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A very useful post. I can endorse the point about filling in details on the credential. Hospitaleros have to ask for national passport or other ID if that is not on the credential, to fill in the albergue register. The information recorded in the albergues is rarely needed, but if any problems arise, it is there for reference.I will be finishing a two-week volunteer period in the Pilgrim Office this weekend and I have a few observations to share.
1. People are showing up with the TITLE PAGE of the credential BLANK. What happens if you lose it along the way? Please fill in your name CLEARLY. Otherwise we have to ask for another document in order to be able to properly make out the Compostela and the optional Certificate of Distance. This slows the line down.
2. PLEASE include your e-mail address and mobile number in addition. Someone who finds a lost credential will then be able to promptly get in contact with you and a return arranged.
3. Get two stamps per day for the last 100 kms of whichever Camino you are doing. The enforcement of this rule seems to be pretty lenient, but better safe than sorry. I am a stsmp addict and often get 10+ per day, so this is not an issue to which I can relate. Last year, on the Francés, I filled SEVEN of the two-sided SJPP credentials.
4. Add the date to each sello in case THEY don’t write it in for you. It makes it much easier for us to follow the continuity of your route.
5. Be patient in line. We try to produce well-centered names on the certificates with decent handwriting, and we tend to converse with each pilgrim. I can’t seem to process any more than 5/6 people per hour and my volunteer colleagues seem to work at about the same rate. The regular staff is much faster because they know a lot of the stuff (mileages, Latin names, etc.), by heart. We have to keep looking everything up.
6. If you arrive as a couple, do NOT come up to the counter together. You will end up waiting LONGER. Wait for the next free person and chances are your waiting time at the counter will be cut in half.
7. Do NOT bring another person’s documents with you and expect to walk away with two Compostelas. EACH PERSON must be physically present. We cannot issue a Compostela in absentia.
8. If you are hungry after leaving, turn left and head up the hill toward the big church (San Francisco). Just before reaching the church, turn right into the university Medical School Cafeteria. They have a menú del día for 5/6 euros and a well-priced à la carte menu as well. They open at 1:00 for lunch and I think they close for the day at 4:00. You can get well priced breakfast fare all morning too.
When filling out your credential, pilgrims passport, do not forget your national passport number. Hospitaleros need this info for daily logs..... Thank you..... UltreyaI will be finishing a two-week volunteer period in the Pilgrim Office this weekend and I have a few observations to share.
1. People are showing up with the TITLE PAGE of the credential BLANK. What happens if you lose it along the way? Please fill in your name CLEARLY. Otherwise we have to ask for another document in order to be able to properly make out the Compostela and the optional Certificate of Distance. This slows the line down.
2. PLEASE include your e-mail address and mobile number in addition. Someone who finds a lost credential will then be able to promptly get in contact with you and a return arranged.
3. Get two stamps per day for the last 100 kms of whichever Camino you are doing. The enforcement of this rule seems to be pretty lenient, but better safe than sorry. I am a stamp addict and often get 10+ per day, so this is not an issue to which I can relate. Last year, on the Francés, I filled SEVEN of the two-sided SJPP credentials.
4. Add the date to each sello in case THEY don’t write it in for you. It makes it much easier for us to follow the continuity of your route.
5. Be patient in line. We try to produce well-centered names on the certificates with decent handwriting, and we tend to converse with each pilgrim. I can’t seem to process any more than 5/6 people per hour and my volunteer colleagues seem to work at about the same rate. The regular staff is much faster because they know a lot of the stuff (mileages, Latin names, etc.), by heart. We have to keep looking everything up.
6. If you arrive as a couple, do NOT come up to the counter together. You will end up waiting LONGER. Wait for the next free person and chances are your waiting time at the counter will be cut in half.
7. Do NOT bring another person’s documents with you and expect to walk away with two Compostelas. EACH PERSON must be physically present. We cannot issue a Compostela in absentia.
