Moon Camino de Santiago: Sacred Sites, Historic Villages, Local Food & Wine (Travel Guide) Paperback/Kindle - April 2, 2019.
Moon
Camino de Santiago: Sacred Sites, Historic Villages, Local Food & Wine (Travel Guide) [Beebe Bahrami] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>Over 1, 200 years old, 500 miles long, and rich with tradition and sacred history: Embark on the trip of a lifetime with Moon Camino...
www.amazon.com
Any veterans seen it, used it, have an opinion about it?
(No, I
really don't need another guidebook! -- But "It is written, man shall not live by
Brierley alone.")
Well, I bought the
Kindle version and installed it on my "devices." I've read parts of it, and rather
like it. ... I'll save the rest to read on the airplane going back to Spain next month....
It's not a portable "field guide" for "true pilgrims" a la
Brierley, and will never inspire the same level of devotion that
Brierley does, but it's well-illustrated, easily readable, and informative in ways that
Brierley is not. ... I'd never use it in place of
Brierley, but as a complement to
Brierley it's a winner. ... IMHO it simply can't compete with
Brierley in the map department (
No apologies there! I will never be untrue to my first love!) but its maps do have their own merits. ...
It's also aimed surprizingly at, well --
me -- as I really am ... 65+ years of age, a fair-Castilian-speaking several-times-over Camino veteran, increasingly appreciative of privacy and good showers, increasingly vulnerable to physical aches and pains ... but also increasingly blessed with financial flexibility (and who's worked hard for many years to be able to
say that, btw!)
It seems to me to reflect something of what the Camino is for me
now, as opposed to what it was when I first discovered it, many years ago....
I would describe it a good tourist guidebook for the English-speaking middle-class.
Which is to say that it minimizes the whole albergue cult, and offers suggestions in re hotels (
some cheap, some not) and in re restaurants where you can eat more than just french fries.... It tones down the whole "stage" thing considerably, and the relentless death-march-mentality that so distorts the experience of Camino newbies. ...
It implicitly encourages a moderate pace, with lots of suggestions in re how to enjoy neat things that you might otherwise overlook, and in re how to "soak up the scenery" generally. ... I'm a pretty conscientious Camino-details-addict, but it taught me some things that I did not know!
It takes great pains to be
"inclusive" in its comments -- perhaps even more than
Brierley does! Lots of Pagan, Jewish, Islamic and "New Age" references -- some of them pushing the envelope rather doubtfully, IMHO! ... I don't fault it for those references, mind you - in fact I appreciate them! I like to learn new stuff!
But I'm also a very traditionally-minded and conventionally-religious soul, for whom the Camino remains a
Catholic pilgrimage... And (
ahem!) there simply is
no guidebook currently on the market
aimed at the traditionally-minded and conventionally-religious -- i.e., Catholic pilgrims --
is there? I wish that there was! ...
Pax.
