What can't be seen travelling by car?

[Kanga]

I was asked yesterday what I have seen walking the Camino Frances that I would not have seen travelling by car - we were talking cultural beauty rather than nature. I tried to explain about the tiny villages with unexpected glories in the local church but it seems like people only wanted to hear about blockbuster sights, the Michelin 5 star attractions. Any suggestions?

 

[Tia Valeria]

Take them for a long walk - along the Camino?

 

[Olivares]

Any cultural sight that would qualify as a "the Michelin 5 star attraction" would HAVE to be accesible to the general public by its very definition; basically the place would be connected via some manner of mass transportation. It makes me think of Eunate, which for centuries was out in a field in the middle of nowhere. Once a sight gets cultural recognition, it is a duty to preserve it, but also to showcase it.

I think the Ermita Santa Maria del Camino in Sahagun is one of the most beautiful sights along the Camino Frances. Not easily accesible by car, along with the adjacent medieval bridge and the gorgeous Mid-Point Monument just makes this spot absolutely breathtaking.

The Moorish Fountain at the entrance of Villamajor de Monjardin is also incredible. No official road, but it could be access from Los Arcos, I guess....

 

[William Marques]

The peace and solitude.

 

[lettinggo]

Maybe try to talk about that it is not what you see but how you see it?
A water fountain do look a lot different from a car than after 10 km of walking thirsty..

 

[RobertS26]

I find the various rock cairns (large and small) built along the path to be inspiring. I don't believe any of those are accessible by car.

 

[wayfarer]

My wife and I drove from Le Puy to Santiago by campervan in 2009 on a recce of the Camino, when people asked me what it was like I said that after crossing the Pyrenees and from Pamplona it was pretty much flat. How wrong was I. It needs to be walked to appreciate all the trails,twists, turns and beauty of the landscape and experience the joy of being on the Way.

 

[whariwharangi]

You don't see the blisters.

I don't know how else to distill the experience of walking to people who don't get it.

 

[Tincatinker]

Detail, detail is what you can never see travelling by car. The transition from rural to urban is an onrush of road-signs, hazards and its gone in another flush of driver data and a "thanks for not killing the chickens" sign. The perfect Meson in an exquisite little plaza. You missed that. Unless of course you ignored the other glory open to the ambulant, spontaneity. Sure you can spend six months researching your road-trip and plotting it into the god on the dash-board. Then as long as you have a tank of gas you can go anywhere you can get another tank of gas.

You can get a car to, or close to, just about any highlight spot on the Camino Frances. Ibenata, Roncevalles, Alto de Perdon (you'll have to hike to the spring or send someone to take a photo), Eunate, the cathedrals of Burgos and Leon. You won't get to see sunrise along the Canal de Castilla but the tears and laughter at Cruz Ferol are yours to see from the windows of any car that'll climb a 1 in 5. At Oh-thay-i-bray-ri-o parking will be a challenge. After that its all down-hill if you'll pardon the euphemism.

I'm probably not helping here Kanga. Though I would like to. Surely the point is that the cultural highlight of the Camino is the Camino and that the Camino is not a sequence of photo-opportunities and gustatory experiences. The Camino isn't just great cathedrals, great hospitales that have evolved into 5 star hotels or even medieval bridges and Roman roads. It is the roaring silence of the Meseta, the goblin whispers in the trees of the Montes de Oca, the sound of Tomas' bell through the mists before Manjarin, mass in a tiny battered iglesia served by an equally battered priest, conversation in five languages and harmonic snoring. OK, enough. What would you miss if you travelled the Camino by car? The Camino.

 

[Wanderer64]

By walking through Spain, as opposed to driving, one slowly but surely comes to appreciate that cultural beauty isn't about the individual "blockbuster" sites, but about whole culture, which is greater and more meaningful than the sum of its parts. And one won't comprehend this distinction until one has truly afforded oneself the time and perspective that walking permits.

I liken the experience to living abroad rather than doing a whirlwind tourist bus look through a country abroad. The view of the culture may seem the same, but in fact it's like night vs day.

I've also learned over the years that trying explain these experiences and nuances to people who have not had similar experiences is futile, so I don't bother trying anymore. I simply say politely, with smile, "it was really life-enriching, you should try it some time."

