What souvenir(s) did you bring back from the Camino?

Peregrino Falcon said:

Aside from the amazing memories, what souvenirs did you bring back from the Camino?

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Very light weight ones!

We have a selection of silver crucifixes, scallop shell tiles....... stuff like that.
Usually bought at the end.

I don't generally do souvenirs, as I already have too much to carry. The only things that buy on camino, besides food, are socks and foot care items, as needed. However, I have acquired a few items over the years, most by gift. From my recent camino on the Madrid, a yellow arrow on a pin, given to each of the pilgrims at the dinner at Manzanares with Ray and Rosa. At the end of walking a previous camino, the VdlP, I bought, in the bookstore at San Martin Pinario, a copy of selections from the Codex Calixtinus, mostly the section on the early camino routes from France into Spain, translated into Spanish. I have read most of this, to confirm my bits of information about early conditions on some pilgrim routes from France into Spain. And on an earlier walk on the Frances I paid a brief visit to the pilgrim museum at Castrojeriz and was rewarded with a t-shirt for being the thousandth visitor to the museum. This was my first and worst souvenir, as I did not want to refuse a free t-shirt from this location, and ended up having to carry it to the end of my pilgrimage and home without wearing it: extra weight which, being white, would have been destroyed by the rigors of the camino if I had worn it. Besides these items, there are a few informative handouts from various locations floating around in my apartment, along with Credencials and compostelas from various routes and a Distance Certificate from the VdlP, which I consider to be a real souvenir of an accomplishment (I walked a thousand kilometers!).

Jamón Ibérico in my backpack. I thought customs wasn't watching that day . . .

Oh, and a litre of Spanish brandy, which I enjoyed immensely after they let me out of jail for the ham.

As well as numerous pins, fridge magnets and shells... these are some of my favourite reminders of the Camino...

On our first Camino, I ran into a young girl selling homemade earrings near Obanos. I have two kids who have been young entrepreneurs and so I always feel obligated to buy things from kids. I bought a pair and wore them for the rest of the walk. They started my little Camino souvenir project. I bought a lovely pair of earrings from the Cathedral store that have a bit of the Codex Calixtinus on them. We also collected some beach glass near Fistera that I had made into earrings. On the Camino Primitivo I bought a spectacular pair of macrame and bead earrings from the young a woman who drew a rainbow in our credentials instead of a stamp. I bought a great pair of hammered silver earrings on the Haervejen in Denmark in Jeling, site of the beginning of Danish Christianity. I can’t wait to see what I find this next summer when we walk the Aragones and Frances again. I wear my camino earrings all the time. No one else really knows their significance but I do. I love carrying the Camino with me.

As yet, no one has admitted to bringing a new boy/girl friend back home or a new life partner.
Statistically, that also happens.
I am myself only bringing home to my wife small silver earrings and such like - lighter to carry...

A need to own less and to live a more minimalistic life.

Theatregal said:

I hope you’ve discarded, tossed, lost that Lyme's souvenir!

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I'm curious about that! What were your symptoms and how was it diagnosed as Lyme's disease?
Oh, and speaking of exotic gifts, I came home with scabies. You have NOT itched until you've had scabies.

JillGat said:

I'm curious about that! What were your symptoms and how was it diagnosed as Lyme's disease?
Oh, and speaking of exotic gifts, I came home with scabies. You have NOT itched until you've had scabies.

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Hi @JillGat My response re: Lyme's was to @David He had the misfortune to contract Lyme's...not me.

When I started alone on the Camino for the first time in 2012, a group of seven pilgrims, from seven countries, with six different mother tongues, gradually formed from the beginning.
The last one to join us was Valerie from Belgium. We actually walked all seven of them together for only one day, because the different walking rhythms really didn't fit together. But for Valerie and me the rhythm fit. And so we ran together from Torres del Rio to the end of the world. In the first days with others from our Camino family, then only two of us. We only parted on our very last day, she went to Finisterre, I went to Muxia.

Even though some of our group, and our families back home, were sure that a love story would develop, it did not, but it was wonderful in a completely different way.

When I visited Valerie in Belgium in November, I gave her a small photo book as a present and on the first page I tried to express my gratitude for this great time on the Camino. I don't think it's too private to mention it here.

Dear Valerie,
its almost five months ago, when I prepared my backpack for the way of St. James.
I was a little bit anxious - not about being alone on the Camino, but maybe being lonely sometimes.
Nothing like this happened. But why?
God endowed me so much grace during the whole way and he gave me many little presents and a few great ones also.
His greatest gift were the pilgrims I met on the way, especially you Valerie.
Thank you for walking and talking, singing and praying, laughing and crying, I enjoyed every moment.
Valerie, it was „wunderbar“ beeing on the Camino with you!
Michael

These words best reflect what my greatest souvenir was - the friendship with a group of people from half of Europe, especially Valerie. And this friendship continues. We meet almost every year. In the meantime we have been to the wedding of Valerie in Belgium, Betti in Romania and Luca in Italy. We made a bicycle tour around Lake Balaton in Hungary, went hiking in the Carpathians and the Alps and much more. Now our group has grown by a few babies.

Shortly before the return flight I bought a simple silver ring for myself in Santiago, which I have worn as a remembering of my Camino constantly on my left hand since that day. Most of the Germans wear a wedding ring on their right hand, an engagement ring is worn on the left.

When I went to my parents on the day of my arrival to "re-enlist" and my sister and family were there, everyone was totally surprised that I now wear a ring. They were convinced that Valerie and I got engaged in Santiago

Valerie coincidentally bought exatly the same ring on her last day in Santiago and experienced the same reaction at home.

The faces of the parents, family and friends - fantastic. We laughed a lot when we realized that we both bought the same souvenir.

Aside from the memories and photos I think my most prized souvenir is the passport itself containing every stamp of every place that I visited. But if I were to choose one souvenir that I purchased in Santiago itself it would be this handmade porcelain replica of the tomb of Saint James. I was told at the antique store that it was handmade in a Galicia village nearby.

ebrandt said:

On our first Camino, I ran into a young girl selling homemade earrings near Obanos. I have two kids who have been young entrepreneurs and so I always feel obligated to buy things from kids. I bought a pair and wore them for the rest of the walk. They started my little Camino souvenir project. I bought a lovely pair of earrings from the Cathedral store that have a bit of the Codex Calixtinus on them. We also collected some beach glass near Fistera that I had made into earrings. On the Camino Primitivo I bought a spectacular pair of macrame and bead earrings from the young a woman who drew a rainbow in our credentials instead of a stamp. I bought a great pair of hammered silver earrings on the Haervejen in Denmark in Jeling, site of the beginning of Danish Christianity. I can’t wait to see what I find this next summer when we walk the Aragones and Frances again. I wear my camino earrings all the time. No one else really knows their significance but I do. I love carrying the Camino with me.

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I lost a pair of earrings on the way to Molineseca, either during the walk or at the albergue.
When we walked into Ponferada they were having a big fiesta with a market, so I bought a new pair there.

These nativity scenes are my favorite souvenirs from Santiago. With this picture I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Peregrino Falcon said:

Aside from the amazing memories, what souvenirs did you bring back from the Camino?

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On my first camino I brought back a sword and shield which I had carried for the last 2 weeks of our month long walk. It was for my 3 yr old and he loves the mystique of it to this day.