Pilgrims have been waking the Camino de Santiago for over 1000 years. The Pilgrimage is historically Catholic and began because Christians believe the apostle James is buried in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (St James in Spanish is Saint Iago, which became Santiago). It was considered a very holy way to be absolved of sins, a journey to become more in tune with faith, or an act of religious obedience and soul searching. At the peak of the Camino, in the middle ages, approximately 500,000 people from across Europe would make the journey each year. There are several paths that lead to Santiago de Compostela. We are walking the most heavily traveled path, the Camino Francěs (the French Way).
Nowadays people walk the path for many reasons; some religious, some historical and many more for hundreds of reasons in between. The history of the trail is entrenched in the culture of the communities along the path. Sometimes the history includes remnants of a time before Christians and Pilgrims as well. That is the case with part of the Camino we walked today, called the Via Aquitana. It is one of the oldest original roads that has been in continuous use since it was built 2000 years ago during the Roman Empire. It was originally used to transport cattle and is now used primarily as a footpath on the Camino de Santiago. We walked about 8 miles on the historic road today.
Donna felt well enough for a full day of walking. She took it slow and easy. We made the 10 miles in about 7 hours. This was the first day of walking that we didn’t have any villages between our starting point and the end in Calzadilla. We did pass an eerie, abandoned monastery looking building, where we took a short break. We also ran into Eladio, Ebony and Graham at a pilgrims stop about mid way on our trek.
Rick's Camino de Santiago 
I’m so proud of my mom for pushing through! I am enjoying reading about your journey. Way to go, everyone!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your Mom is awesome
LikeLike