Spiritual journey to honeymoon: Walking to Santiago de Compostela

Published: 2005-07-25

PALAS DE REI, Spain (CNS) -- In the heat of a late July afternoon the streets near the plaza in Palas de Rei echoed with the sound of bagpipe music and the tap-tap-tap of wooden staffs on the stone pavement. Pilgrims walking the Way of St. James, the road to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, were going from hostel to hotel, filling the beds in Palas de Rei, a town that stretches for several blocks on both sides of the two-lane French Way, the most heavily traveled of the eight traditional footpaths that converge on Santiago. They were pressing to reach the city 40 miles to the west in time for the patron saint's feast day July 25. Tradition holds that the remains of St. James the Greater, the apostle, are buried in Santiago's cathedral, and the city has been a pilgrim destination for 11 centuries. In July, the free pilgrim hostels were full by 1 p.m., and walkers and bikers sought scarce paid beds or slept outdoors. Along the French Way, walkers from around the globe spoke of their reasons for making the journey.

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