What’s the fuss about
Santiago de Compostela is a very special city and the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It’s most famous for the Camino de Santiago (Way of St.James) routes, especially Camino frances de Santiago. They are pilgrimage routes for followers of the Catholic faith. The final goal of the Camino is to enter the Cathedral where presumedly lay the remains of the Apostle James (Saint Jacob – Santiago). This pilgrimage has its beginning in the 9th century A.D and was undertaken for spiritual and religious reasons. Now the main reason to take on this long trip seems to be tourism but of course, the spiritual feeling is still there. As for me, I did it mainly cause of the tourist feeling and the physical challenge it poses, because trekking for 25 km a day it’s not very relaxing :).
At the end it was totally worth it!!
Since we had to go to Santiago even in the beginning, we took the chance to stroll around the beautiful Old Town. Don’t get near the Cathedral, because you are supposed to see it only after you conclude the pilgrimage.
Beautiful passages in Old Town, Santiago de Compostela
Post overview (dealing with the trip)
- How to get there (to the Camino frances de Santiago)
- Where to stay as a pilgrim
- Ways to do the Camino and its iconic symbols
- Planning and necessary equipment
- The experience along the Camino
- The long-awaited Visit to the Cathedral
- The Certificate at the End
How to get there (to the Camino frances de Santiago)
The network of routes of the Camino is extended well beyond Spain and that means into France, Italy, Germany etc. For some tourists, it can be possible to start the pilgrimage already in the beginning near their homes.
This wasn’t my case, cause we were staying in Milan, Italy, at my brother’s and his wife’s house. Since we didn’t want to do all the Camino Frances, we flew directly to Santiago de Compostella. we stayed for one night there and afterward headed off to Sarria. This is the city where we decided to start the pilgrimage. We stayed also one night in Sarria, which was also a charming tourist destination.
Ways to do the Camino frances de Santiago and its iconic symbols
There are many routes to embark on the amazing Camino, but of course, only officially ones that take us to Santiago. To be as sure as possible, you can take a look for yourself here at Pilgrim. It is possible to do the spiritual journey walking, on horseback and bicycling, and also in a wheelchair, especially the route that we chose to follow.
We organized in three (I, my brother, and his wife) and agreed to go through the Camino Frances. This is the most popular one with a total length of almost 800km. It’s impossible to get a month off from work (unless you are your own boss). We decided to do the minimal amount of the trip in order to get the Certificate of the Pilgrim “Compostela” at the end of the Camino.
As we did the trip exclusively by walking (trekking), we had to cover at least the last 100km.
To achieve this feat, it was necessary to start from Sarria, a very interesting city.
The journey from here to Santiago de Compostella is approximately 115 km, divided into 5 days and 4 nights.
The iconic symbols
There are some objects that identify a pilgrim right at the first sight, but most traditionally:
– the Credencial of the pilgrim
– the Scallop Shell of Santiago
Without these, it’s like being a usual tourist undertaking a very unusual adventure and in the end no one will believe you ;).
Credencial of the pilgrim
The history of these two symbols dates back to the Middle Ages. The Credencial since then and still today, plays the role of a passport. It gives the pilgrim advantages along the entire route such as overnight stay, food, and water. In the Middle Ages it provided a safe and easier passage through the controls from the Kingdoms’ cavalries.
Today the function of the Credencial is symbolic and certifies that we have done the specified route that we went through to get to Santiago. You can achieve this by getting the famous Stamp or “Sello” in different places along the way. For example in hotels, hostels, restaurants, little shops of the locals etc. Surely in the high number of churches that you stumble upon (there they go by the name ‘Iglesia’) too.
Officially you need to get at least 2 stamps a day or per destination, usually one in the place of start and one in the city or place that you reach at the end of the day. The more the better and it is also a surprisingly funny experience. With the passing of the kilometers you finish being obsessed in getting those :).
There are several places that are authorized to give the Credencial. For example the Pilgrim Office near the Cathedral in Santiago, Associations of Friends of Saint James in and out of Spain, parish churches, etc.
