SPAIN: Walking the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela has become a quite common choice for both believers and non believers. People do it to experience culture, nature, food, wine, religion, tradition. I decided to do the walk as a new way to see Spain and do something sporty as well. And the walk exceeded all my expectations.
The walk is a nice cultural experience. You see all these old towns along the way, beautiful old buildings and a lot of handmade artifacts that people leave behind them as a signs on the path.
Many people do the walk as a culinary experience through the country’s best food and wine districts. And for a good reason. As a pilgrim you get full three course dinners with half a bottle of wine for no more than 8-9 euros. Good deal.
I walked the last bit of the camino, the 11 day walk from Leon to Santiago, with my first iphone, an iphone 3 that just had the photo application Hipstamatic installed. I am not too fond of the visual lenses the app provides anymore. But I kind of like the dark and mystic look the Hipstamatic app gives to the pilgrimage pictures.
The path is marked with sea shells in different forms. This was the first one we saw.
There are also a lot of pilgrim statues and pilgrim paintings along the camino. This resting pilgrim in Leon was the first statue saw.
Had to take a closer look on him.
The first painting we saw, outside of the city. Ready to do the 11 days of walking.
And follow the shells..
And many sunsets..
And butterflies..
And towns..
And pilgrim signs..
In all forms..
like this one..
And other signs…
like this..
And looooong plain fields..
And looooong hills..
And a lot of dusty roads.
But beautiful flowers…
And a lot of piles of stone. All the pilgrims leave stones behind them as a token of the sins they want to get rid of.
There is a lot of stone piles at crossroads. Symbolizing that you leave something behind when taking a new route.
And stones on the markers.
But forgot about the people. There is always some pilgrims walking close by.
And pilgrims doing the camino in different ways.
And at night there is always a party.
And sometimes you get to borrow a really cool hammock.
And then, the next day, you start walking again.
And see a lot of beautiful stuff.
Like this..
And this..
And this..
And this..
And this..
And this..
And this..
And these…
And these..
But after walking some days, your legs hurt, and you need some walking sticks. Like these.
Then you are ready to walk again.
In all kinds of weather.
Through cities.
By castles.
And by cool pilgrim sites.
There is art where ever you look..
On the walls..
In the sky..
A lot on the stone piles..
On the ground…
For good luck…
Best of all is the small nice places where you can relax in the shade with a beautiful view.
And have some good wine.
Just not have to much wine..
Becuse next day, its out walking again.
Meeting friends, collecting memories.
Seeing odd stuff.
Seeing beautiful artifacts.
All dragging you along the way.
Our group crossing a stream.
Passing a tired pilgrim relaxing.
And relaxing in different ways.
The trail is popular and crowded.
But also mystical and quiet.
Some times there is no room on the hostels, so you have to sleep outside..
But what a thrill when you see this sign. Getting closer.
The last big pilgrim statue before arriving in Santiago.
What a sight.
The entrance to the city!
In front of the church.
A lot of people. But what a great way to se the country side of Spain.
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