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No different than what happened to me in mid-June - there was one pilgrim ahead of me in the queue. 'Surprised' is an understatement. But there was certainly a queue later, and a long one. The very nice Taize service in the chapel was competing with the voices of raucous people in the line outside.Below is a photo I just took. It shows the actual queue waiting for Compostelas.
I've seen it that empty - mind you it was 8:30pm and they were locking the doors!I started my annual stint at the Pilgrim Office, working as a volunteer for four weeks, on 15 July. A strange thing has happened.
For several says I have observed that, at 9:00 they have about 14 people working to issue Compostelas. This means that the queue does not get a chance to form.
Below is a photo I just took. It shows the actual queue waiting for Compostelas.
Yeah, I know. It shocks me too. Friday is historically the busiest day of the week.
I am certain things will get much busier as next Thursday, 25 July, is the Feast of Santiago.
Fingers crossed that this continues. When I was here working for two weeks in May, I begged them to front-load staffing to prevent a queue from forming. Go figure! They actually heard me...
Bottom line... ARRIVE EARLY IN THE DAY!
Hope this helps.
View attachment 61391
Wow, sitting on the job in Vezeley! Easy, peasy, and in such a beautiful village! When I was there six years ago I didn't even know what a camino was..."so close and yet so far".@t2andreo : just started my 2 weeks duty in the Pilgrim Office in Vézelay: the queue looks much easy here:
View attachment 61400
I'm wondering why the pilgrim count has been at 0 for the last two weeks? I enjoy checking it to see how many pilgrims are coming in.
Tom is one of "the best". His expertise and love for the Camino and fellow pilgrims has benefited everyone on this forum in one way or another!I can verify from direct eyes-on today that T2 is not derelict in his duty, and wish to thank him for the volunteer service.
And the queue was wonderfully non-existent at 10:50am.View attachment 61463
Love the cap!I can verify from direct eyes-on today that T2 is not derelict in his duty, and wish to thank him for the volunteer service.
And the queue was wonderfully non-existent at 10:50am.View attachment 61463
But just how long is thatAll things will happen in their appointed time... Just sayin.
I also check it regularly to see how many people arrived and its giving a count of 0, however if you select the Spanish tab it was will give you the number that arrived " ayer llegararon"There is a problem with the web site. I pointed it out to staff when I first blew into town, even before I started working.
They are aware of it and insist it is being corrected. I do not have a timeline or date specific for remediation.
That said, this IS Spain. All things will happen in their appointed time... Just sayin.
Hope this helps.
I came across this credential this year while volunteering... the pilgrims in question had not actually walked from Orense so were denied a Compostela on those grounds but it was also highlighted to them that the credential was not an official one. Whether that would have resulted in not getting a Compostela if they had had all their stamps I don’t know...Hi Andreo,
as you are working right at the source, may I ask you to check, if the pilgrim-Office still recognizes this credencial issued for the Via de la Plata?
orange Credencial Via de la Plata - front
orange Credencial Via de la Plata - back
I saw and got one in Salamanca 2009 but then, when continuing my Via de la Plata in 2010 I read that it was not recognized by the pilgrim-Office anymore.
This year, they were available at the albergue in Salamanca, Casa de Calera, again and were sold for 2 €.
Are they now recognized as an alternative credencial approved by the cathedral of Santiago? I know that local societies are to issue their own credencials with the approval of the cathedral of Santiago. Or shall I rather take an normal one when continuing my VdP next year?
And - as this question arose in a German Forum - what about the free credencials offered by the Tourist-Information in Oviedo? Two years ago I read here, that they are not "official" and thus not recognized. Is this still valid?
BC
Alexandra
Hi Andreo,
as you are working right at the source, may I ask you to check, if the pilgrim-Office still recognizes this credencial issued for the Via de la Plata?
orange Credencial Via de la Plata - front
orange Credencial Via de la Plata - back
I saw and got one in Salamanca 2009 but then, when continuing my Via de la Plata in 2010 I read that it was not recognized by the pilgrim-Office anymore.
This year, they were available at the albergue in Salamanca, Casa de Calera, again and were sold for 2 €.
Are they now recognized as an alternative credencial approved by the cathedral of Santiago? I know that local societies are to issue their own credencials with the approval of the cathedral of Santiago. Or shall I rather take an normal one when continuing my VdP next year?
