# Ask the person who walked the Camino de Santiago **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868 "2019-08-19T03:55:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/1 "2019-08-19T03:55:32Z")
A.k.a. the St. James Way. I just returned and I’m happy to answer questions. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/2 "2019-08-19T04:45:57Z")
1. Where in the world is Camino de Santiago? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/3 "2019-08-19T04:59:58Z")
> [@digs](#): > > 1. Where in the world is Camino de Santiago? The one in Spain? What route did you walk, exactly? At what pace? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/4 "2019-08-19T05:07:20Z")
It doesn’t have to be in Spain except for the last bit: in theory, it should start wherever you live. Of course, people who live in places with too much water between them and Compostela are allowed to take boats and still have it count as a traditional route; horses and bicycles also count for purposes of getting the stamps. Did you walk it or use other means of transportation? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/5 "2019-08-19T05:12:41Z")
I walked the Camimo Frances route from St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. I had to bus a couple of stages due to toenail damage. My walk was 41 days. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/6 "2019-08-19T14:42:05Z")
What about the emotional/spiritual aspect? I have a friend who just walked part of it as a sort of pilgrimage. I haven’t talked to her since she got back. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/7 "2019-08-19T14:48:51Z")
What’s the biggest thing you feel you took away from the experience? In hindsight, would you have done anything differently? ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/8 "2019-08-19T15:02:37Z")
> [@susan](#): > > I walked the Camimo Frances route from St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. I had to bus a couple of stages due to toenail damage. My walk was 41 days. Tell me you tried a taloa (or two). Ideally, tell me it was at that little canteen place about two thirds the way up to the citadel (on the right as you’re going up) in St Jean. The one that’s like wandering into someone’s kitchen. j ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/9 "2019-08-19T15:12:43Z")
Any other camino’s or long distance hikes planned? They are sort of addictive. Also did you attend the Pilgrims mass and see the swinging of the Botofurror \, that’s really special. Did you continue to Fisterra and Muxia which IMHO is the best part of the trail. I’ve done the French and Portugal way of St James and the Appalachian Trail. I am considering the West Highland Trail in Scotland which is part of the international Appalachian Trail. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/10 "2019-08-19T15:16:31Z")
That sounds so awesome. Were you with a group or alone? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/11 "2019-08-19T15:50:24Z")
Were you interested in the journey more as a pilgrimage than a long distance journey? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/12 "2019-08-19T15:59:12Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Also did you attend the Pilgrims mass and see the swinging of the Botofurror \ _Botafumeiro_. Lit. “_lets out smoke_”, in Galego. In English “censer”. And apo’strophe doe’snt mean here come’s an 's. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/13 "2019-08-19T16:12:32Z")
We drove there on a long weekend when we lived in Lisbon. Not exactly a pilgrimage, just an interest in architecture and history. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/14 "2019-08-19T16:26:45Z")
> [@digs](#): > > 1. Where in the world is Camino de Santiago? My exact thought on reading the thread title. Of course I heard it in my head with Rockapella’s voice… ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/15 "2019-08-19T16:32:53Z")
Did you watch [_The Way_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441912/?ref_=nv_sr_4?ref_=nv_sr_4) either before or after you did it? ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/16 "2019-08-19T18:55:18Z")
> [@digs](#): > > 1. Where in the world is Camino de Santiago? Okay, so I wasn’t the only one who read the title wrong for a second? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/17 "2019-08-19T20:33:13Z")
For some reason my brain saw “Camino de Santiago” and processed it as ["Camino del Rey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/18 "2019-08-20T20:15:15Z")
