Walk your worries away on the Camino
The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage route (“camino” in Spanish) to the town of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
According to legend, the remains of St James, an apostle who preached the gospel in Spain and Portugal, were buried in Galicia in Spain. (“Santiago” is James in Spanish.) A bright star guided a shepherd to the burial site. “De Compostela” means “from the field of the stars”. Thus, the town’s name can be translated as “St James of the Field of Stars”. His shrine is in the Santiago de Compostela cathedral, which was later built on the site. Pilgrims have been walking there since the 9th century to honour the apostle.
What does the modern pilgrim look like? People walk the route for many different reasons, but mostly to clear their heads. The pilgrims share their life stories with each other – maybe because it feels like your story is safe with strangers…
On my first day, for example, I met two Australians: Brad from Melbourne was struggling to cope with the passing of his wife and Leanne from Sydney was going through a painful divorce. A third pilgrim was there to work up
