"It’s not the 500-mile walk across Spain, it’s the people"

[ivar]

More here:
http://www.sj-r.com/bakke/x882693994/It-s-not-the-500-mile-walk-across-Spain-it-s-the-people

 

[Pruden]

You are right ! No people no Camino! people are the soul, the spirit , the experience of Camino de Santiago.
Since more than a 1000 years they have walked this beatifull path searching for a spiritual experience and building so many monuments, churches, villages , etc.
The experience is there and deep inside of you can be felt , up to you to fell it !
Go don't wait to change your perspective of life.
And Buen Camino.

 

[Pygar]

Drop out of your "real" life for a few weeks, or months. See a beautiful country, meet amazing people from all over the world
and your outlook on life will change.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Even without any people, in the off season, there is some kind of juju out there like noplace else in the world. The people are GREAT, but I think there´s something going on here beyond them. Something here brings out the best in some people... and the worst in a few.

 

[AJ]

Even without any people, in the off season, there is some kind of juju out there like noplace else in the world. The people are GREAT, but I think there´s something going on here beyond them. Something here brings out the best in some people... and the worst in a few.

No doubt about it. But the people are part of it too, intensifying it.

 

[newfydog]

You are right ! No people no Camino! people are the soul, the spirit , the experience of Camino de Santiago.

.

So, all the days on the other historic routes where we did not see a soul, yet were still traveling in the footsteps of hundreds of thousands or medieval pilgrims, those were meaningless? If one travels the Frances on a winter day, arriving at O'Cebreiro in a blizzard, just as a famous pilgrim of the past did, that would be be "no Camino"?

Sorry, the Camino is more than a social gathering!

I like the second half of your post:

Since more than a 1000 years they have walked this beatifull path searching for a spiritual experience and building so many monuments, churches, villages , etc.
The experience is there and deep inside of you can be felt , up to you to fell it !

I don't need an albergue full of other people to appreciate that!

 

[Pruden]

Sorry

So, all the days on the other historic routes where we did not see a soul, yet were still traveling in the footsteps of hundreds of thousands or medieval pilgrims, those were meaningless? If one travels the Frances on a winter day, arriving at O'Cebreiro in a blizzard, just as a famous pilgrim of the past did, that would be be "no Camino"?

Sorry, the Camino is more than a social gathering!

I like the second half of your post:



I don't need an albergue full of other people to appreciate that!

 

[Pruden]

[qthinkte="Pruden, post: 160352, member: 26033"]Sorry[/quote]
I tthink Camino de Santiago exist because of the people ! And without people's walk since more than 1000 years it will be like any other Camino!
All along the Camino is full of the magic , the experience , the suffer, the longing, the challenge etc.of each one of the pilgrims .
So to me Camino is something physical, but more important is a spiritual experience that happens inside of you.
And you don't need to meet any body to feel something special , but i prefer to share my experience with others.
Sorry my English is no to good! !!

 

[robertt]

As a slow walker in cold weather - who prefers private accommodation - I find the company of other pilgrims to be a dispensable delight. Always happy to walk along with others, and I've had mostly great times socialising in albergues. If it weren't for my inability to sleep through others' snoring I'd do more albergues, for sure, though I would not compete for a bed or hot water in busy times against people genuinely low on funds. (That survival-of-the-shrewdest-and-earliest does go on a bit, and I just stay out of it. Of course, it may well be an okay and natural thing - but I stay out of it!)

The people I try not to overlook are the locals. It's my experience that no place likes to be treated as a mere thoroughfare. It may be as simple as noticing a Galician lady's camellias or asking a guy working behind a bar how he feels about Spain's big soccer win. I try to be a bit less "conveyor belt", if you know what I mean. Someone wants to pull me up and tell me Trajan's road really did go straight through their town, or their cocido is the true cocido etc etc...I'll buy into it!

Cheers and ultreia

Rob

 

[keith duke scott]

View attachment 6295
More here:
http://www.sj-r.com/bakke/x882693994/It-s-not-the-500-mile-walk-across-Spain-it-s-the-people

To bad the link didn't work for me?

 

[peregrina2000]

To bad the link didn't work for me?

Unfortunately, since the post is from 2013, it’s likely that the page has disappeared. I thought that maybe a search in the newspaper archives would bring something up, but I couldn’t find it.