We got it at the Pilgrim’s Office one day before the start of the adventure.
Scallop Shell of Santiago
The Scallop Shell is the other symbol that makes us a V.I.P. of the Camino frances de Santiago. It’s as old as the Credenciales and there are some legends on what is the meaning behind it. For example that is the symbol of St Jacob (or St James) himself or that the scallop shells are typically found in the ocean waters around Galicia. Opposite to the Credencial, the scallop shell is a lot easier to get and maybe you buy also online. We again got it at the Pilgrim Office. Ours also had another symbol of Santiago, the Cross of St James.
The Shell will also appear a lot along the way as part of directions to follow to get to Santiago.
Appearing of the Scallop Shell along the way, almost always together with the famous Yellow Arrows.
Planning and necessary equipment
As with every other trip or adventure we need to plan it well beforehand to enjoy it more and to keep the costs in control. Normally there are some good websites that can help you with this. But in our case, we decided to organize it all by ourselves. We began with the planning a lot of months ahead like in January and the start date of the trip was in August. That’s the only way to cut the costs and to be sure that you find what you’re searching for. Of course, there’s a lot to do like for example to book airplane tickets, hotels or hostels, reastaurants (if you really want to plan everything), buy necessary equipments etc etc. We’ll get a little more into detail as you go through the post.
Where to stay as a pilgrim
Historically there were special places for the pilgrims to spend the night or rest right along the Camino. They were called ‘hospitals’ or in Spanish “Refugio” or “Albergues” and they were free for the real pilgrims, which had proper identification means to prove it. We’ll mention them in detail further in this post.
Nowadays there are still such places and they also function as hostels, public and private. As for us, we didn’t stay in any of the traditional places for pilgrims, but normal hotels, with personal bedrooms and bathrooms.
Normally there are a lot of opportunities for hotels, as well as a lot of pilgrims that need a roof overnight. So it is recommended to book all the hotels along the chosen routes well ahead of the actual beginning of the Camino. The earlier the better is the applying principle here. It’s worth also for all the other bookings that will be needed to experience a stress-free trip.
The right shoewear
For such an adventure the most important equipment item or accessory will have to be the shoe. Even if you choose to do it with a bicycle or on horseback, I think it’ll play a huge role. Normally there are quite a few advices out there, but as for our choice, the Trekking shoes should be the way to go. The most part of the pilgrims do the Camino between Spring and Autumn and this should also be taken into account. You’d want waterproof shoes most of the time. As for us, the conclusions after the trip, justified our choice.
To get the most of the shoe, is also the right type of sock important and as always there are recommendations. I actually didn’t take them into account, but in general they should be breathable and should make the contact between the feet and the shoe, comfortable. One other detail that helps the feet are the insoles, and I starting using a type of them only in the middle of the Camino. My feet already got some blisters, a mistake that I wouldn’t do anymore. The choice for the right footwear depends also on how much kilometres a day you’re going to do.
Other helpful accessories
Another important item is the backpack and it should be a suitable one for the Camino. I didn’t considered it as very important and I relied upon a normal version of backpack, not the most suitable one. You’ll need it to take almost everything you need from clothes to first-aid items. My backpack got to a weight of 10 kg that made the walking a little harder than it already was and that because of the type I used.
So a lot of considerations are to be given when you choose it.
Sunglasses are also a nice item to take with you, with all that sun during a long day of walking, they’ll come in handy. Also here a lot of choices. Beside the sunglasses, a hat would be also recommended against the sun.
Living a crazy time of technology, the mobile phone will be of great importance and this is more obvious when the battery runs out. So, to counter this problem you would need a portable charger. We took it with us and it ended up to be a very useful item.
