What we had come across was the Way of St. James, also known as the Camino de Santiago, or in France, Le Chemin Du Camino Frances. As usual the wikipedia article gives a good overview of the history and present status, so it would be silly to try to reproduce it here. However the pocket summary is that the remains of St. James, one of the twelve apostles, were carried to Spain and buried at what is now Santiago de Compostella. St James became the patron saint of Spain, hence Sant-Iago - saint James.

This is a common type of story. To be a serious church you generally need one or more relics of some sort. Bones, even little bones, or whole bodies of famous holy people are the most common. But then again there is lots of blood of Christ, foreskin of Christ, and even one umbilical cord of Christ. Relics can also include things touched by a holy person. There is a whole hierarchy of relics. The thing about them is that believers hold that the relic establishes a contact between them and the source of the relic, and that a place with a relic is a good location for prayers. Therefore people will travel to a site with a relic, especially if they have some special prayers to make.

To be fair, we need to declare that we have no religious belief, in relics or otherwise. On the other hand, you can not travel in Europe without becoming instantly aware that religious belief has created a huge proportion of the things (mostly buildings and art) worth looking at. It stirred people to incredible levels of personal and collective achievement. In most towns, the church is located in the exact centre and to this day is the focus and heart of the place. You have to respect that. We respect that.

That is why in our travels we are always stopping at churches, checking out the fabulous stained glass, towering ceilings, carved pulpits, etc. But also we marvel at the goofy gargoyles, and wonder about all the strange figures and symbols that are to be found. We can not figure how people got these crazy ideas, but they sure are interesting.

Similarly, the idea of pilgrimage - either to visit and pray at a relic or to find some personal resolution or revelation along the way - does not mean much to us. If we would follow a pilgrimage route it would be just because it's a "route". We will follow just about any signed route there is!

Check the next page to see how the Camino and other pilgrimage routes and sites figure in this blog.