What is the Camino? (EP 15)

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people walk across Spain to reach a single cathedral in the far northwest corner of the country. Some of them are religious. Some of them just want a really, really long walk. The Camino de Santiago has been pulling people across Europe for over a thousand years, and right now more people are doing it than at any point in recorded history. What's the deal with the scallop shell? What are the major routes? What is it actually like to walk over 500 miles across Spain? In this episode, Marti talks about her experience on the Camino Francés in 2006, from the boots, the blisters, and the pilgrim hostels to the strangers who become friends by nightfall. This episode also goes into the history. Legend says it starts in 813 AD, when a hermit noticed strange lights in a forest in Galicia and a king traveled from Oviedo to investigate, becoming the first recorded Camino pilgrim. It covers the medieval golden age when 250,000 people a year were crossing the continent on foot, the plague and the Reformation that nearly ended the whole thing, and the bishop who in 1589 secretly removed the relics of Saint James from the cathedral crypt to protect them from English attack, died without telling anyone where he'd hidden them, and left the mystery unsolved for three hundred years.  If you want more Spain content: ∙ Subscribe to Marti's Substack at https://substack.com/@martibuckley ∙ Follow her on Instagram @martibuckley ∙ Visit her blog at travelcookeat.com