A final comment on the Disneyfication of the global tourism market: The commercial tourism industries have conditioned us from birth that travel and cultural experience is about amusement and entertainment, not about in-depth, slow, meditative cultural learning and understanding of our fellow beings abroad. Maybe this is why Camino popularity is soaring -- because some people seek a more transcendent travel experience, seek more than big tourist traps, all-inclusive packages and guided bus tours.

 

[whariwharangi]

This

 

[Bajaracer]

This Canadian couple who I walked with met up with an associate of his girlfriends father who lived outside of Pamplona, he picked them up for dinner and brought them back to the albergue for the night, he told me later on the ride to dinner they covered the distance they had walked in the past two days in 20 minutes riding in the car.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

This is why I sigh when asked for the 100th time to list "the best" albergues, camino sights, restaurants, churches, etc.
"The best" on the camino changes with every pilgrim. The path is not a product, it is an organism. It shifts and changes constantly.
If you step out onto the camino with a list of "must-see attractions," you are taking a touristic, consumerist approach to a journey that will not conform to that kind of expectation. I think this is why lots of people start the journey with carefully chosen equipment, books, and schedules, but don't finish the trip. They can't get their heads around the pilgrim principle:
You have to adjust yourself to the camino. The fewer expectations you have, the more you will gain from the experience.

 

[JohnMcM]

I was asked yesterday what I have seen walking the Camino Frances that I would not have seen travelling by car - we were talking cultural beauty rather than nature. I tried to explain about the tiny villages with unexpected glories in the local church but it seems like people only wanted to hear about blockbuster sights, the Michelin 5 star attractions. Any suggestions?

Not sure I am answering your question truly Kanga, however,
How about:
The shared smiles of understanding when you show your blisters to others over a cafe con leche:
The encouraging touch on your shoulder when you think you can't go on:
The gentle word of someone who understands the concern you are expressing:
The knowing nod from another who has experienced the life event you have just explained:
The chunk of shared chocolate just when you need it most:
The meal put together from odds and ends and shared by relative strangers:
The sunrise that greets bleary eyes peering out from tired early morning faces:
The look from another that says everything about kindness and understanding:
The fountain that is there at the moment you need it:
The annoying and strangely comforting tip-tap, tip-tap,tip-tap of walking poles:
The whispering of wind through through trees:
The gurgling of hidden streams in undergrowth:
The sweet birdsong:
The patience of others around you:
The tolerance of those whose land you walk through:
The history you can touch, smell, see and be with:
The visions of people doing things their ancestors did, and finally, for the time being,
The absolute joy of seeing, feeling, tasting, living and loving being where you are in the moment you are.

Buen Camino

 

[november_moon]

I agree that it is the details you miss when traveling by car - and the small moments that take on mythic proportions.

One moment of our Camino that stands out is crossing a bridge coming into a very small village and finding a man with a stand set up at the cross roads in the village (this village had 2 streets with a T-intersection) selling freshly squeezed OJ and cafe con leche. He was squeezing the OJ with a small hand squeezer from beautiful oranges in a large wooden box, and making the coffee in a pot on a camp stove. Everything was donativo. This was THE best OJ and coffee that I have ever had.

Yes, this village was accessible by car, so someone could get there without walking. And yes, they could have stopped and gotten coffee and OJ from this guy. But there is no way someone in a car could have had the same experience - absolutely no way. When we walked into this town, it was as though St. James himself had sent this guy down from heaven with his OJ and coffee. It was magical. Of course, this would probably sound ludicrous to most people who haven't walked the Camino. A guy selling OJ and coffee from a stand in a village - neat find, but hardly a religious experience. But THAT is what the Camino does - teaches you to appreciate things like OJ and coffee in a little village.

 

[JohnMcM]

The Camino isn't just great cathedrals, great hospitales that have evolved into 5 star hotels or even medieval bridges and Roman roads. It is the roaring silence of the Meseta, the goblin whispers in the trees of the Montes de Oca, the sound of Tomas' bell through the mists before Manjarin, mass in a tiny battered iglesia served by an equally battered priest,,,,,,,

How I wish I had the gift to write so descriptively of the Camino as you do Tincantinker.
Buen Camino

 

[Tincatinker]

Gracias amigo

Buen Camino

 

[Saint Mike II]

I was asked yesterday what I have seen walking the Camino Frances that I would not have seen travelling by car - we were talking cultural beauty rather than nature. I tried to explain about the tiny villages with unexpected glories in the local church ... Any suggestions?

