Where do I get a Credential in Sevilla (on Good Friday)?

[eli]

Hi All,
I'm getting into Sevilla on Good Friday this year and starting the camino on Easter Sunday...but I don't yet have my credential and am not confidant, based on what I've read so far, that I will be able to get one before starting out.
They do not seem to be available from the cathedral any more and the Assoc. of Amigos don't seem to be open everyday which makes me wonder whether they will be open on Good Friday. Somewhere I read that the bar "Miami"next door to the Amigos office also provided them, but that was from a blog from a few years ago.
Can anyone help with current availability of the credential , especially over the Easter period? What would be the next place that you could pick one up? Merida? Caceres?
Ta.

 

[Canuck]

Hi Eli,

The office of the Amigos is not open on week-ends and has limited hours on week-days, indeed.

Also, you're right, you can't expect much help from the folks at the cathedral.
They are not very pilgrim friendly, according to my experience of last August.
They gave me the runaround from one door to the next, to send me finally at the Oficina de Turismo de la Provincia de Sevilla for my first stamp.

The oficina de turismo is situated in a large building on the Plaza del Triunfo, right across from the cathedral. I am pretty sure you can get a credential or direction where to get one from this very friendly office.

Best of luck, have a good one.
Jean-Marc

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola Eli

The Bar Miami hasn't provided credenciales for some time. I've recently heard from a pilgrim who got a credencial and stamp at the cathedral. I'd definitely try there.

Given that Good Friday is one of the biggest days for the Holy Week celebrations in Seville lots of places may be closed or working shorter hours.

You have two weeks to go - why not e mail or telephone the Amigos and get them to post you a credencial? Or ask them to leave it in the Bar Miami for you.

If all else fails make your own credencial for stamps from Sevilla until you get another at one of the albergues along the way.

John

 

[Anniesantiago]

All I know is my own experience.

This past August, like Jean-Marc, we got the runaround at the Cathedral. The left hand did not know what the right hand was doing, and we LITERALLY went to every door available to no avail!

We got our Credential at the Friends Office across the bridge.
We were sent THERE by the Oficina de Turismo, who do NOT carry Credentials.
Unless Ivar can help you with information, the only place I know to get a Credential in Seville is the Friends Office.

If they are closed, it seems to me you can choose to stay in Seville until they are open, which may not be a bad idea. The processions during Semana Santa there are spectacular! Or simply move ahead without it, although I'm not sure where you will get a credential on the road...

Your other option, and the best one at this point, might be to contact the Friends Office in your own country and pay $10 to have them send your Credential overnight mail?

 

[peregrina2000]

I have made a reservation at the Hotel Simon in Sevilla http://www.hotelsimonsevilla.com/ (this was on the recommendation of Isabelle, who posts here regularly and walked the Vdlp last fall). Not only do they give a very good discount to pilgrims, they also have credenciales available.

I´ll be a few weeks behind you, Eli, looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

Laurie

 

[William Marques]

The Hotel Simon is a great little hotel, reasonable price and very close to the cathedral. I never realised they gave a pilgrim discount or I would have asked for one nor did I realise the had credenciales.

We managed to get a stamp at the cathedral from an office inside the cathedral near the Puerta de los Palos door but I can imagine they will have other priorities over Easter.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Hooray! This is GREAT information and should be posted up top somewhere I think.

 

[eli]

Thanks everyone for your help!
Unfortunately the reality of getting a credential in Australia, much less Alice Springs, is not so simple. Which is why I was leaving it until I got there, not anticipating the general shut down of Holy Week in Spain.
But yes, it looks like Hotel Simon (http://www.hotelsimonsevilla.com), as well as Albergue Triana (http://trianabackpackers.com/inicio), both provide credencials in Seville, and will (hopefully and obviously) be open each and every day!! I've just received an email from the Amigos confirming this. I've already booked a bed at the Samoy Hostel for my 3 nights in Seville but will happily include either or both hostels in my exploration of this beautiful city before starting out.
Not many sleeps to go!
Eli

 

[eli]

Hello all,
Just to let you know that on Good Friday i went to both hostels mentioned and they had both run out of credentials ..... which makes me wonder how many were made available for issue over Easter, and perhaps more worryingly, how may people are out there on the Via de la Plata (I was told a hundred had been issued by Hostel Triana alone, but this could have been a throw away number).
I now have to decide whether to wait in Sevilla until they are again available ....Tuesday maybe....or just start and risk difficulty in getting one and not being able to stay at the refugios. This is not such a difficult city to spend time in but i am keen to start my Camino, especially as the weather is glorious!!
Tonight I´ll decide.
Any advice from those with more experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Anniesantiago]

If it was me, I'd hang out in Sevilla and enjoy the parades. They will be spectacular and something you may never again see.

