|
Return
to Travel Guide / Galicia
Accommodation
Spain has a wealthy and varied
legacy that is very much a product of the long and quite convoluted history
that as a country it has had to undergo.
As you travel around the
country you can see glimpses of a past wealthy in the legacy of former
conquerors be they the Moors, medieval Spaniards themselves or parts of
the country that have Jewish and other international flavours.
 As
you would expect for a country where organized religion has played such
an important part in its history, throughout Spain you will find lots of
individual pilgrimage routes.
The way of St. James otherwise
known as the Camino de Santiago is possibly the most famous of all of these
routes. It was in the ninth century that the Way of St. James became popular
allegedly as a result of the remains of St. James being found. The prospect
of being able to pay tribute to the last resting place of St. James has
been such a magnet that in the following centuries pilgrims from around
the world have travelled this route.
The story behind the waves
and James is like a lot of other religious shrines in that sometimes people
do sometimes it hasn't them particularly here between the 16th and 17th
century there was no one will put an interest in their own way of St. James.
Possibly part of the reason for this may have been the alleged instructions
from one of the popes of the day who stated that it was possible for prisoners
who have been serving time in jail for minor misdemeanours that it might
be possible for them to serve penance by undertaking a journey along the
way of St. James.
 Interest
in this particular pilgrimage route was revised in the 20th century on
the Way of St. James when the United Nations Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organisation made Santiago de Compostela a world legacy site –
a site that now has since become the setting for one of the world’s biggest
pilgrimages.
The combination of Santiago
de Compostela and the Way of St. James has become so successful and quite
frankly so massive that an entire tourism sub industry has grown up alongside
it.
The English route, the French
route and the Spanish routes probably are the most common starting off
points for the Journey along the Way of St James. It has to be said that
the most popular pilgrimage routes originate in France, leading from the
north of France right down to Spain.
Nowadays unless you happen
to be a completely devout, fervent and ardent pilgrim it is unlikely that
you would travel the entire 760 common to route from Roncesvalles to Santiago
de Compostela. Those who do manage the entire route claim that the hardship
and suffering that they go through stands him in good stead for being able
to appreciate the whole experience once they get to Santiago.
To ensure all of pilgrims
who are on the route don't stray from the straight and narrow of the Way
of St James an informal system all markers and signposts at strategic points
along the way has been developed. These primary consist of yellow arrows
placed strategically at various points and are widely credited to be the
brainchild of Father Elias Valdinha. Of course his motive may well have
been to ensure that pilgrims when they arrived at Santiago arrived in the
best possible condition. No matter what, it is a good system and it works.
Return
to Travel Guide / Galicia
Accommodation
top
About
the Author: Stephen Morgan writes about a great many Internet Travel based
issues and more on the above can be found at Accommodation in Galicia .
For a more complete overlook at Tourism in Galicia try http://www.turgalicia.es |
