Germany and the Camino de Santiago

German Pilgrims made up 14% of non-Spanish Pilgrims in 2017 (some 23, 200 people) and the country has some history with the Camino with evidence from the 9th century showing Pilgrims setting up and some accommodation for Pilgrims passing by.

Perhaps the most famous of these Pilgrims Hospitals is the Kompostellhof in Frankfurt which was built in the 13th century and stands on the old city's walls and at the neighbouring Arnsburger Hof Pilgrims could attend Mass.

There are now 50 routes that depart Germany for Santiago and German PIlgrims are served by a number of Associations with the most important being Deutsche St Jakobus Gesellscahft founded in 1987.

The recent popularity of the Camino for Germans can be put down mainly to the experiences of German comedian Hap Kerkeling who wrote the book (which was turned into a popular film in 2016) 'Ich bin dann mal weg' sold as 'I'm off then' in English

Image from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6213762-i-m-off-then?rating=1&utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book

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The Camino Primitivo

The Camino Primitivo (or the Original Way) is reportedly the very first Camino Way to Santiago in the 9 th century when most of Spain was under the control of the Moors and it runs from near the city of Ovideo in Asturias as it starts in Villavicosa (which also lies on the Camino Norte so many people follow this Way from Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun ( this route then hugs the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heads along the coast to Ovideo) before branching off onto the Primitivo which goes across the mountains and through the city of Lugo before joining the Frances at Melide. The route is 320km long. Image taken from https://viaalpina2013.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/camino-del-norte-camino-primitivo/

Symbols of the three main Christian Pilgrimages

The symbol of the Pilgrim to Santiago is the Scallop shell of which many can be found on the coast of Galicia and it is actually a symbol of the Pilgrimage (and has become a symbol of other Christian Pilgrimages too) partly because you could find the shell easily there and so could go back home and show it off as proof that you had done the Pilgrimage. It has also been included in carvings in some Churches.

Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

I have only walked two of the Camino routes (the Frances and Portuguese) and still want to try many of the others and yet I am also finding other Pilgrimage routes that I want to walk - I did the Pilgrims' Way in the summer which starts from Winchester which is also the starting point for the Pilgrims' Trail a 155 mile route that finishes at Mont St Michel in Normandy, France. The cult of saint Michel was popular in Britain from the 9th century and the Pilgrims walking this way were called Miquelots and many Pilgrims on their way to Santiago. The route is marked by green way markers in Hampshire taking walkers from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham to Southwick and then to Portsmouth where ferries are caught to France and Way markers become blue. Tradition says that, in 709 Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and told him to build a chapel in his honour on the island. The bishop obeyed and soon sent a group of monks over...

On the Camino

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