And - as this question arose in a German Forum - what about the free credencials offered by the Tourist-Information in Oviedo? Two years ago I read here, that they are not "official" and thus not recognized. Is this still valid?
BC
Alexandra
Hi Andreo,
as you are working right at the source, may I ask you to check, if the pilgrim-Office still recognizes this credencial issued for the Via de la Plata?
orange Credencial Via de la Plata - front
orange Credencial Via de la Plata - back
I saw and got one in Salamanca 2009 but then, when continuing my Via de la Plata in 2010 I read that it was not recognized by the pilgrim-Office anymore.
This year, they were available at the albergue in Salamanca, Casa de Calera, again and were sold for 2 €.
Are they now recognized as an alternative credencial approved by the cathedral of Santiago? I know that local societies are to issue their own credencials with the approval of the cathedral of Santiago. Or shall I rather take an normal one when continuing my VdP next year?
And - as this question arose in a German Forum - what about the free credencials offered by the Tourist-Information in Oviedo? Two years ago I read here, that they are not "official" and thus not recognized. Is this still valid?
BC
Alexandra
Hi! I am starting my volunteering on the 29th, I am a native Spanish but I live in Iceland. I read before an old post you had about the volunteering, because I have some questions regarding the working hours per day and the facilities at Santa Clara.I started my annual stint at the Pilgrim Office, working as a volunteer for four weeks, on 15 July. A strange thing has happened.
For several says I have observed that, at 9:00 they have about 14 people working to issue Compostelas. This means that the queue does not get a chance to form.
Below is a photo I just took. It shows the actual queue waiting for Compostelas.
Yeah, I know. It shocks me too. Friday is historically the busiest day of the week.
I am certain things will get much busier as next Thursday, 25 July, is the Feast of Santiago.
Fingers crossed that this continues. When I was here working for two weeks in May, I begged them to front-load staffing to prevent a queue from forming. Go figure! They actually heard me...
Bottom line... ARRIVE EARLY IN THE DAY!
Hope this helps.
View attachment 61391
T2, when your life in the pilgrims office has calmed down, can you remind us how the staff tallies which camino you have walked?
I meant to ask when I was there, because I noticed that the sheet that I manually fill out to give to the person behind the desk only indicates my starting point, purpose, means of travel, name and address, profession, etc. It does not ask me which camino(s) I have walked. I do remember having a conversation with the guy writing the compostelas about my “interesting” (his word) combination of Vasco/Olvidado/Invierno, but I cannot remember if he asked me to specify precisely which camino I wanted to be recorded. Do the staff people record the camino walked on another sheet of paper or on the computer?
I’m trying to figure out how they get the total of Invierno pilgrims. If you put Ponferrada as your starting point, there’s nothing on the sheet to indicate whether you went on the Francés or Invierno, so I’m curious.
Thanks for keeping us updated. Has Santiago avoided most of the heat waves?
The bottom line is that, for counting statistics to support the Compostela process, it is the route that you arrived in Santiago on is counted.
Hope this helps.
Hi Perigrina 2000,T2, when your life in the pilgrims office has calmed down, can you remind us how the staff tallies which camino you have walked?
I meant to ask when I was there, because I noticed that the sheet that I manually fill out to give to the person behind the desk only indicates my starting point, purpose, means of travel, name and address, profession, etc. It does not ask me which camino(s) I have walked. I do remember having a conversation with the guy writing the compostelas about my “interesting” (his word) combination of Vasco/Olvidado/Invierno, but I cannot remember if he asked me to specify precisely which camino I wanted to be recorded. Do the staff people record the camino walked on another sheet of paper or on the computer?
I’m trying to figure out how they get the total of Invierno pilgrims. If you put Ponferrada as your starting point, there’s nothing on the sheet to indicate whether you went on the Francés or Invierno, so I’m curious.
Thanks for keeping us updated. Has Santiago avoided most of the heat waves?
you start at Somport on the Camino Aragones, then joined the Frances at Puente la Reina, this is counted as the Frances
@GettingThere : you're right. I only got Compostela's on my first two Camino's, only getting the second one because I was joining my wife who was getting her first one. After my first Compostela I found out that the Compostela doesn't mean that much to me (it's somewhere upstairs in a closet). But my Credentials are very meaningul to me. I take them out regularly. Just looking at the various stamps brings back memories of the places where I got them.The fact that many people on second and subsequent Caminos may not then seek a Compostela.