8. If you are hungry after leaving, turn left and head up the hill toward the big church (San Francisco). Just before reaching the church, turn right into the university Medical School Cafeteria. They have a menú del día for 5/6 euros and a well-priced à la carte menu as well. They open at 1:00 for lunch and I think they close for the day at 4:00. You can get well priced breakfast fare all morning too.
How long do they keep the found credencials? It would be great to be reunited with mine when I come back in September. My lost national passport has been cancelled and replaced but I should dearly love to have the credential back!Allow me to add to the original, excellent post... The Pilgrim Office at Santiago receives A LOT of lost credencials that are mailed there from all Camino routes. If you lost your credencial along the way, there is at least a 50/50 chance that it will turn up in the mail at the office. Help us help you.
Hope this helps.
- If you FULLY FILL OUT the inside front cover with your identity information, AND add your e-mail and mobile phone number, there is a good chance that we can reunite you with your original credencial when you arrive in Santiago.
- Once you lose your credencial, obtain another along the way to gather necessary sellos. Failing this, use a blank sheet of paper. Make sure the sellos are affixed in correct chronological order. This will help the P/O staff decipher the sellos.
- When you arrive at the head of the line, ask a staff person to search for your lost credencial. Tell us when and approximately where you lost it. We have a large box with all the found credencials in it. Perhaps you will get lucky...
Definitely use this info at your own risk. The official rules provide no exceptions for the "2 stamps per day for the last 100 kms". It would be a shame to walk 800 (or 1500) kms and then find at the end that you couldn't get a compostela that you wanted because you were counting on getting a relaxed volunteer and ended up with one who believes in following the rules.Great write-up.
However, if you have walked a full/long camino you dont really need the two stamps Per day for the last 100km. At least that was the message i got when I got from SJPDP to SDC last year.
As someone who is not a stamp-maniac, I prefer to only have stamps of the places where i sleep - and was sad that I got extra the last 100km, so I asked in SDC. It is more to ensure that people dont cheat the last 100km, and nobody really cheats for 800km (and it is properly pretty easy to see if one has truely walked this far or not). However, use this info at own risk.
How long do they keep the found credencials? It would be great to be reunited with mine when I come back in September. My lost national passport has been cancelled and replaced but I should dearly love to have the credential back!
I have just paid attention to your information, and see that your recent camino is labelled as your last. All the more reason to hope that your lost credential will be found!How long do they keep the found credencials? It would be great to be reunited with mine when I come back in September. My lost national passport has been cancelled and replaced but I should dearly love to have the credential back!
Thanks Tom, shall send a message.Jeff:
I do not know how long they hold these credencials. When I arrive in mid-July, there are several months worth in the box.
This year, I will again be there for a month, starting on 9 July. Send me a private conversation / message containing enough details to allow me to locate your credential. Please include a return e-mail address so I can contact you directly. If you can tell me:
...I promise to make a search of the entire existing stash within the first few days. I will contact you with my results.
- What variety of credencial I am looking for: APOC, CSJ, SJpDp Pilgrim Office, Cathedral Issue (also what Ivar provides). Knowing this helps me to sort the pile faster.
- What information is written on the covers, anywhere.
- Any special sellos or characteristics... wine stains, beer stains, water staining, custom 'art,' etc.
Hope this helps.
Tom
Kirkie, EVERY Camino I do is my last! I remember in 2016 telling the clerk at the Pilgrim Office that I'd never, ever do it again and he said "See you next year then!"I have just paid attention to your information, and see that your recent camino is labelled as your last. All the more reason to hope that your lost credential will be found!
There was a Kirk and in that Kirk there was an in and in that in there was a til and in that til there was a loch and in that loch there was... Kirkintilloch.Kirkie, EVERY Camino I do is my last! I remember in 2016 telling the clerk at the Pilgrim Office that I'd never, ever do it again and he said "See you next year then!"
Kirkie is an interesting name (my late father's best friend) are you from Scotland?