**Did you watch _The Way_ either before or after you did it?** After reading many memoirs and guidebooks, I watched _The Way_ about two weeks before my walk, mostly to show my family the landscape and answer any questions it stimulated. **Were you with a group or alone?** I walked alone. A friend joined me for a few days mid-trip, which I enjoyed, but it was a different experience and I was glad to be alone again after she left. **Were you interested in the journey more as a pilgrimage than a long distance journey?** Yes, though an existential Buddhist-Jewish pilgrimage, not a Catholic one. I wanted a Christian immersion experience in order to become more comfortable with the historical experience of Jews in Europe. I also wanted to have time to focus on thinking about religion, and to enhance my mindfulness and meditation practice. **What about the emotional/spiritual aspect?** I have traveled a fair amount on my own, so I wasn’t particularly lonely. I’m extroverted, and this type of travel gives me the choice of connecting more actively or being more on my own. I chose the latter this time. Spiritually, I am happy with my participation in Catholic rites on this trip, which I normally refrain from, and also happy with the thinking I did about religion, spirituality, existential dread, and being here now. This was a celebratory post-cancer treatment trip, so there was plenty to reflect on. **Tell me you tried a taloa (or two). Ideally, tell me it was at that little canteen place about two thirds the way up to the citadel (on the right as you’re going up) in St Jean.** Would that I had. However, on arriving at St. Jean, I checked into my gite; went out to buy hiking poles, a pocket knife, and snacks for the next day; and then went to sleep. **What’s the biggest thing you feel you took away from the experience?** A better appreciation for both my physical abilities and my areas of impairment or change in capability. I’d like to say something deep about the spirit, but that will come later. Now I’m still all about the toenails. **In hindsight, would you have done anything differently?** I would have stopped a night at Refuge Orrison rather than pushing through to Roncesvalles. That might have resulted in less foot injury and made it possible to walk all of the stages. I might also have scheduled a night in O Cebreiro rather than extra nights closer to Santiago de Compostela, but it’s a hard call. I wanted to be sure I had rest days budgeted. **Any other camino’s or long distance hikes planned? They are sort of addictive** Like childbirth, I vowed never to do it again while I was doing it, but now I’d like to walk one of the Portuguese routes and some of the walking trails in Great Britain. \*\*Also did you attend the Pilgrims mass and see the swinging of the Botofurror \, that’s really special. \*\* The cathedral is under renovation for the 2021 Holy Year, so there are no services offered. I did attend Pilgrims’ masses at other sites. **Did you continue to Fisterra and Muxia which IMHO is the best part of the trail.** I didn’t have time to walk, but I did bus to Fisterra and spent the night. I had the religious medallion of a friend who died of AIDS 25 years ago and thought he would be happy to have me fling it off the edge of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/19 "2019-08-21T10:15:39Z")
**susan** – a rather off-the-wall thing here, but: a church (in England) with which I have had some association in recent times, takes a supportive interest in the perceived mission of a couple (wife: British, husband: I’m not sure) who run an overnight-accomm. hostel, somewhere (I don’t know where) on the Spanish stretch, for people walking the Camino. I can’t help feeling a little curious here: since “my” church is Baptist / evangelical; and that is the abovementioned couple’s slant on Christianity too. I have to wonder – with the Camino de Santiago being an essentially Catholic thing – if said couple take the view that Catholicism is not “proper” Christianity (_not_ a view held by “my” church), and they are thus working “in the enemy camp” to try to convert Catholics: that would be liable to be a very contentious business, giving rise to much ill-feeling. If they consider that Catholicism is acceptably Christian: are there not mission fields elsewhere in the world, where their efforts would be, perceivedly, more needed? The thing just seems to me, a little odd – I don’t suppose you stayed at any time, at a hostel which might correspond to the above (admittedly, my description is on the vague side)? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868/20 "2019-08-21T11:46:26Z")
> [@susan](#): > > **Did you continue to Fisterra and Muxia which IMHO is the best part of the trail.** > I didn’t have time to walk, but I did bus to Fisterra and spent the night. I had the religious medallion of a friend who died of AIDS 25 years ago and thought he would be happy to have me fling it off the edge of the world. Once past Santiago, the camino becomes much more pagan, and more primitive. There is a transition there as I experienced. Before Santiago everything is towards something, after it is away from something. What I got was Santiago is very built up, very busy, and leaving that is very peaceful. It’s like heading out into a void of sorts but something that was hidden in the noise starts to noticed. Just curious, practically speaking how did you accomplish throwing the medallion off the edge of the world, the sea does not appear accessible at the end of that route within throwing distance. Did you just chuck it into the steeper ground/off one of the cliffs? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-walked-the-camino-de-santiago/838868.md?page=2)