Recently my Spanish class welcomed a guest lecturer who spoke about an upcoming study abroad opportunity. The highlight of the trip: walking a portion of the Camino de Santiago in northwest Spain! This opportuntiy would allow students to walk around 40 miles in 4 days on part of the Frances route after having visited cities like Toledo and Madrid.
The Camino is a network of many pilgrimage routes across Europe that lead the traveler to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the Galicia region. For over 1,000 years pilgrims from across the world have visited this UNESCO heritage site to visit the burial of Saint James at the heart of their finish line. There are so many different routes you can take based on how long you want to walk, if you want to see the coast while traveling, and how social you want the trip to be. People embark on this trek for many different reasons such as their Catholic faith, finding inner peace, exploring the world, fitness, and more! Pilgrims walking the Camino receive a pilgrim passport that gets stamped at churches, cafes, hostels (alberques) and more along the way.
After looking more into the history of the Camino, I became really fascinated with the history of the scallop shell (Vieira in Spanish). It is the universal symbol for the Camino and is painted on trail markers, carved into buildings, and hanging as a keychain from many pilgrim’s backpacks. One story told says that when the ship carrying Saint James’s remains arrived on shore in Galicia, it was covered in these scallop shells. Others say that once pilgrims had completed the root, they would pick up real life scalloped shells from the coast as a proof of their journey. The groves on the scallop shells also symbolize the countless different routes that can be taken to lead to the final destination of the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
It would be very physically challenging to embark on this journey, but I am eager to one day follow the Portuguese route along the coastline and see Santiago de Compostela as I enter into Galicia. It would connect me to the culture and heritage of Spain and help me immerse further as I learn and practice their language.
-Alex Davis