Maybe, if you'd walked a long way and had a credential with an arm's length of sellos, looked scruffy and weary they just thought "yeah, he's a pilgrim alright,!"In 2015 got all my sellos and the last 100km I doubled up and received my Compestella.
In 2017 I did not double up, and I got my Compostella.
???
Buen Camino
I will be finishing a two-week volunteer period in the Pilgrim Office this weekend and I have a few observations to share.
1. People are showing up with the TITLE PAGE of the credential BLANK. What happens if you lose it along the way? Please fill in your name CLEARLY. Otherwise we have to ask for another document in order to be able to properly make out the Compostela and the optional Certificate of Distance. This slows the line down.
2. PLEASE include your e-mail address and mobile number in addition. Someone who finds a lost credential will then be able to promptly get in contact with you and a return arranged.
3. Get two stamps per day for the last 100 kms of whichever Camino you are doing. The enforcement of this rule seems to be pretty lenient, but better safe than sorry. I am a stamp addict and often get 10+ per day, so this is not an issue to which I can relate. Last year, on the Francés, I filled SEVEN of the two-sided SJPP credentials.
4. Add the date to each sello in case THEY don’t write it in for you. It makes it much easier for us to follow the continuity of your route.
5. Be patient in line. We try to produce well-centered names on the certificates with decent handwriting, and we tend to converse with each pilgrim. I can’t seem to process any more than 5/6 people per hour and my volunteer colleagues seem to work at about the same rate. The regular staff is much faster because they know a lot of the stuff (mileages, Latin names, etc.), by heart. We have to keep looking everything up.
6. If you arrive as a couple, do NOT come up to the counter together. You will end up waiting LONGER. Wait for the next free person and chances are your waiting time at the counter will be cut in half.
7. Do NOT bring another person’s documents with you and expect to walk away with two Compostelas. EACH PERSON must be physically present. We cannot issue a Compostela in absentia.
8. If you are hungry after leaving, turn left and head up the hill toward the big church (San Francisco). Just before reaching the church, turn right into the university Medical School Cafeteria. They have a menú del día for 5/6 euros and a well-priced à la carte menu as well. They open at 1:00 for lunch and I think they close for the day at 4:00. You can get well priced breakfast fare all morning too.
Actually, I had had a shower and a good nights sleep in my hotel.Maybe, if you'd walked a long way and had a credential with an arm's length of sellos, looked scruffy and weary they just thought "yeah, he's a pilgrim alright,!"
Thanks, Kanga. The credencial situation is clearer now.@Travelite they don't have to be signed at all, but if you want a Compostela they do have to be stamped twice a day for the last 100km into Santiago. And if you want a distance certificate they need to be stamped once every day from the beginning of your walk. If you stay at albergues your credential will be stamped when you book in. Stamps are also available in pretty much every other accommodation provider, cafe, bar, restaurant, and shop.
And many churches.@Travelite they don't have to be signed at all, but if you want a Compostela they do have to be stamped twice a day for the last 100km into Santiago. And if you want a distance certificate they need to be stamped once every day from the beginning of your walk. If you stay at albergues your credential will be stamped when you book in. Stamps are also available in pretty much every other accommodation provider, cafe, bar, restaurant, and shop.
I will be finishing a two-week volunteer period in the Pilgrim Office this weekend and I have a few observations to share.
1. People are showing up with the TITLE PAGE of the credential BLANK. What happens if you lose it along the way? Please fill in your name CLEARLY. Otherwise we have to ask for another document in order to be able to properly make out the Compostela and the optional Certificate of Distance. This slows the line down.
2. PLEASE include your e-mail address and mobile number in addition. Someone who finds a lost credential will then be able to promptly get in contact with you and a return arranged.
3. Get two stamps per day for the last 100 kms of whichever Camino you are doing. The enforcement of this rule seems to be pretty lenient, but better safe than sorry. I am a stamp addict and often get 10+ per day, so this is not an issue to which I can relate. Last year, on the Francés, I filled SEVEN of the two-sided SJPP credentials.