Hi Jill - my first experience of "slow travel" was back in 2006 when I was part of a group that cycled from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh. Travelling at around 15-20km allowed us to observe the people working their fields; talk to children also cycling to school and stop whenever we wanted. You can't do this in a plane/train/car. Walking is the ultimate "slow travel" and as Tincat says its the other "little things" - those sun rises and maybe even the sunsets, the little old lady sitting in her doorway - these you will miss in a car and maybe even on a bike. See you on Saturday. M

 

[Kanga]

All thoughtful and useful responses - thank you people. So much food for thought. We have several friends who are well travelled, cultured, intelligent, thoughtful people. They will travel to attend operas and plays, visit galleries and museums - in short they seek out the best of our human cultural heritage. I find myself floundering when trying to explain why I'd prefer to walk along a mud splattered road through remote villages. Apart from being a bogan, that is (Aussies will understand).

 

[tyrrek]

It's also about what you DON'T see when you're walking. One of my favourite sections of the Camino Frances is between Hornillos and Hontanas, where for a while there is no road, no cars, and no buildings in sight (except a few windmills in the distance).

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I was asked yesterday what I have seen walking the Camino Frances that I would not have seen travelling by car - we were talking cultural beauty rather than nature. I tried to explain about the tiny villages with unexpected glories in the local church but it seems like people only wanted to hear about blockbuster sights, the Michelin 5 star attractions. Any suggestions?

Hands down, the Ermita just outside of Triacastela when you opt to go in the direction of San Xil. A little gem, along a wooded path.

 

[DurhamParish]

The beauty of the Iberian Peninsula is one thing, and I've seen a lot of absolute breath taking beauty there, but it's the beauty of the interaction with other pilgrims that makes it something you can't "see from a car". We have all had these types of experiences on the camino. One time in particular I remember was an afternoon at the municipal albergue in Larrasoana and there were a couple of young German fellows there who had been in some high-powered choir. They were singing and leading the rest of us singing under the blue plastic canvas in the back with all of our laundry hanging around us drying . . . . . amid the wine bottles. One of those experiences I will always remember for the rest of my life. And something I couldn't have experienced in a car.

Where else but the camino can you have such an experience with strangers from different countries from around the world? It's what keeps me coming back.

 

[Felipe]

I was asked yesterday what I have seen walking the Camino Frances that I would not have seen travelling by car - we were talking cultural beauty rather than nature. I tried to explain about the tiny villages with unexpected glories in the local church but it seems like people only wanted to hear about blockbuster sights, the Michelin 5 star attractions. Any suggestions?

I think the answer is not in a list of "blockbusters sites" or "the hidden treasures in little villages". It is about how do you view the places.
First, you see a village in the distance -just a blurry dot, very far. Then, while you approach, you can see the towers of the churches, slowly growing against the sky. After some hours more, very tired, you walk by the first houses, the maze of little streets, and then, suddenly, there is an old marvel, the carved facade, the statues of saints and apostles that seem to be waiting for you.
How do you explain that to a person that only wants to know the easier and faster way from "a" to "b"? I would answer that it is not about the sights, but about the experience. Or just smile, and change the matter.

 

[marbuck]

Having a farmer wish you 'Buen Camino' (and mean it) as you walk past him as he is working in his fields. The first time this happened to us we knew why we were walking the Camino.

 

[mikevasey]

A gentleman said to me ' The Camino is a connection between all people'. Some persons when they do or say something are so clear inside that you get a flash of their reality. I would have missed this if had been zooming around in a car looking for the next great place to see.

 

[wayfarer]

Have you ever seen a night photo of a busy highway with all the tail lights of cars streaming off into the distance, well sometimes when I was walking the Camino I got a sense of this, as if all the pilgrims who had walked before me left something of themselves along the way. Its hard to describe exactly what I mean but I have never got this feeling while walking trails in Ireland or in the Mediterranean French Pyrenees. That is the difference between walking the Camino and travelling by car for me.

