What is the Camino de Santiago?

The Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of St. James, is a renowned pilgrimage of medieval origin that sees pilgrims journey to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in the northwest of Spain.
Legend has it that the remains of the Apostle St. James the Great were buried in the Cathedral and discovered by a shepherd in the 9th century. The city of Santiago is named after St. James: Santiago de Compostela means St. James of the Field of Stars.

There is actually no singular starting point for the Camino de Santiago. There are many different routes to Santiago and in turn many starting points.

The reason for the huge variety in starting points is that the original pilgrims would have commenced their Camino journeys from their own homes. So that’s why so many different Camino ways have emerged over the centuries.

We will be walking The Camino Frances, also known as the French Way, which is the most famous and most popular of the Camino routes ever since the Middle Ages.

This route is 800km long and takes about 5 weeks to walk. We have chosen to start the journey from St Jean Pied de Port in France but you also can start at any point along the route.Weiterlesen