There are so many awesome resources on the interwebs about the Camino de Santiago that any in depth attempt I could make would just be adding to the clutter.
There are movies, books, forums, magazine articles, maps, GPS routes, Youtube channels, tour companies, merchandise, you name it and you’ll find it.
So I’m just going to give you one link to start you off and it’s up to you to find your way back out of that rabbit hole. It’s none other than the trusty Wikipedia page on the topic. But for those that don’t have the time to digest all of that, you can find my 3 minute quick guide below.
3 minute Quick Guide to the Santiago de Compostela (Way of St James)
- It’s a bunch of routes starting at various places in France, Spain and Portugal, and ending at the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.
- It’s officially one of the “three great pilgrimages of Christendom”, along with Jerusalem and Rome.
- Pilgrims have travelled along these routes heading to Santiago de Compostela for over 1000 years.
- The Camino-Frances is the most popular route starting in France at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, crossing over the Pyrenees mountain range, and then spanning almost across the entirety of northern Spain for a total distance of around 790km.
- St James’s symbol is the scallop shell and it can be found displayed all along the routes acting somewhat as a guide to pilgrims as they walk their chosen “way”.
- Yellow arrows painted on fences, poles and trees also point the way to Santiago de Compostela and, every thousand steps (a Roman mile) columns made of stone (milestones) are located in the sections that run over the ancient Roman road.
- Shrines (mounds of stone created by pilgrims) also line the Camino-Frances route with the most famous shrine of the Camino de Santiago being located at the highest point of the Camino-Frances, La Cruz de Ferro. There you will find a tall iron cross engulfed by stones, as it’s tradition for pilgrims to throw a stone as great as their sorrows or sins.
- A Credencial or pilgrim’s passport is traditionally stamped all along your journey at each town or refugio at which the pilgrim stays. It must then be presented in Santiago de Compostela in order to receive your certificate of accomplishment known as your Compostela.
- Throughout their journey a pilgrim will traditionally stay in an albergue/refugio (hostel) for a small fee. They will have their pilgrim’s passport stamped and can also obtain a pilgrim’s 3-course meal (sometimes including a 1/2 bottle of wine) for a further small fee.
- The compostela is given to pilgrims on completing the Way, but only once they can prove they walked (or rode a horse or donkey) at least the last 100km (the last 200km by bicycle) to Santiago de Compostela.
- Records of pilgrims completing the Camino start in 1985 where only 690 compostelas were issued in that year. As tourism kicked in and popularity increased, by 2019 almost 350,000 pilgrims made the journey and completed the Camino (in accordance to the above bullet point’s requirements). COVID hit in 2020 and consequently the numbers dropped to around 50,000. Numbers in 2021 increased to about 180,000 and, as international travel and tourism continues to open up, I’m sure 2022 will be higher numbers still.
- The Santiago de Compostela Botafumeiro is one of the largest in the world weighing 80 kg and measuring 1.60 m in height. It is suspended from a pulley mechanism in the dome on the roof of the church and the current system was installed in 1604.
- Buen Camino (Good Journey) – This phrase will often be heard on the Camino and is the traditional greeting uttered between pilgrims as they each go their separate ways.