 

[obinjatoo@yahoo.com]

Not so much what there is to see (because that's about .01% of any pilgrimage) but what happens. Like serendipity..... For example, the story the 94 year old woman who lived in the stone house where she was born next to the church yard in a very small village (where I was camped) told me about her life. Maybe it was the Bosque Celtico with the old sacred well where pre-christians said their prayers 2000 years ago that I found while walking off the beaten path.
I walked for 53 days from the Pyrenees to the Atlantic and I will never, ever be that person again.

 

[efdoucette]

I think the person that asks this question may not understand the answer.
A Camino experience is always hard to describe to an "outsider" (for lack of a better word).

 

[waveprof]

I think the person that asks this question may not understand the answer.

This. Times a thousand.

Separately, I met people at a bar in Galicia doing the last 150 km by car, stopping at bars and albuergues every few km's for stamps, spending nights in a few towns, and going on to Santiago to get their credentials without walking more than from the car to the bar. I guess whatever floats your boat.

 

[basquelady]

I agree that it is the details you miss when traveling by car - and the small moments that take on mythic proportions.

One moment of our Camino that stands out is crossing a bridge coming into a very small village and finding a man with a stand set up at the cross roads in the village (this village had 2 streets with a T-intersection) selling freshly squeezed OJ and cafe con leche. He was squeezing the OJ with a small hand squeezer from beautiful oranges in a large wooden box, and making the coffee in a pot on a camp stove. Everything was donativo. This was THE best OJ and coffee that I have ever had.

Yes, this village was accessible by car, so someone could get there without walking. And yes, they could have stopped and gotten coffee and OJ from this guy. But there is no way someone in a car could have had the same experience - absolutely no way. When we walked into this town, it was as though St. James himself had sent this guy down from heaven with his OJ and coffee. It was magical. Of course, this would probably sound ludicrous to most people who haven't walked the Camino. A guy selling OJ and coffee from a stand in a village - neat find, but hardly a religious experience. But THAT is what the Camino does - teaches you to appreciate things like OJ and coffee in a little village.

That village was Oncina de la Valdoncina, after Virgen del Camino. Yes, what a great surprise to find him there. He told us that he hoped to open an albergue in the village when finances permitted.

 

[MichaelSG]

What can't be seen travelling by car?

Is this a riddle? I'll guess: the underside of the car. Am I right?

 

[basquelady]

I agree that it is the details you miss when traveling by car - and the small moments that take on mythic proportions.

One moment of our Camino that stands out is crossing a bridge coming into a very small village and finding a man with a stand set up at the cross roads in the village (this village had 2 streets with a T-intersection) selling freshly squeezed OJ and cafe con leche. He was squeezing the OJ with a small hand squeezer from beautiful oranges in a large wooden box, and making the coffee in a pot on a camp stove. Everything was donativo. This was THE best OJ and coffee that I have ever had.

Yes, this village was accessible by car, so someone could get there without walking. And yes, they could have stopped and gotten coffee and OJ from this guy. But there is no way someone in a car could have had the same experience - absolutely no way. When we walked into this town, it was as though St. James himself had sent this guy down from heaven with his OJ and coffee. It was magical. Of course, this would probably sound ludicrous to most people who haven't walked the Camino. A guy selling OJ and coffee from a stand in a village - neat find, but hardly a religious experience. But THAT is what the Camino does - teaches you to appreciate things like OJ and coffee in a little village.

Thought you'd like this photo.

 

[naplesdon]

I think the person that asks this question may not understand the answer.
A Camino experience is always hard to describe to an "outsider" (for lack of a better word).

I started my second CF in 2014 with a friend from Biarritz who originally had every intention of doing the entire Camino with me. Unfortunately he developed some knee problems, dropped the idea and then tried to do the first day with me and didn't even make it to Orisson. He was infuriated that his older brother had completed the Camino on foot and by bike the past summer and got tired of the continuous "blah, blah" he was hearing from his brother. He was determined to see the Botafumeiro swing and the lighthouse at Fisterra this year.
He talked me into riding along with him in his car in September. I convinced him he needed to have at least "some" Camino experience so we stopped at Peaceable Kingdom for a night. Initially, he wasn't excited by the idea because he just wanted to get to Santiago; but after an afternoon of Paddy's hospitality (Reb was out of town) he almost got into the Camino spirit.
We did Santiago, Finisterre and the Botafumeiro on Sunday at 11 and I was ready to stay for a encore at noon, but...no, he had seen what he wanted to see and that was that. On the drive home he said he could not understand why anyone would want to walk all that way on the Camino when you can do it in a car in a day (His photo was Mini Camino) and kept repeating how boring it must be to walk the Meseta for day after day. I was wordless.
For me the experience of walking the Camino is akin to sharing a hallowed ground for 30 to 50 days, it is my nirvana and the Meseta is heaven on earth.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink!