I am not sure you can get a credential at any of the first few stops...

As I recall the first, Guillena, is just a sports club, where you check in at a bar. If there are other pilgrims who have been let in, they will probably let you in to sleep. Not sure how many are on the Plata right now.

The second, Castiblanco, is another place where the hospitalero comes by in the evening. He is very kind, but not sure if he's a regular or a two week volunteer. If it were the same guy, I'm sure he'd let you stay. But I don't think he issues credentials.

There was NOBODY but firemen at Casa Forestal. This time of year, maybe it's open. But I doubt you can get a credential there.

Me... I'd just "go with the flow" and enjoy Sevilla! Go enjoy Louisa Park or Italica. Eat tapas and watch Flamenco. Take a stroll along the river. So much to see and do in Sevilla!

 

[Canuck]

Eli,

You should be able to get a credencial from the first albergue you see on the camino (Guillena). Also, you will be going by TO's and hostales along the way and it might be worth checking with them for credencial. You could surprised how readily available they are.

Get your Sevilla sello on a clean white sheet of paper. Once you have your credencial, cut it out and glue in the first space available, using one of those paper glue sticks.
That's what I have done in the past under similar circonstances.

Get going and have a good one,
Jean-Marc

 

[Anniesantiago]

Jean Marc has a good idea about getting the sello on paper. I have no doubt you can get a sello. But Jean Marc, the bar in Guillena is not going to issue a credential, nor are the next two alburgues.

But the idea of getting the sello on paper.. now THAT proves you're walking... and that may work until you CAN find a Credential.

 

[eli]

Thanks Annie and Jean Marc,
I have been in Sevilla 3 days now and loved the Easter buzz ( and the bull fighting starts today) but I am keen keen keen KEEN to start walking. Because of time I always intended to leap frog to Merida and walk into Santago from there so, since it now seems that the Amigos do not open until after 1700 hours, or possibly 1900 hours tomorrow, have decided to hop on the bus at 9.30 am and try my luck with credentials in Merida. Otherwise, put together my own until I get the official one....somewhere.
Wish me luck.

 

[Canuck]

the bar in Guillena is not going to issue a credential, nor are the next two alburgues.

Annie,

I don't want to turn this into an argument but I was not just thinking in terms of albergues.
Sometimes you find credencials in bars and hostal, as you well know. For exemple, in Castilblanco, up on the hill across town from the albergue, there is a bar/restaurant/casa rural called Hospederia de la Plata that provides services to pilgrims.

Cheers,
Jean-Marc

 

[Anniesantiago]

You are right! No argument

 

[Anniesantiago]

Any word from Eli since she began?

Eli, are you out there?
How you doing?

 

[eli]

Hello All from beautiful Salamanca,
Yes I´m here but this is my first internet session since leaving Seviile and probably my last until reaching Santiago. I´ve just said a sad fairwell to 3 amigos who all leave the <camino here in salamanca and now continue on my own. Hopefully by the time <i need to fly in early <may the volcano will have settled as currently everyone is having difficulty getting seats on trains and buses to return home - no flights. We thought it was a practical joke at first when told about the effects of the volcanic eruption....so strange after so long with no real contact with the world outside the Camino.
I did find the credential on easter Monday morning in Seville at Hostel Triana and have had no reason to look at a guide since joining the Camino - the flechas and locals knowledge is more then enough. And there are many pilgrims around. Some albergues have been full and the hospitelario at Don Blas´ albergue had 31 in one night then 5 in the following night so much fluctuation.
After 2 days in Salamanca resting I look forward to seeing what the second half of the camino will bring. The first has brought unexpected friendship and support, not a single days passing without the evolving family of pilgrim faces around me. Very special.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, eli,
Hope you enjoy Salamanca and have a great second part of your camino. I read on a Spanish web page for the Vdlp that the Taberna Celta (close to the Plaza Mayor on the Calle Pena Primera) treats peregrinos very very well and that the food is very good. Buen camino, looking forward to hearing how the rest goes, Laurie

 

[eli]

Hola,
All has ended well, although the last few days into Santiago were made truly awful by the road/rail work diversions/views and the unseasonally high temperatures. Ended up doing the last 70km in 2 days just to get it behind me! But that said, Santiago was magical as ever, with the May holiday crowds pouring off the buses and trains and walking into the town with matching glow-in-the-dark bandanas, swelling the usual pilgrim numbers considerably. Great energy.
Now to get back to Australia without the volcano going off (again)!