A trip worth taking: 'The Way of St James'

First of all, what is The Way of St James? Is the sum of old European pilgrimage routes which have as the final destination Santiago de Compostela (Spain). It is supposed that St James' remains were buried in this city, that is why people in Medieval Times traveled to the Spanish city to atone for their sins. Anyway, nowadays although it is still identified as a Christian pilgrimage, people walk it for a wide variety of reasons. 'El Camino' is so popular right now that even a film based on it is about to be released:

There are five main different routes in Spain: French Route, the Silver Road, the Northern Routes, the English Road, and the Portuguese Road. The first one is the most popular thanks to the infrastructure for pilgrims.

French Road's map

Where?

St Jean Pied de Port

The French Road begins at St Jean Pied de Port (Southern France) and it is nearly 800km from the arrival. This small city lies on the river Nive and it is 8 km from the Spanish border. People who start from this point usually feel really proud because the way from here to Roncesvalles is thought to be the hardest part of the Camino.

The next step would be Roncesvalles, a tiny town in Navarra, among the Pyrenees. There is not a lot there to be found besides a church, 2 bars and one of the largest ‘albergue’, where 120 people sleep in a large room. Nearly 50kms after you will finally reach Pamplona, one of the biggest cities of the whole Camino. In this capital city, known thanks to ‘Running the bulls’, you will find lots of shops, restaurants, churches and delicious ‘tapas’. It is worthy staying there one or two days in order to have time enough to visit the city.

 

Pamplona's City Hall



Burgos's Cathedral

 After leaving behind several towns such as Estella, Viana or Najera, you will arrive to one of the other big cities ot the route: Burgos. Capital of Castile, this city will impact you because of its Gothic Cathedral, dated of 1221. After walking almost 200 kms, another Gothic Cathedral settled in Leon will receive you. It is also known because of the Real Colegiata de San Isidoro where is located the Royal Pantheon, or Casa de Botines, a Gaudi's early work.
The penultimate stop would be Ponferrada where you definitely should have breakfast or lunch and deviate from the walk to visit the Old Square.
After nearly four weeks if you are still alive and your legs continue working you will finally make it to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia's capital city. Its cathedral is the desired destination for the pilgrims where the remains of Santiago (St James) are thought to be.

(to be continued..)