The spirit of the Camino even if you don't walk

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A plane Compostela, and no pilgrimage
By: Eduardo Posada | 4:08 pm | February 7, 2013

I left Santiago with some guilt, as my eyes followed the steps intruder pilgrims rested. The airport remained almost empty. That alone seemed a symbolic monument in honor of the walkers.

"It rains here forever," the driver told me when I asked about the climate of Galicia. Calmed. And the fog did not allow appreciating the scenery as we crossed the mountains to Santiago de Compostela, from a modern airport and almost empty.

A Compostela is not usually reached by plane. Is, since ancient times, one of the favorite destinations for pilgrims of the Christian world. And the pilgrims arrive on foot, by way of Santiago. Arriving by plane it seem like heresy. Moreover if the reason for the visit is not the worship of the tomb of St. James, like any good pilgrim but participate in an academic conference.

"The business trip to Santiago and true owner of the city-observed-Suso de Toro is one pilgrim" (El Camino de Santiago, The blue route: Lunwerg Publishers, 2010).

Besides heretics intruders. Pilgrims who could not in principle have reason to feel uncomfortable, especially if staying at the Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos, the magnificent Spanish Parador originally built as a hospital by Ferdinand and Isabella in the fifteenth century. There, the first 10 who complete the Camino de Santiago, Compostela credential are welcome with the good habit of three free meals.

However, the extraordinary hospitality of Santiago covers pilgrims and pilgrims. And a brief visit to Santiago whets the appetite, not only for the exquisite Galician food, but to explore the route of the pilgrims.

There are various roads to Santiago, but the best known and traditional one described in the Codex Calixtino twelfth century, crossing the Pyrenees at Roncesvalles and passes through Pamplona, ​​Burgos and Leon before their final destination in Compostela. It is known as French way, its point of origin, on a route that stretches 800 kilometers.

The pilgrimages to Compostela preceding the publication of the Codex Calixtino. Their journeys, as told Arturo Soria y Puig, were "numerous", "with corresponding tracks, stations and signals."
Who initiated the trip from Ireland or England initially embarked on a "maritime pilgrimage". Puig brings to mind a story of the fifteenth century by William Wey, who to get from Plymouth to La Coruna observed over 80 ships from various corners of northern Europe: "In the space of a few days had landed there about 4,000 travelers" .

Puig offers an attractive account of the diverse paths leading to Santiago, including those from Portugal and Catalonia, where Abbot Caesarius left in the year 959, one of the "first pilgrims whose name is known."

Today, perhaps hikers are more tourists than pilgrims. But both alike enjoy the charms of extraordinary landscapes, rural and urban, along the different paths, from the heights of the Pyrenees to reach Obradoiro Square and thus fulfill the pilgrimage at the tomb of the apostle . Those who still have energy continue to Cape Finisterre, "Finis Terrae the Roman", as described by Albert Ollé Martin, "the end of the civilized world in antiquity."

There is everything on the paths to Santiago. Vineyards and olive groves, medieval streets and bridges, and architectural curiosities, such as barns, grain storage sites. And there are public water fountains to quench the thirst of the travelers.

I left Santiago with some guilt, as my eyes followed the steps intruder pilgrims resting in the square do Obradoiro. The airport remained almost empty. That alone seemed a symbolic monument in honor of the walkers.