Last but not least, the clothes to wear should adhere to the weather time of the year. Of course, the choice here is mostly personal. The only general recommendation here can be that the clothes should be as light and breathable as possible. How good they make us look, it’s not important this time, it’s not a parade. 🙂
Camino frances de Santiago‘s costs
Walking the Camino as close as possible to the tradition will of course spare a lot of money, but even with a few extra we can reach the comfort that we want. In itself, it doesn’t suit the purpose of this Pilgrimage to spend a lot of money :). For the Plan that we did, for 7 days, a very approximate evaluation would be 500-700 Euro/person/1 Week, including here the airplane tickets, the current crazed state of prices all over Europe and of course a lot depends from the desires or needs that one can have. The costs for the necessary equipments should be covered separetely.
The experience along the Camino frances de Santiago
Walking the Camino is the source of so many great moments and the accumulated experience is really unique.
To get a little taste of it, even by just browsing through this post, we’ll break it down in very representative points.
Getting directions
All the routes of the Camino are very well fitted with directions, it’s impossible to get lost. As for us, we didn’t had to ask anyone to tell us what road to take for Santiago de Compostela. Of course, the GPS system that the mobile phones have, can come in handy, if there are doubts. From our experience, we used the GPS only to find the reastaurants or the hotels, just to be sure.
As I mentioned earlier, the Scallop Shell along the way was one direction hint, another two are the Yellow Arrows and the Milestones, that can have both the shell and the arrow on it. These are the traditionals ones.
Of course, there are also traffic sign tables that show the direction, but rarely. Let’s get a look of them:
Types of landscapes
The Camino Frances has generally a flat terrain, with occasional hills, but as for sceneries there are plenty to be seen. We have grouped a bunch of what we’ve come across:
Beautiful landscapes along the way
Refreshing along the Camino frances de Santiago
Being a hourly long walking, refreshing is one of the most important thing to do during the Pilgrimage. Of course we should take enough water with us, but along the way there are every now and then bars, little local stores where we can freshen up. But most traditionally there are the water fountains along the route, that just like in the Middle Ages, help the pilgrims to refreshen and why not to have a little relax with other fellow ones, before the walk can resume.
Traditional food & drinks
In order to have a healthy and energetic Camino, the Pilgrim needs also a lot of and especially tasty food. And what better than to enjoy the local traditions!! The most typical it has to be El Pulpo (the octopus) of Galicia and frankly it tastes amazing and it’s a must!
Of course there are a lot of other dishes, and even Italian pizza in Arzua, but I sticked with El Pulpo, it was the best! Regarding the drinks, you ought to taste the local beer, it was quite good:
Normally we’d expect traditional sweets and for that we have the “Tarta de Santiago”, a very tasteful cake. Another sweet delicacy is the Churro, but also the chocolate there were exquisite.
The long-awaited Visit to the Cathedral
The last day of the Camino, from O Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela, was the shortest one with barely 20km, but at the same time the most emotional: Final destination reached! Before reaching the city there is a special spot that is dedicated to the pilgrims and lays only 5 km from the Cathedral: Monte do Gozo. It is a hill where the pilgrims can have a look at the Cathedral for the first time since they started the Camino. For us, it was worth it and we recommend to make the last stop of the adventure there.
After the first pic, it’s time to get to the Place that we started the Camino for! Every day arrive at the Cathedral hundreds of pilgrims and to get inside it is a very difficult mission and the cue of people can last hours, but it’s totally worth it. Once inside we can admire the inner architecture as well the Pilgrims’ Mass, that is held in honor of the sacrifices made by the pilgrims.
In the vicinity of the Cathedral we found also another tribute to the pains of the adventurers:
La Compostela – The Certificate at the End of Camino frances de Santiago
After the memorable experience inside the magnificent Cathedral, it’s time to get the official recognition for the long days of walking and that means getting La Compostela. You can get it at the Office of the Pilgrim (Oficina del Peregrino) and that’s very close in the area. Normally a long long cue to get the recognition!
We left there our pilgrimage sticks, as there is a special place:
As final remarks, I can say that the Camino de Santiago it was one the greatest experience and I would recommend it to everyone. I hope also that this post can be a Travel Guide as well as an entertaining intro to the Camino!
