{"id":11169,"date":"2021-05-31T16:56:41","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T16:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/?p=11169"},"modified":"2021-06-01T15:44:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T15:44:24","slug":"dreaming-of-travel-follow-the-pilgrimage-route-the-way-of-st-james-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/spring-summer-2021\/dreaming-of-travel-follow-the-pilgrimage-route-the-way-of-st-james-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreaming of Travel … Follow the Pilgrimage Route: The Way of St. James, Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carolyn Worthington<\/p><\/p>\n

A<\/span>fter more than a year of staying put, travelers are getting ready to hit the road again. While the travel industry came to a complete standstill worldwide, resulting in billions of dollars of lost tourism revenue and many frustrated travelers, pent-up desire for travel is now fueling big travel dreams.<\/p>\n

The industry consensus is that large-scale international travel will resume in 2022. Pent-up demand means that more once-in-a-lifetime, bucket-list vacations to far-flung locales are being planned now. And, many travelers are expecting to spend more and stay longer.<\/p>\n

“Over 70%\u2014are now saying “YES!” to summer vacation. The pandemic both wanes and lingers in travelers’ psyches and consequent trip decisions from fewer trips to less concern about crowds,” according to Destination Analysts<\/a>, a travel and tourism market research firm.<\/p>\n

“Seven-in-ten Americans are in a ready-to-travel state of mind, and two-thirds say they are highly open to travel inspiration,” Destination Analysts reported. “\u2026, over 75% have actively dreamt and, or have planned travel. Nearly 18% have made a booking or reservation for an upcoming trip.”<\/p>\n

While most people will travel by car, more than a third are thinking about taking a flight.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Plaza de la Quintana. Photo: Tourism of Galicia<\/p><\/div>\n

A Pilgrimage to Clear the Mind and Soul<\/h3>\n

Now more than ever, travelers want to visit a place where they can feel rejuvenated, avoid crowds, and be less barraged by commercialism.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, the most glorious way to shed the pandemic lockdowns and blues might be to go on a pilgrimage. Yes, a unique journey to search for a new or more significant meaning to life.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Pilgrims walking on The Way of St. James. Photo: Tourism of Galicia<\/p><\/div>\n

The Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago)<\/h3>\n

One of the most famous pilgrimage routes is The Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago) in Northern Spain. The various routes lead to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. James the Great was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus and is the patron saint of Spain. His remains are in the Cathedral.<\/p>\n

Follow Footsteps Taken Hundreds of Years Before You<\/h3>\n

Since the 12th century, thousands of people have traveled the routes with one main goal: to see the Cathedral.<\/p>\n

Today, the path is still followed by many as a spiritual experience. Others choose it as a bucket list experience by foot, bicycle, horseback, or even boat.<\/p>\n

A visit to St. James Way is even more special during 2021 because of the celebration of the Xacobeo Holy Year \u2026 when Saint James Day, July 25th, falls on a Sunday.<\/p>\n

Whenever St. James’s Day (July 25th) falls on a Sunday, the Cathedral declares a Holy or Jubilee Year. Depending on leap years, Holy Years occur in 5-, 6-, and 11-year intervals. The most recent were 1982, 1993, 1999, 2004, and 2010.<\/p>\n

Since the Jacobean Holy Year first began in 1126, pilgrims made the trek to be pardoned of their sins, “earning the Jubilee,” by the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

For the first time, the celebration of the Xacobeo Holy Year will be extended over two consecutive years (2021 and 2022) because of the pandemic. The next Jacobean years will be 2027 and 2032.<\/p>\n

A Trip of a Lifetime<\/h3>\n

Along the way, you will travel through history, enjoy magnificent and varied landscapes, and sample the delicious local cuisine.<\/p>\n

Several different routes lead to the Cathedral include:<\/p>\n

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Travel the Way of St. James by bicycle. Photo: Tourism of Galicia<\/p><\/div>\n

How to Travel<\/h3>\n

Travel by bicycle, horseback, walk, or on a boat or a train hotel.<\/p>\n

The best months for cycling are April, May, June, and September.<\/p>\n

Instead of shipping your horse for the adventure, several tour companies offer horseback itineraries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Follow the steps of kings and popes, knights and archbishops, saints and crusaders. Ride the Camino as the medieval nobility did, on horseback,” You should expect to ride for 6 to 7 hours a day.<\/p>\n

Sailors might choose to travel by boat, stopping in ports such as Santander, Gij\u00f3n, and A Coru\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

The Routes<\/h3>\n

Route maps can be found on the Spain.info website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are several:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Pilgrims walking The French Way at Alto do Poio, a pass on the Camino de Santiago near Padornelo located in the province of Lugo.\u00a0 Photo: Tourism of Galicia<\/p><\/div>\n

The French Way (Camino Franc\u00e9s)<\/h3>\n

Over 150,000 pilgrims a year have traveled this route from the Pyrenees, passing through the regions of Aragon, Navarre, La Rioja, Castile and Leon, and Galicia.<\/p>\n

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Pilgrims walking The Northern Way. Here at Ribadeo, a municipality in the Spanish province of Lugo in Galicia. Photo: Tourism of Galicia<\/p><\/div>\n

The Northern Way (Camino del Norte)<\/h3>\n

The route along the Cantabrian Sea (the southern part of the Bay of Biscay, the coastal sea of the Atlantic) passes through the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias, and Galicia.<\/p>\n

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Pilgrims walking The Primitive Way. Photo: Tourism of Galicia<\/p><\/div>\n

The Primitive Way (Camino Primitivo)<\/h3>\n

It mainly follows tracks through natural settings. The route goes from Oviedo (Asturias) to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, crossing the forests and valleys of Asturias to join up with the French Way in Palas de Rei (Galicia). The route of the Primitive Way is possibly the most demanding, especially if cycling, where you might want to use a mountain bike.<\/p>\n

Other popular routes are: Winter Way<\/a> (Camino de Invierno), English Way<\/a> (Camino Ingl\u00e9s) and Portuguese Coastal Way<\/a> (Camino Portugu\u00e9s de la Costa).<\/p>\n

Just two years ago, nearly 350,000 pilgrims traveled the various routes. The world will return to travel, and pilgrims will return as travel restrictions ease.<\/p>\n

Maybe one of them will be you.<\/p>\n

________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Helpful resource for travel to Spain: https:\/\/travelsafe.spain.info\/en\/<\/a><\/h5>\n
Other Useful Links:<\/h5>\n
https:\/\/www.caminodesantiago.gal\/en\/inicio<\/a><\/h5>\n
https:\/\/www.spain.info\/en\/discover-spain\/xacobeo-camino-santiago\/<\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pilgrimage to clear the mind and soul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2021","category-spring-summer-2021-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11169"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11489,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11169\/revisions\/11489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}