 

[david g]

Oh you can see a lot by car as it goes flying by, but you can't feel it, smell it or hear it. You can't just pause as you pass a statue at a church and offer a prayer, you can't see the true, genuine smile of a fellow pilgrim at the end of a long day as you share a glass of wine. All the car does is get you from point a to point b quickly, not realizing most of the magic happens between those points.

 

[november_moon]

Thank you for the photo Basquelady

 

[Telelama]

Not sure I am answering your question truly Kanga, however,
How about:
The shared smiles of understanding when you show your blisters to others over a cafe con leche:
The encouraging touch on your shoulder when you think you can't go on:
The gentle word of someone who understands the concern you are expressing:
The knowing nod from another who has experienced the life event you have just explained:
The chunk of shared chocolate just when you need it most:
The meal put together from odds and ends and shared by relative strangers:
The sunrise that greets bleary eyes peering out from tired early morning faces:
The look from another that says everything about kindness and understanding:
The fountain that is there at the moment you need it:
The annoying and strangely comforting tip-tap, tip-tap,tip-tap of walking poles:
The whispering of wind through through trees:
The gurgling of hidden streams in undergrowth:
The sweet birdsong:
The patience of others around you:
The tolerance of those whose land you walk through:
The history you can touch, smell, see and be with:
The visions of people doing things their ancestors did, and finally, for the time being,
The absolute joy of seeing, feeling, tasting, living and loving being where you are in the moment you are.

Buen Camino

This. This is it. At least as close as I've seen yet. Let me know if you mind if I share this when I am stumbling to describe my Camino.

 

[Telelama]

This is why I sigh when asked for the 100th time to list "the best" albergues, camino sights, restaurants, churches, etc.
"The best" on the camino changes with every pilgrim. The path is not a product, it is an organism. It shifts and changes constantly.
If you step out onto the camino with a list of "must-see attractions," you are taking a touristic, consumerist approach to a journey that will not conform to that kind of expectation. I think this is why lots of people start the journey with carefully chosen equipment, books, and schedules, but don't finish the trip. They can't get their heads around the pilgrim principle:
You have to adjust yourself to the camino. The fewer expectations you have, the more you will gain from the experience.

If you're lucky, the Camino can change you. Making that change requires a transition that can only happen by actually walking the Camino. It is natural to ask those questions, to plan to maximize your anticipated experience based upon your known expectations. The fun is the planning, the anticipation, the preparation, choosing the right gear and only later do you realize it all was for naught. Only later do you know. But you have to walk to know.

 

[Thomas1962]

Probably you can SEE nearly the same things by car, but you can look at it much shorter.
Vision is only one of the human senses, by walking you experience culture with ALL other senses in a different way.

 

[Tia Valeria]

And now for a different view:-
Our first trip to Santiago was by car 20 years ago - driving from Santander on the old N634 and staying overnight in Betanzos before going on into Santiago itself. In those days cars still drove around the now pedestrianised streets. We didn't know anything then about the pilgrimage but had gone to see the cathedral and found there was a 'pilgrims mass', so we went. We left promising ourselves that one day we would walk to Santiago. Maybe going by car will inspire others too, even if they do not see the same things that first time.

 

[whariwharangi]

I was asked yesterday what I have seen walking the Camino Frances that I would not have seen travelling by car - we were talking cultural beauty rather than nature. I tried to explain about the tiny villages with unexpected glories in the local church but it seems like people only wanted to hear about blockbuster sights, the Michelin 5 star attractions. Any suggestions?

Is this a riddle? I'll guess: the underside of the car. Am I right?

I didn't spend much time trying to see the underside of cars whilst walking on the camino. I don't see this as a recommended activity there or anywhere.

 

[JohnMcM]

This. This is it. At least as close as I've seen yet. Let me know if you mind if I share this when I am stumbling to describe my Camino.

