Is the Camino de Levante an official Camino route recognized by the Pilgrim Office?

[pitztop]

Recently I met a fellow pilgrim while I was walking the Camino Invierno/Sanabrés earlier this month. He started his Camino in Almería and walked the Camino Mozárabe route before joining the Via de Plata/Sanabrés route into Santiago de Compostela (which is normal). He arrived in SdC a day before I did, and when I arrived we went out for dinner together. He told me that the Pilgrim's Office had issued him a Compostela for the Via de la Plata instead of for the Camino Mozárabe, which disappointed him because he already has a Compostela for the Via de la Plata from a previous Camino. We thought that perhaps there had been a misunderstanding, so he went back to the Pilgrim's Office the next day to see if he could get his Compostela changed to say that he had walked the Camino Mozárabe. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful. The person he talked to at the Pilgrim's Office told him that the Camino Mozárabe is not an officially recognized route, and the best they could do was issue a Compostela for the Via de la Plata.

I am planning to walk the Camino de Levante next year starting from Valencia. It also joins the Via de la Plata. This leaves me with two questions.

1. Does anyone know if the Camino de Levante is an officially route recognized by the Pilgrim's Office, or do they issue Compostela for the Via de la Plata instead?

2. Does anyone know if there is a definitive list of ALL Camino routes in Spain officially recognized by the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago de Compostela? If so, where can I find it? I have searched and have not been successful.

I know that none of this is very important in the big scheme of things and won't deter me from walking the Camino de Levante next year, but I'm just curious

 

[Madidi]

Hi pitztop.

The Compostela is a church document, issued free, to everyone who has completed the minimum requirements for walking, cycling, riding etc to Santiago. The Compostela doesn't include details of a starting point or route undertaken to get there. It only records the date you arrive at the Office and your name (christian name in Latin).

The 'Certificate of Distance', is a more recent certificate, available to purchase at the time you receive your Compostela, which does include starting point, distance walked and route taken. If your friend has already asked the question at the Pilgrims Office and has been told the route he walked is not yet recognised, then I think that that is definitive. My experience of having volunteered there is that where someone has walked a combination of routes, the last taken into the city will be recorded for the office statistics. In those cases I would, if asked, record on the 'Certificate of Distance', the total kms walked as provided by the pilgrim.

I am not aware of any official list of routes, but the Pilgrims Office webpage is worth a look: Pilgrims Office statistics

Take care, be safe.

 

[Tincatinker]

I suspect this is because the Camino Mozarbe does not go "to" Santiago. The route taken for the relevant 100km (relevant in terms of the Compostella) was the Plata. The same will apply to the Levante.

That said I do not see anywhere on any of my Compostela where the route undertaken is designated. Mind you I've not collected one for a while. Contrariwise https://oficinadelperegrino.com/en/pilgrimage/certificate-of-distance/ does include an opportunity to record point of origin and route(s) undertaken.

 

[alexwalker]

Speaking as a former volunteer in the Pilgrim's Office (PO):

You can start wherever in the world you like. In former days, people started from their doorstep. There are only two traveling demands for getting the Compostela:

1) You must have walked the last 100 kms (200 kms for bicyclists) on a route ending in Santiago recognized by the PO: For your Levente trip it would most likely be the Sanabres (last part of the VdlP), CF, Ingles, or other. Hard to miss that.

2) You need 2 stamps/day for those last 100 kms.

You must also state that you have walked for religious/stiritual reasons. If you haven't, you can ask for a distance certificate; see @Madidi 's post above for details.

That's all.

Buen Camino!

 

[Kathar1na]

He told me that the Pilgrim's Office had issued him a Compostela for the Via de la Plata instead of for the Camino Mozárabe, which disappointed him because he already has a Compostela for the Via de la Plata from a previous Camino

What is it that you are concerned about for your next Camino - Compostela or Distance Certificate? I've never seen a Compostela where the route is mentioned, and I've seen a lot of them on the internet. I assume that you mean the Distance Certificate (see below).

I have no idea why they would not put any name of a route on it that a pilgrim wishes to see there. Their form, their database and their statistics allow for the option of an "other route" besides those that are listed by name. If you click on the various options in the form that you have to fill in (online here: https://catedral.df-server.info/agencias/Individuo.aspx?lang=2) you see that they limit the number of starting points for the "otros caminos". You also see the list of the 9 Caminos there that are mentioned by name and where you can pick one for your distance certificate. There may be nothing more to this than an organisational matter.

