Official interest in the Mozárabe in the province of Córdoba

[peregrina2000]

El Camino Mozárabe: flechas amarillas entre dehesas de encinas que recorren 14 municipios cordobeses hasta llegar a Extremadura

Desde Córdoba, el recorrido lleva al peregrino hacia Cerro Muriano, Villaharta, ...

www.cordobabn.com

This article describes a serious effort on the part of the province of Córdoba to. promote the Mozárabe. Anyone who has walked it knows that once you get to Granada, you’ve reached the end of the Almería amigos’ territory and things change. They’ve got € 200,000 to spend on the Mozárabe as it passes through Córdoba, and it sounds like it’s part of a larger funded project of almost € 2.5 million.

I think this kind of official effort is great, even though the expenditures are frequently done without much actual input from the people who know the camino best. The overabundance of signage on the Invierno, while local albergues are woefully needed, is a good example of how to spend millions of euros without necessarily addressing real needs. But I digress.... Maybe projects like these will help jumpstart more local associations. Anyone who looks at the entire trajectory of the Mozárabe (at least the branch from Almería to Mérida) immediately sees that it’s the local association that has been the primary impetus, and they have done this without a whole lot of government funding, just a lot of camino love, dedicated members, and some occasional grants.

I also think that it’s likely that one of the “leftovers” of the pandemic will be that more Spaniards will look for more things to do closer to home and these obscure caminos might be just the thing.

One of my hopes is to walk the Mozárabe from Málaga, in fact it’s on the top of my list for where I will go if the camino opens up to the US in the winter!

 

[Magwood]

My camino from Málaga is still my favourite route.

 

[islandwalker]

Lots of nice details in that article. Thanks! I've read several articles recently about the attention Spain is paying to the depopulation of rural areas and how Spain is worse off than either France or Germany in terms of its percentage of rural population. Camino pilgrims are always mentioned in terms of the keeping alive services in the villages the camino passes through.

 

[Luka]

It was (and is) also on top of my list. My plan was to walk from Málaga to Córdoba in April 2020... Then I thought about April 2021 and now I don't plan anything anymore... But yes, one day...

 

[OZAJ]

My first in 2008 started from Malaga. No other pilgrims until Merida. Only one albergue, in a disused railway station.

 

[Elle Bieling]

Thank-you for the update!

 

[Deleted member 73526]

Anyone who looks at the entire trajectory of the Mozárabe (at least the branch from Almería to Mérida) immediately sees that it’s the local association that has been the primary impetus, and they have done this without a whole lot of government funding, just a lot of camino love, dedicated members, and some occasional grants.

The Almeria association often thanks American Pilgrims on the Camino for its generous support. It has enabled the association to do waymarking (including beautiful stone mojons), conversions of buildings into albergues, and other activities.

As you say, the existence of a motivated local association that really believes in the camino is a gamechanger - They allocate funds to improvements that benefit pilgrims and local communities and they make a little money go a long way. When I see numbers in the "€ x million" range I start to worry about pork barrel projects for the benefit of the construction industry and political bagmen.

If there's one project on the Mozarabe that I'd like a big construction company to take on, it would be the construction of a footbridge over the Rio Burdalo between Yelbes and San Pedro de Merida. Pilgrims today must ford the river (not always possible) or walk a dangerous 4km stretch of road.

My first in 2008 started from Malaga. No other pilgrims until Merida. Only one albergue, in a disused railway station.

Campanario? I wonder if that was the first albergue on the Mozarabe?

 

[OZAJ]

The Almeria association often thanks American Pilgrims on the Camino for its generous support. It has enabled the association to do waymarking (including beautiful stone mojons), conversions of buildings into albergues, and other activities.

As you say, the existence of a motivated local association that really believes in the camino is a gamechanger - They allocate funds to improvements that benefit pilgrims and local communities and they make a little money go a long way. When I see numbers in the "€ x million" range I start to worry about pork barrel projects for the benefit of the construction industry and political bagmen.

If there's one project on the Mozarabe that I'd like a big construction company to take on, it would be the construction of a footbridge over the Rio Burdalo between Yelbes and San Pedro de Merida. Pilgrims today must ford the river (not always possible) or walk a dangerous 4km stretch of road.


Campanario? I wonder if that was the first albergue on the Mozarabe?

Yes, Campanario.