Feel free my friend, feel free. I'm flattered.
Buen Camino

 

[MichaelSG]

I didn't spend much time trying to see the underside of cars whilst walking on the camino. I don't see this as a recommended activity there or anywhere.

Wow. I'm surprised.

 

[CaminoCruiser]

My late father was born and raised in a village just outside Burgos, and back in 1992 I was lucky enough to go to Spain with my parents. I got to see village life for the first time and it was something I've never forgotten. No big attractions, no crowds or Michelin restaurants. The simple things like the farmhouse where my father was born, where we would all sit in the back yard with the old wood-burning stove and everyone cooked traditional food. The rickety wooden floorboards inside the house which were so badly in need of repair, my mother's leg went right through the floor one morning when she got out of bed! The local village wives gathering at the banks of the Ebro to gossip near the old wash house. Grapevines covering the wooden verandah. Dirt roads instead of paved roads. Muddy paths to the river, where we saw an old rope hanging off a tree which village kids used to swing themselves out into the water. Going to mass in the tiny village church where Dad was baptized. Small pockets of farmland in between houses. The sun setting and changing the colours on the mountains. They might seem like simple things compared to seeing the big sights, but for me it was the highlight of my trip. This is what I'm looking forward to seeing on the walk - the small villages, their people, and out-of-the-way places on foot.

Besides, I don't think I'd be brave enough to get into another car with my relatives in Spain. I had the unfortunate experience of being a passenger when one of my Uncles drove at white-knuckle speed from Burgos to the village on a winding road, and most of the time with his hands off the wheel because he kept pointing to unseen things on either side of the road. We all emerged from the car as pale as ghosts and barely able to walk for a full ten minutes. Of course, it didn't help that I was a tad hungover from a night out in Burgos with my cousins.....

 

[Kanga]

@biarritzdon your story reflects my frustration perfectly. Thanks to everyone for the lovely responses. Great photo @basquelady

 

[Icacos]

My late father was born and raised in a village just outside Burgos, and back in 1992 I was lucky enough to go to Spain with my parents. I got to see village life for the first time and it was something I've never forgotten. No big attractions, no crowds or Michelin restaurants. The simple things like the farmhouse where my father was born, where we would all sit in the back yard with the old wood-burning stove and everyone cooked traditional food. The rickety wooden floorboards inside the house which were so badly in need of repair, my mother's leg went right through the floor one morning when she got out of bed! The local village wives gathering at the banks of the Ebro to gossip near the old wash house. Grapevines covering the wooden verandah. Dirt roads instead of paved roads. Muddy paths to the river, where we saw an old rope hanging off a tree which village kids used to swing themselves out into the water. Going to mass in the tiny village church where Dad was baptized. Small pockets of farmland in between houses. The sun setting and changing the colours on the mountains. They might seem like simple things compared to seeing the big sights, but for me it was the highlight of my trip. This is what I'm looking forward to seeing on the walk - the small villages, their people, and out-of-the-way places on foot.

Besides, I don't think I'd be brave enough to get into another car with my relatives in Spain. I had the unfortunate experience of being a passenger when one of my Uncles drove at white-knuckle speed from Burgos to the village on a winding road, and most of the time with his hands off the wheel because he kept pointing to unseen things on either side of the road. We all emerged from the car as pale as ghosts and barely able to walk for a full ten minutes. Of course, it didn't help that I was a tad hungover from a night out in Burgos with my cousins.....

What an absolutely wonderful experience this was - to visit the village where your father was born and raised; your memories will be that much more meaningful with your upcoming Camino. You are fortunate indeed. Thank you very much for this lovely post.

 

[CaminoCruiser]

What an absolutely wonderful experience this was - to visit the village where your father was born and raised; your memories will be that much more meaningful with your upcoming Camino. You are fortunate indeed. Thank you very much for this lovely post.

Yes, I am so glad I got to see it with Dad before he passed away and I will indeed be carrying those memories with me next year. Thank you for your kind words Icacos

 

[jmcarp]

...Going to mass in the tiny village church where Dad was baptized...