Within Galicia, there are "recognised" caminos; recognised both by the Cathedral and by the regional government of Galicia. Condition for recognition is that there is some documentary or other material evidence that at least one pilgrim or pilgrims walked it at one period in time. I do not think that this business of official recognition extends beyond Galicia. In other parts of Spain and Europe, many Caminos are recognised in some way or another, usually by the local administration/tourism departments in coordination with Friends of the Camino associations.

 

[Kathar1na]

I am planning to walk the Camino de Levante next year starting from Valencia. It
I know that none of this is very important in the big scheme of things and won't deter me from walking the Camino de Levante next year, but I'm just curious.

Hi again @pitztop. If you start in Valencia and reach Santiago by one of the usual Caminos going through Galicia and ending in Santiago, you'll get your Compostela.

For a distance certificate, I would fill in the online form as follows:

1. Tick the box for Certificado de distancia
2. For Camino, select Otros Caminos
3. For Punto de procedencia, select Valencia O.C. (I assume the O.C. stands for otros caminos)
4. Ask the volunteer to write Camino Levante on the certificate. Actually, I see no reason why they could not write Camino Levante/Camino Via de la Plata on your piece of paper. Such an approach would satisfy both their database/statistics requirements and the wishes of the pilgrim.

 

[alexwalker]

Hi again @pitztop. If you start in Valencia and reach Santiago by one of the usual Caminos going through Galicia and ending in Santiago, you'll get your Compostela.

Spot on. Not difficult. 2 stamps/day on the last 100 kms by foot, 200 kms/day on a bisycle.

 

[alexwalker]

For a distance certificate, I would fill in the online form as follows:

1. Tick the box for Certificado de distancia
2. For Camino, select Otros Caminos
3. For Punto de procedencia, select Valencia O.C. (I assume the O.C. stands for otros caminos)
4. Ask the volunteer to write Camino Levante on the certificate. Actually, I see no reason why they could not write Camino Levante/Camino Via de la Plata on your piece of paper. Such an approach would satisfy both their database/statistics requirements and the wishes of the pilgrim.

Spot on. Not difficult.

 

[filly]

What surprises me, returning to the original post, is that the Via de la Plata has an end point of .... Gijon!

 

[malingerer]

What surprises me, returning to the original post, is that the Via de la Plata has an end point of .... Gijon!

Very curious about all of this! I have always been under the impression that the Via de la Plata begins in Sevilla and ends in Astorga and that there was no Compostela for this as such. The other bits are add ons eg choice of Sanabres to Santiago or on to Sdc from Astorga. I started from Malaga one year but considered that this was part of the Mozarabe until I joined the VDLP proper at Merida. Never ever knew about GIJON. I still hope one year to get the bit from ZAMORRA to ASTORGA done and dusted and that for me will be it! God speed anyway and buen camino .

Samarkand.

 

[Tincatinker]

The Via de la Plata was the route by which silver obtained ( I’ve carefully avoided using looted ) from the South Americas was distributed from the port of Cadiz to the cathedrals of Madrid, Santiago, Oviedo and the rest. Such well maintained roads made for easy passage for the pilgrims following the oxen. Though their feet must’ve smelled sweet

 

[pitztop]

Thank you all very much for clarifying the issue. Again, it's really not a big deal. I was just curious to know if there was any official policy at the Pilgrim's Office which precludes certain routes that may not be recognized.

 

[ortemio]

my distance certificate says "1418km, Camino Mozarabe and Via De la Plata"

 

[Kathar1na]

my distance certificate says "1418km, Camino Mozarabe and Via De la Plata"

This makes sense.

My guess is that while it is not possible to pick both Camino Mozarabe and Via de la Plata for the form that each pilgrims has to fill in and it is not possible to enter this combination into the database that staff and volunteers at the Pilgrim Office feed, it is obviously possible to write this combination onto the distance certificate. Perhaps one or the other volunteer is not always up to date to the finer points of all this and the person mentioned in the first post was just unlucky.

 

[peregrina2000]

Sorry to be late to the thread, but if you look at the pilgrims office website, you will see the list of Caminos that they officially recognize. These are the Francés, the Portugués, the Portugues coastal, the Norte, the Via de la Plata, the Primitivo, the Camino from Muxia and Finisterre, and the Invierno.

http://oficinadelperegrino.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/peregrinaciones2019.pdf

I believe they have recently added the Geira e dos Arrieros from Braga.

But the office also keeps track of starting points so you can get an idea about how many people walk the Levante, Mozarabe, etc.

