Got my Pilgrim's Passport

[soozansings]

Ivar! My Pilgrim's Passport arrived in the mail today in Florida USA. Thanks! Do I wait and register at the first Pilgrim's office I come across? I land in Madrid, then to Ponferrada to begin my Way.

 

[Kurt5280]

You don't need to register...all you need is the Pilgrim Credential (Passport) and you can get your first stamp at your Albergue or hotel, Pilgrim Office, restaurant, etc...if you start in Ponferrada ask any Pilgrim that looks dirty and tired and they will explain everything you want to know.

 

[Kanga]

You can also get a starting stamp from your home town, and stopovers along the way, such as Madrid. A good way to remind yourself of the whole pilgrimage.

 

[mcopeland]

You can also get a starting stamp from your home town, and stopovers along the way, such as Madrid. A good way to remind yourself of the whole pilgrimage.

How do I get a stamp from my home town? We fly into Barcelona. Where would we get one there?

 

[mspath]

Your home town Mayor's office, public library, or local church might be able to provide your first stamp. Wherever you stay overnight in Barcelona might be another source of a stamp. Don't forget to have the stamps dated!

Good luck and Buen camino!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

The stamps do not have to be "Camino related", like the ones in albergues are (and often pretty with some thought put into them like a logo. All you need is a business stamp, like the ones with the shop's name, address, phone, business registration numbers used on generic receipts, etc. If you want a pretty credencial those may not be the way to go though....

 

[t2andreo]

Speaking on behalf of all of us who labor in the Pilgrims Office at Santiago, at the end of your Camino, we do sincerely appreciate it when the blanks in the front of your credencial are all filled in appropriately. Providing your name,"home town," starting date and place, how you traveled (foot, bike, horse), and signing the front page, all help move the process along.

Personally, I obtain my credentials from American Pilgrims on Camino (APOC) - http://www.americanpilgrims.org

Each year, this document comes to me partially filled out using a laser printer. My name, hometown and country are already completed. I finish the inside front page and away I go.

Your national pilgrims organization may also make credentials available to you. Or, you can order them from Ivar here in his store. The credentials he provides are the same credentials sold in the Pilgrim Office.

Also, should you lose your credential and it gets forwarded to the Pilgrim Office by whoever finds it, we can more easily return it to you when you arrive if you have filled in the front page. The process is simple. An arriving pilgrim comes to us stating that they lost their credencial at (place) on (date). We will ask the person to show us an identity document, then we rummage through the box(es) of turned-in credentials to try to find yours. If you are lucky and a good samaritan forwarded your credential to us, you are reconnected to your document...smiles all around... Of course, if you neglected to write your name in the Credencial, who is to say that is yours?

As an aside, if this happens (you lose your credential), try to obtain another credential along the way and pick up where the other document left off, obtaining sellos each day. If the first document gets to Santiago, we may be able to stitch together a complete record of your progress on Camino. Alternatively, get a piece of paper to collect your daily 'sellos' on to establish your "line of march."

All evidence is good evidence. But showing up empty-handed and with only a good story alone can result in disappointment.

When you do get to the Pilgrim Office, if you have all the appropriate blanks filled in ahead of time, it saves having to take the time at the Pilgrim Office counter to ask you to do it and delay processing for the others in the queue. Yes, it does not take long to ask this of one pilgrim, but if you take that extra minute or so and extrapolate out to a large percentage of folks in the queue, it clearly adds up to extra waiting times.

Queue management was my mien when I was working. It remains a skill I brought to the Pilgrim Office in 2014, 2015, and will again this summer.

I hope this helps.

 

[purplesage]

Buen Camino. I'm sure you're excited !!!

 

[t2andreo]

You betcha!

 

[soozansings]

Speaking on behalf of all of us who labor in the Pilgrims Office at Santiago, at the end of your Camino, we do sincerely appreciate it when the blanks in the front of your credencial are all filled in appropriately. Providing your name,"home town," starting date and place, how you traveled (foot, bike, horse), and signing the front page, all help move the process along.

Personally, I obtain my credentials from American Pilgrims on Camino (APOC) - http://www.americanpilgrims.org

Each year, this document comes to me partially filled out using a laser printer. My name, hometown and country are already completed. I finish the inside front page and away I go.