Going to Mass in those thousand-year-old village churches and sitting next to a villager whose family had lived there for those thousand years and probably built the church was one of the most most endearing memories of our Camino. Being there, and being a part of one of those families must have been especially memorable for you. When we visited the 400-year old church in the Italian village where my wife's grandparents came from and where her family has lived since the 1550's, with her third cousin who still lives there, brought tears to my eyes. I'm sure you had a similar experience. The spirit of your father remains with his ancestors, and will be there to greet you when you return next year on your Camino.

 

[CaminoCruiser]

Going to Mass in those thousand-year-old village churches and sitting next to a villager whose family had lived there for those thousand years and probably built the church was one of the most most endearing memories of our Camino. Being there, and being a part of one of those families must have been especially memorable for you. When we visited the 400-year old church in the Italian village where my wife's grandparents came from and where her family has lived since the 1550's, with her third cousin who still lives there, brought tears to my eyes. I'm sure you had a similar experience. The spirit of your father remains with his ancestors, and will be there to greet you when you return next year on your Camino.

@jmcarp wow, what a beautiful experience that must have been for you! I'm not surprised you were emotional, it's something you will never, ever forget. Actually I teared up a bit myself just from reading your post. How lucky we are to experience these things in our lifetime. Yes, I definitely feel my father (and his ancestors) will be there with me, it's going to make the journey all the more special. Thank you for sharing your story

 

[Julio Gone Camino]

I was asked yesterday what I have seen walking the Camino Frances that I would not have seen travelling by car - we were talking cultural beauty rather than nature. I tried to explain about the tiny villages with unexpected glories in the local church but it seems like people only wanted to hear about blockbuster sights, the Michelin 5 star attractions.

So much food for thought. We have several friends who are well travelled, cultured, intelligent, thoughtful people. They will travel to attend operas and plays, visit galleries and museums - in short they seek out the best of our human cultural heritage. I find myself floundering when trying to explain why I'd prefer to walk along a mud splattered road through remote villages.

First let me say I concur with pretty much all the points of view expressed in the other replies - the Camino is not really about 5 Star sights but the minutiae of everyday experience.

I, too, have friends with interests in art, architecture, classical music, etc. And I, too, have difficulty explaining the lure of the Camino - precisely because it is not the kind of high impact, "blockbuster" sights and adrenaline-rush activity that today's instant gratification, short-attention-span, 140-characters world has come to expect.

However, it also highlights to me the difference between "culture" and "cultured" - folk music, peasant dress, traditional food and way of life being culture, whilst visiting the art gallery or attending a classical concert is cultured.

For me, the Camino experience is the former - cultural - and therfore rooted in the small things of each day, simple pleaseures and kindnesses, and space to think - food when you are hungry, water when you are thirsty and shelter when you are tired, the weather on your face, communication across the language barrier, a kind deed when none is sought, a word of hope when you are down, and the slow realisation of self-knowledge that takes time to cultivate - these are the things that make the Camino what it is - a 5 Star experience in its own right.

And you can't get that in a car!

 

[Kanga]

memory of the path....the clouds...the sounds...hills...rivers...villages...grapes....hay bales. ..blackberries. ...dust....No photos can capture or replace those images that seem imprinted forever in my mind.
..

Yes, that's my experience too. Most lies quietly in the back of my mind but it only takes a tiny thing to bring the memory rushing forward. Which, I think, is why we seem to have an endless supply of Camino related stories and anecdotes. Not that our friends and family want to hear them!

 

[paul.ferris]

It is simply the experience that you miss travelling by car.

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

3

• jefferyonthecamino
• Oct 24, 2014
• 5

and this

 

[newfydog]

Just to be contrarian....one of the best write-ups of the Camino was written by James Michener for the final chapter of his book "Iberia" He stated:

"a pilgrimage across northern Spain to the sanctuary at Santiago de Compostela, is the finest journey in Spain and one of the two or three best in the world."

And he drove the route.

 

[Canucks]

You don't see every rock and blade of grass along the way. You don't capture every smell and sound along the way.

If I was in a car, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to be sprayed by a Spanish farmer with liquid manure a day past Sarria, for a total and complete assault on the senses.
At the very most, in a car, it would have resulted in applying the windshield wipers, not a fervent prayer for rain to cleanse me of my new layer covering me.

It's just every sense and detail you can imagine that you would miss.
And, while the incident described above was horrific and surprising at the time, it is part of the fabric that great memories are made of.