Though I did a great job planning my daily mileage, it was the slog of getting up to do another day of it while hoping the socks I washed the night before dried overnight. The Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago has many cobblestoned sections. These destroyed the balls of my feet until I had the good sense to stop at the Farmacía for some better gel inserts. I hike often in my home of Arizona but there’s no way I could have prepared for the cobblestones. She wanted to enjoy the journey.įor myself, I anticipated the trek being difficult, but the ways it ended up being hard were unexpected. What’s the point in rushing, the wife mused to me. They planned their trip with fewer kilometers a day (and a couple bus rides to skip parts that were too strenuous) and planned to do the trek over 17 days. who were in their 70s walking their second camino. If you’re thinking of taking it on, I’d urge you to be completely realistic about your limitations to make the journey enjoyable. It’s up to you to listen and figure out what works for your body. The markers count down kilometers left until Santiago. Markers with yellow arrows and shells point the way for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. I devoured The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho. After that, I watched The Way with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. It had the added bonus of hiking from town to town, giving me a chance to experience a pastime I enjoyed while also seeing Spain beyond the metropolises of Madrid and Barcelona.ĭuring lockdown, I bought Hape’s book in English. It was everything I missed about travel, the casual conversations you have and the relationships you make with people through your shared visit to another country. How wondrous would it be when the pandemic subsided to spend several weeks just walking across Europe, meeting strangers who would become new friends, staying in the Albergues and guest houses along the way.
#CAMINO DE SANTIAGO TRAIL MOVIE#
When the pandemic hit two years later, in the middle of full lockdown, the memory of that movie and the Camino crept into my mind, romancing me for being all the things I couldn’t do at the time. On a lazy Saturday, I was looking for something to watch on German Netflix when I came across the movie “I’m Off Then” based on the book by German comedian Hape Kerkeling. My personal intrigue about the Camino de Santiago first sparked in 2018 when I was living in Berlin. Which Camino de Santiago route is right for you in 2022? Why I chose the Camino de Santiago A spokesperson for the Cathedral told me that on some days this summer, the Oficina has issued more than 2,000 Compostelas, far outpacing any other years on record.īut along with those factors, I wonder if the Camino is also drawing in more pilgrims this year because it offers us so much of what we’re looking for in our travel after the pandemic lockdowns: a chance to slow down and travel more intentionally. On the day I arrived, the Oficina del Peregrino which issues the official Compostela certifying a pilgrim has completed the required kilometers for the pilgrimage, recorded 1442 pilgrims arriving.
And, like all travel, it’s the first summer where this journey has been “safer” following mass vaccination, and thus we’re seeing a rebound of two years of postponed travel plans. The rise in the number of pilgrims this year is easily attributable to it being a Holy Year for Saint James, where the Cathedral’s Holy Door is opened and those who make the trek and walk through the door are granted a plenary indulgence. Though the length of each path is different, all are hundreds of miles long and eventually weave through Spain to the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela where you can visit the remains of the apostle.
How was it?" Why is it so busy this year?ĭating back to the 9th century, the Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage to what is believed to be the final resting place of Saint James the Apostle. The centuries-old religious pilgrimage route has always beckoned pilgrims but is doing so in record numbers this year, perhaps best illustrated by the fact that in my sorry state, as the desk clerk continued to work to find me a room, a guy in the lobby walked up to me to ask if I had just finished the Camino de Santiago. Though traveling by myself I was far from alone on this journey. Lonely Planet senior news editor Melissa Yeager at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela after finishing 260km (161 miles) of the Portuguese Way of the pilgrimage.
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