4. Add the date to each sello in case THEY don’t write it in for you. It makes it much easier for us to follow the continuity of your route.
5. Be patient in line. We try to produce well-centered names on the certificates with decent handwriting, and we tend to converse with each pilgrim. I can’t seem to process any more than 5/6 people per hour and my volunteer colleagues seem to work at about the same rate. The regular staff is much faster because they know a lot of the stuff (mileages, Latin names, etc.), by heart. We have to keep looking everything up.
6. If you arrive as a couple, do NOT come up to the counter together. You will end up waiting LONGER. Wait for the next free person and chances are your waiting time at the counter will be cut in half.
7. Do NOT bring another person’s documents with you and expect to walk away with two Compostelas. EACH PERSON must be physically present. We cannot issue a Compostela in absentia.
8. If you are hungry after leaving, turn left and head up the hill toward the big church (San Francisco). Just before reaching the church, turn right into the university Medical School Cafeteria. They have a menú del día for 5/6 euros and a well-priced à la carte menu as well. They open at 1:00 for lunch and I think they close for the day at 4:00. You can get well priced breakfast fare all morning too.
I believe that that is possible. I did several with single names. I doubt two names would be a problem.Do you know if I could get both my deceased parents names on the Compostela (Vicarie Pro)?
Look, I wish I knew about the Cafeteria last Oct 3rd! We had the expected long wait in the queue to get our Compostellas, but that was ok, it was part of the process of coming down from the emotion and tears of reaching the Catedral. But, I was ravenously hungry when we emerged and we had no idea where to get a meal!! I am hoping/praying to come back in 2020, for a longer pilgrimage and to cover the bits I missed due to illness. Now I know where to go for a meal. Merci/gracìas/ta!I will be finishing a two-week volunteer period in the Pilgrim Office this weekend and I have a few observations to share.
1. People are showing up with the TITLE PAGE of the credential BLANK. What happens if you lose it along the way? Please fill in your name CLEARLY. Otherwise we have to ask for another document in order to be able to properly make out the Compostela and the optional Certificate of Distance. This slows the line down.
2. PLEASE include your e-mail address and mobile number in addition. Someone who finds a lost credential will then be able to promptly get in contact with you and a return arranged.
3. Get two stamps per day for the last 100 kms of whichever Camino you are doing. The enforcement of this rule seems to be pretty lenient, but better safe than sorry. I am a stamp addict and often get 10+ per day, so this is not an issue to which I can relate. Last year, on the Francés, I filled SEVEN of the two-sided SJPP credentials.
4. Add the date to each sello in case THEY don’t write it in for you. It makes it much easier for us to follow the continuity of your route.
5. Be patient in line. We try to produce well-centered names on the certificates with decent handwriting, and we tend to converse with each pilgrim. I can’t seem to process any more than 5/6 people per hour and my volunteer colleagues seem to work at about the same rate. The regular staff is much faster because they know a lot of the stuff (mileages, Latin names, etc.), by heart. We have to keep looking everything up.
6. If you arrive as a couple, do NOT come up to the counter together. You will end up waiting LONGER. Wait for the next free person and chances are your waiting time at the counter will be cut in half.
7. Do NOT bring another person’s documents with you and expect to walk away with two Compostelas. EACH PERSON must be physically present. We cannot issue a Compostela in absentia.
8. If you are hungry after leaving, turn left and head up the hill toward the big church (San Francisco). Just before reaching the church, turn right into the university Medical School Cafeteria. They have a menú del día for 5/6 euros and a well-priced à la carte menu as well. They open at 1:00 for lunch and I think they close for the day at 4:00. You can get well priced breakfast fare all morning too.
@ELHS220 is it possible to get a compostella in someone else’s name I’m walking from Valenca next week and would like to do it for my disabled nephew can I get his name put on the compostella instead of mine
tia Paul
Your name would appear on the Compostela but, at the bottom, you can ask that his name be written in. It would say: Vicarie Pro: Nephew’s Name.As far as I know, no
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