Your national pilgrims organization may also make credentials available to you. Or, you can order them from Ivar here in his store. The credentials he provides are the same credentials sold in the Pilgrim Office.

Also, should you lose your credential and it gets forwarded to the Pilgrim Office by whoever finds it, we can more easily return it to you when you arrive if you have filled in the front page. The process is simple. An arriving pilgrim comes to us stating that they lost their credencial at (place) on (date). We will ask the person to show us an identity document, then we rummage through the box(es) of turned-in credentials to try to find yours. If you are lucky and a good samaritan forwarded your credential to us, you are reconnected to your document...smiles all around... Of course, if you neglected to write your name in the Credencial, who is to say that is yours?

As an aside, if this happens (you lose your credential), try to obtain another credential along the way and pick up where the other document left off, obtaining sellos each day. If the first document gets to Santiago, we may be able to stitch together a complete record of your progress on Camino. Alternatively, get a piece of paper to collect your daily 'sellos' on to establish your "line of march."

All evidence is good evidence. But showing up empty-handed and with only a good story alone can result in disappointment.

When you do get to the Pilgrim Office, if you have all the appropriate blanks filled in ahead of time, it saves having to take the time at the Pilgrim Office counter to ask you to do it and delay processing for the others in the queue. Yes, it does not take long to ask this of one pilgrim, but if you take that extra minute or so and extrapolate out to a large percentage of folks in the queue, it clearly adds up to extra waiting times.

Queue management was my mien when I was working. It remains a skill I brought to the Pilgrim Office in 2014, 2015, and will again this summer.

I hope this helps.

Thank you for this information. I didn't want to fill in any info until i checked. Gracias.

 

[Bernieoncamino]

You can also get a starting stamp from your home town, and stopovers along the way, such as Madrid. A good way to remind yourself of the whole pilgrimage.

Hi
I have received my Pilgrim's passport & wondering how I go about getting Stamps before I start my "actual" Camino. Can I get a stamp from my local post office the day I leave home, then one in Paris? If I get one in Paris what would be the best place? A train station maybe?

 

[Kanga]

Anywhere that has a stamp that shows the location - many businesses have them, bars, restaurants, but also some churches, town halls, places like that. And write the date underneath the stamp.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Can I get a stamp from my local post office the day I leave home, then one in Paris?

I have not read anywhere that "stamps" are a tradition in Australia, but you could ask your post office. Also, it is not really a tradition in France except for the pilgrimage route, but city hall, bars, and hotels often have stamps. The stamps are a great souvenir, but their principal purposes are admission to public albergues and verifying that the Pilgrim has walked the last 100km (or biked the last 200km).

 

[Anemone del Camino]

And you have to decide what kind of stamp you want. A pretty one, designed to be a souvenir or a generic one, all text, no drawings, like what you use to stamp a receipt or use on the back of a chque when you deposit it. Actually, the fact that the munis in Galicia are all the same may be an incentive to stay in privates just to make your credencial more interesting.

 

[soozansings]

And you have to decide what kind of stamp you want. A pretty one, designed to be a souvenir or a generic one, all text, no drawings, like what you use to stamp a receipt or use on the back of a chque when you deposit it. Actually, the fact that the munis in Galicia are all the same may be an incentive to stay in privates just to make your credencial more interesting.

Thank you!

 

[Meliza]

Good day everyone!!

I will be arriving in Madrid on 9 Sept without pilgrim passport, I know i can get one in madrid off to sol street, do you think i can get one also in toledo? since i have a half day free time visiting toledo... How about at the Madrid Airport? is there any place i can get it.

My friend will pick me up in Madrid and we will go straight to Camping Monterroso Avenida de la playa Monterroso, Lujo to park the mobile house. We will do the lite walk - 100 km from Sarria, I need some advice in case i cannot manage to get my pilgrim passport in Madrid or Toledo does any one knows an exact place address where we can get in Lujo.

Since we will sleep in the mobile house to do the camino (5 days) our problem is stamping in our pilgrim passport, when we start early morning in Sarria or other villages i know the hostel/albergue can put the stamp but how about we didnt sleep with their place, do they will stamp our passport?? is cafe or restaurant are open 7 am ?? can they stamp our passport with out buying anything?