 

[Kathar1na]

@pitztop, I don't know whether you are still in contact with the fellow pilgrim who didn't manage to have Camino Mozarabe and Via de la Plata written on his distance certificate, unlike @ortemio who has a certificate that says so.

Maybe the person will find consolation in the fact that there are pilgrims who walk much larger distances and on unnamed trails or trails that change name several times and none of it gets a mention. This pilgrim started in Berlin, walked 3.150 km and his certificate simply says: From Berlin on the trail of the Camino del Norte ... !

 

[C clearly]

I was just curious to know if there was any official policy at the Pilgrim's Office which precludes certain routes that may not be recognized

There probably IS a policy, but we are not sure of it. Besides, the application of the policy will likely be uneven!

 

[Kathar1na]

What surprises me, returning to the original post, is that the Via de la Plata has an end point of .... Gijon!

From a chapter in "Culture and Society in Tourism Contexts" which can be read online:

The Ruta de la Plata (from Arab al-balat - cobbled paving) dates back to the 2nd century BC. There is consensus that the original road linked Emerita Augusta (Mérida) with Asturica Augusta (Astorga). During the next centuries the road extended south to Seville and Cadiz and north to Gijon. It roughly corresponds to the actual A-66 highway. This important corridor has been used and modified over centuries. During the 8th century, the Arabs used it for their swift conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Since the 11th century, the road was followed by the Mozárabes of al-Andalus [who, obviously, turned left and off the old Via de la Plata at one point to go to Santiago].​

​

Apparently, there are heated discussions, both among scholars and then in turn among politicians, eager to promote their town and their region, regarding which towns can be included in the Via de la Plata and have a 'historical right' to claim the label for tourism promotion.

Santiago and Ourense are most definitely not towns belonging to this corridor. I guess it was the writers of contemporary guidebooks and the promotors of the contemporary Caminos to Santiago who decided that their version of a Via de la Plata ends in Santiago.

 

[Anthony Rocco]

Recently I met a fellow pilgrim while I was walking the Camino Invierno/Sanabrés earlier this month. He started his Camino in Almería and walked the Camino Mozárabe route before joining the Via de Plata/Sanabrés route into Santiago de Compostela (which is normal). He arrived in SdC a day before I did, and when I arrived we went out for dinner together. He told me that the Pilgrim's Office had issued him a Compostela for the Via de la Plata instead of for the Camino Mozárabe, which disappointed him because he already has a Compostela for the Via de la Plata from a previous Camino. We thought that perhaps there had been a misunderstanding, so he went back to the Pilgrim's Office the next day to see if he could get his Compostela changed to say that he had walked the Camino Mozárabe. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful. The person he talked to at the Pilgrim's Office told him that the Camino Mozárabe is not an officially recognized route, and the best they could do was issue a Compostela for the Via de la Plata.

I am planning to walk the Camino de Levante next year starting from Valencia. It also joins the Via de la Plata. This leaves me with two questions.

1. Does anyone know if the Camino de Levante is an officially route recognized by the Pilgrim's Office, or do they issue Compostela for the Via de la Plata instead?

2. Does anyone know if there is a definitive list of ALL Camino routes in Spain officially recognized by the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago de Compostela? If so, where can I find it? I have searched and have not been successful.

I know that none of this is very important in the big scheme of things and won't deter me from walking the Camino de Levante next year, but I'm just curious

I would like to hear about walking the Invierno/Sanabres. How many days? Where did you stop?

 

[C clearly]

I would like to hear about walking the Invierno/Sanabres. How many days? Where did you stop?

There is lots of information on the Invierno (which coincides with the Sanabres in the final stages) in this section of the forum. You could post any specific questions there.

 

[alansykes]

The Via de la Plata was the route by which silver obtained ( I’ve carefully avoided using looted ) from the South Americas was distributed from the port of Cadiz to the cathedrals of Madrid, Santiago, Oviedo and the rest.

This canard appears so often, even in printed form, that I've never bothered to contradict it. This time, as it has the seal of a moderator on it, I will - just restraining myself from using capital letters.

The Vía de la Plata has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with silver, whether from the new world or the old. It is a corruption of the Arabic al-Balat, meaning paved road, used to describe the Roman road that went between two of Augustus' cities, Mérida and Astorga.

Nothing whatever to do with silver, nothing. Did I mention that the Vía de la Plata is not the Silver Road?

 

[Tincatinker]

Alan, thank you. Now I’ll have to go in search of a new duck