El Camino de Santiago

El Camino de Santiago

El Camino de Santiago is a route that people do to go to the city of Santiago de Compostela. 

The city of Santiago de Compostela is placed in Galicia, which is located in the north of Spain. In this city, there is a really important and big cathedral, that is named the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

In that cathedral, you can find the relics and the grave of an important apostle, (religious men), named Santiago the apostle, that explains the name of the cathedral and the city. 

Historically, catholic people would do this route to see the relics, but nowadays it has becomed such an important and famous tradition that a lot of people, even people from other countries, do this route to have time to think or disconect from reality.                                                                                          

But obviously, there are also people that keep doing this route because of religious motives now.  Everyone who do this route are called pilgrings while doing it.

There is an historical symbology for the route and the pilgrins, which is a shell.

 

The cross that appears on the last shell is painted in a traditional cake that they make in Galicia, called Santiago de Compostela's cake.

People can do this route in many different ways, not only by walking, but also by bike, or riding a horse. And it can start from different points, there are a lot of routes to go to the city, and you can choose one of them depending on where you come from or where do you want to start the route.

Finally, it is important to know where pilgrins sleep and eat during the route. They do this things in places near this routes, which are called albergues in spanish, in english it would be something similar to an inn or a shelter.

Finally, this are some photos of the cathedral and the city, made by me, because I'm from Galicia and I have been so many times in Santiago the Compostela.

By Candela Piñeiro