Thank you very much in advance......

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

How do I get a stamp from my home town? We fly into Barcelona. Where would we get one there?

We, my wife or myself can get our first sello around the corner in the St. James Hospital.
Since a few years they also have a room, special for a Pilgrim passing by from the North.
Wish everyone well, Peter.

 

[jrm]

One thing I might recommend, get a small plastic sandwich bag to in which you can store your credential! I kept my credential in my pocket at all times and was glad to have it protected when the weather turned. Or, better yet, Ivar sells a plastic sleeve for just this purpose in the camino store!

Just a thought.

 

[AcrossTheWater3008]

Hi there, @t2andreo

I think you might hv been the kind person who served me when I came into the Santiago Pilgrims Office on 30/8/16 to request a mileage certificate from SJPDP to Santiago as well as a sentence to the effect that I walked to Finisterra/Muxia (but bussed back) You talked to me about your trip to Guilin, Shanghai etc..... and that you were hoping to walk to Muxia with friends?....haha...... that was a good encounter!

Jz to add, you were not able to add those exta kilometres of the Atlantic mini camino..

Thanks again! Buen Camino!

Ginette

 

[Felipe]

Good day everyone!!
I will be arriving in Madrid on 9 Sept without pilgrim passport, I know i can get one in madrid off to sol street, do you think i can get one also in toledo? since i have a half day free time visiting toledo... How about at the Madrid Airport? is there any place i can get it.
My friend will pick me up in Madrid and we will go straight to Camping Monterroso Avenida de la playa Monterroso, Lujo to park the mobile house. We will do the lite walk - 100 km from Sarria, I need some advice in case i cannot manage to get my pilgrim passport in Madrid or Toledo does any one knows an exact place address where we can get in Lujo.
Since we will sleerp in the mobile house to do the camino (5 days) our problem is stamping in our pilgrim passport, when we start early morning in Sarria or other villages i know the hostel/albergue can put the stamp but how about we didnt sleep with their place, do they will stamp our passport?? is cafe or restaurant are open 7 am ?? can they stamp our passport with out buying anything?
Thank you very much in advance......

You can get your credencial (it is not called "passport" in Spain) in the cathedrals. Try Toledo (the place is quite obvious...). I doubt very much about getting the credencial at the airport, but I don't really know. You can ask in the tourism bureau.
Another possibility is Sarria itself. There are many albergues along the very touristy Calle Maior. They are open very early, and they will sell you a credencial (they are businesses, mostly), or inform you where it is sold. There, you will get your first stamp.
Note that Lugo (not Lujo, it is not a minor thing bcs the pronunciation in Spanish is very different) is a province and its capital. As I see it, you are going to the village of Monterroso (which happens to be in the province of Lugo). It is near the Camino, but at 50 km from Sarria. Confirming the address could be convenient.
You can stamp the credencial in churches (better), post offices, tourism bureaus, cafes and restaurants. And yes, the latter expect you to buy a coffee or a beer before you ask for a "sello".
Buen camino!

 

[Felipe]

Just saw an interactive map with places to get a credential. Click the little Compostela cross for the addresses. Is it not complete (I know about other places...) but the idea is interesting and useful
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1-YDK_Gt7vgKkX0Siaopo5jYNSrA&hl=en_US

 

[Meliza]

You can get your credencial (it is not called "passport" in Spain) in the cathedrals. Try Toledo (the place is quite obvious...). I doubt very much about getting the credencial at the airport, but I don't really know. You can ask in the tourism bureau.
Another possibility is Sarria itself. There are many albergues along the very touristy Calle Maior. They are open very early, and they will sell you a credencial (they are businesses, mostly), or inform you where it is sold. There, you will get your first stamp.
Note that Lugo (not Lujo, it is not a minor thing bcs the pronunciation in Spanish is very different) is a province and its capital. As I see it, you are going to the village of Monterroso (which happens to be in the province of Lugo). It is near the Camino, but at 50 km from Sarria. Confirming the address could be convenient.
You can stamp the credencial in churches (better), post offices, tourism bureaus, cafes and restaurants. And yes, the latter expect you to buy a coffee or a beer before you ask for a "sello".
Buen camino!

Thank you very much @ Felipe