They did exactly that for me in 2014. When asked which Camino I walked I said that I've walked two (Madrid & Invierno) in entirety and connecting parts of Frances & Sanabres. They said one credencial - one Compostela and only one Camino can go into stats. I decided for Madrid...If you were to walk the Madrid-Frances-Invierno but wanted the stats to tally you as a (say) Frances pilgrim, would they do that?
(The question equally applies to any other arcane combination - though as Lauries says, many of the feeder routes into the Frances, VdlP, Primativo, and Norte are out of the statistical loop.)
So correct me if I'm wrong. You get tallied based on which camino you take into Santiago, though Primativo and Invierno pilgrims get listed as such, even though the last bits of each of those are on other routes, right?
So here's a hypothetical question, @t2andreo: if you walk a camino mixta, can you request that your stats be entered for one of the caminos in the mix? So for example, If you were to walk the Madrid-Frances-Invierno but wanted the stats to tally you as a (say) Frances pilgrim, would they do that?
(The question equally applies to any other arcane combination - though as Lauries says, many of the feeder routes into the Frances, VdlP, Primativo, and Norte are out of the statistical loop.)
Well, I am assuming that there is no way to record Olvidado, Vasco, etc, because of the options that t2 described in his post. And if you look at the statistics, the only totals are Francés, Porugués, Norte, Primitivo, Inglés, Portugues de la Costa, Vdlp, Muxia/Finisterre, and last but not least, Invierno. Well, not technically last, because there is a catch-all “other caminos” category (326 in 1918).So correct me if I'm wrong. You get tallied based on which camino you take into Santiago, though Primativo and Invierno pilgrims get listed as such, even though the last bits of each of those are on other routes, right?
So here's a hypothetical question, @t2andreo: if you walk a camino mixta, can you request that your stats be entered for one of the caminos in the mix? So for example, If you were to walk the Madrid-Frances-Invierno but wanted the stats to tally you as a (say) Frances pilgrim, would they do that?
(The question equally applies to any other arcane combination - though as Lauries says, many of the feeder routes into the Frances, VdlP, Primativo, and Norte are out of the statistical loop.)
I think a lot of people wait until early fall due to the high summer temperatures. When I walked last September, and finished in October-finishing on a Saturday, there was at least a 2 hour wait. I went the next day, first think in the morning...and no a soul. It gets better., when I left the office and walked towards the plaza, there was a gigantic rainbow. Now that was a way to end my pilgrimage!I started my annual stint at the Pilgrim Office, working as a volunteer for four weeks, on 15 July. A strange thing has happened.
For several says I have observed that, at 9:00 they have about 14 people working to issue Compostelas. This means that the queue does not get a chance to form.
Below is a photo I just took. It shows the actual queue waiting for Compostelas.
Yeah, I know. It shocks me too. Friday is historically the busiest day of the week.
I am certain things will get much busier as next Thursday, 25 July, is the Feast of Santiago.
Fingers crossed that this continues. When I was here working for two weeks in May, I begged them to front-load staffing to prevent a queue from forming. Go figure! They actually heard me...
Bottom line... ARRIVE EARLY IN THE DAY!
Hope this helps.
View attachment 61391
Well, I am assuming that there is no way to record Olvidado, Vasco, etc, because of the options that t2 described in his post. And if you look at the statistics, the only totals are Francés, Porugués, Norte, Primitivo, Inglés, Portugues de la Costa, Vdlp, Muxia/Finisterre, and last but not least, Invierno. Well, not technically last, because there is a catch-all “other caminos” category (326 in 1918)
And 325 other people.Kinky, they were just humoring you when they said they would record the Madrid
I couldn't care less....
So, Kinky, they were just humoring you when they said they would record the Madrid.
LIVE FROM THE FRONT....
So, all in, my earlier admonition remains true... GET HERE AS CLOSE TO 08:00 AS YOU CAN, even if that means coming the following morning. Arriving after 10:00 increases the risk of having to wait a long time.
Hi:No, but I think SETRA is a Spanish brand of bus. They would not have been imported to the US. General Motors had the bus market pretty well locked up in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
You may be confusingg SETRA with SEPTA. The latter is the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority.
Hope this helps.
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