn't changed much in 1,200 years. That's the coolest part. Story of the Camino de Santiago In the 9th century, though, a hermit living in the area claimed to have seen strange signs and other phenomena, most notably a star whose light shone on the spot where Santiago had been buried.Church authorities were alerted and the body was disinterred. To everyone's surprise, Santiago had gotten his head back and the rest of him had not decomposed. That allowed him, so the legend goes, to mount a white horse and lead the Christian knights to victory over the Muslims in the fabled Battle of Clavijo in 844. The Church authorities built a shrine to Santiago. Word of various miracles in the area spread quickly throughout Europe (considering medieval technology) and the spot soon became a magnet for pilgrims seeking atonement for sins. In fact, Santiago de Compostela quickly placed itself in the top three Christian pilgrimage destinations, the others being Rome and Jerusalem. During the Crusades, visiting the latter city could get dicey, so Santiago de Compostela was considered a very worthy substitute. The Christians trekked to Galicia from all over Europe and their journey was made a little easier by various monastic orders, which set up monasteries, hostels and hospitals along the route to care for the pilgrims. Military orders also built fortresses to protect the faithful from bandits and other riff-raff. These monasteries, churches and other edifices are still standing and they constitute part of Spain's — and the world's — artistic heritage, especially insofar as Romanesque art and architecture are concerned. Want more on the Camino de Santiago?There are a number of books and websites. Search your local library or your favorite web search engine for more. One we like is www.jacobeo.net See our photo gallery section for more photos and maps. |
As a participant in El Casal, you'll hike the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrimage route across northern Spain from Navarra to Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia. The total trek covers over 800 kilometers (almost 500 miles!), though we will cover about 125 kilometers of the route, which takes us
through Galicia to Santiago.
Santiago, or St. James, was Jesus Christ's cousin and, along with his brother, St. John the Evangelist, was one of the twelve Apostles. The legend says that he preached the gospel in Spain after Christ's crucifixion. Santiago was beheaded in about 44 A.D., making him one of the first martyrs. His followers dug up the body and took it back to Spain by boat. They landed near present-day Padrón, in Galicia, on Spain's northwest coast. The body was taken inland, buried, and pretty much forgotten for 800 years.