Travel | Culture
Finding Your Own Camino
How much do you customize?
I will always treasure my shared adventure on the Camino de Santiago with two of my close friends Nancy and Rhiannon. The three of us originally met at Portland State University a few years ago when we took a class in the Spanish department and have kept in contact ever since.
I personally walked for about 15 days and it was a wonderful experience. The slower pace of walking allowed me to savor the journey as well as enjoy the many places that I visited along the way.
It wasn’t until after I returned, that I genuinely realized the transformative nature of the trip. No matter how we try to do otherwise, we tend towards filling our time with endless activity. Taking a step back from the hectic pace of modern life afforded me a rare break to contemplate my life.
Nancy had walked the Camino de Santiago already twice and thought that going in the spring would have some advantages. Certainly, the crowds are lighter in late April than they are later in the year, but she also envisioned the vast landscapes of Northern Spain in the full flower of spring. Her logic was impeccable and we were indeed treated to lush, green and lovely flowers. Especially visible along the way were the characteristic red poppies with black centers that Nancy had hoped to see.
For context, I had read James Michener’s chapter about Santiago de Compostela in his book “Iberia”. He explained the history behind the coquilles (shells) and the Tour Saint-Jacques (Saint James’s Tower) in Paris, the historic starting point for the journey. In his narrative, he mentions that during that era the pilgrims typically wore a felt hat with three or four cockleshells (James Michener’s “Iberia” page 846)¹.
In modern times the way is marked by scallop shells, perhaps evocative of those origins. It was fun to see that ubiquitous sign representing the Way of Saint James on signs, stamped into sidewalks, and even sometimes spray-painted on makeshift posts to assist the pilgrims in finding their way.
In his book “Iberia”, Michener also elaborated on the harrowing journeys in the Middle Ages made by groups of religious pilgrims from different walks of life and from different parts of Europe. They would walk in groups of up to several hundred at a time around 900 miles from Paris towards Compostela, wending their way through France and Spain. The walk was truly onerous back then and some perished before arriving at their desired destination. Obviously, things have changed quite a lot since then.
As a seasoned traveler in Europe and a Spanish-speaker I found that I had a strong desire to meld my new experiences walking on the Camino de Santiago with my previous time spent in Spain.
Apparently, I was not alone in the desire to adapt my trip. I had an engaging discussion one evening at a restaurant in the quaint little town of Villamayor de Monjardín with a charming Australian man named Mitchell. He and I seemed to have similar questions in mind about how to transform our trip and we found it mutually beneficial to exchange ideas on that topic over a glass of Spanish wine.
So, how much can you customize your journey on the Camino de Santiago and have it remain authentic? There does not seem to be a pat answer to this question.
I have spoken to more than 20 people from varied backgrounds, geographies, and viewpoints and not one of them was doing the exact same route, pace, etc. It has varied from pre-booked, transported luggage, and comfortable hotel stays in cities on the one extreme all the way to walking the entire way in the pre-mapped stages and staying in the comparatively spare albergues (dormitories) every night on the other extreme. There were a significant number of variations in between, which surprised me a bit.
Inevitably, one faces a host of other related questions in order to find their own answer as to how much to customize the experience.
Which route are we talking about?
There is not a single route, but multiple branches of the complete Camino. Many people pick the Camino Francés (The French Way), especially for their first trip, as it is well-traveled and has a good support system in place.
Are you a religious adherent wishing to honor the pilgrims who have gone before you? This will no doubt propel you towards arriving at the amazing shrine in Santiago de Compostela. Many people are now starting at Sarria and walking only the final 100+ kilometers to Santiago de Compostela through green landscapes and forests to reach the city by the traditional arrival route.
Are you able-bodied and capable of walking 20+ kilometers a day? Several people I met had physical limitations of some type, even fairly significant ones, and they used a variety of means of transporting themselves and their belongings including taxis, buses, and luggage transport services to trace the route.
Do you prefer horseback or bicycle riding to walking? We saw many bicycles, heavily laden with panniers, moving at their own pace, at times intertwining with the pilgrims who were walking. Sometimes they were separated on routes designed for bicycles. Occasionally, we saw evidence of horses on the Camino.
We chose to walk on the Camino Francés (The French Way).
My friend Nancy chose to start in Pamplona, and not St. Jean. The main reason was that the weather in the Pyrenees in mid-April is still quite cold. It seems she was prescient. The day we would likely have been leaving St. Jean, there was an ice storm further along the route and conditions became difficult for the pilgrims that were already in progress.
She and I met up the day before we started walking and enjoyed a treat at one of the places in Pamplona known for the innovative and tasty pintxos (appetizers).
Since I had allotted only 15 days (in my mind it was about half the distance, although that was not accurate), we decided to walk towards a city that had good access to the rail lines so that I could easily get back to Madrid. We chose Burgos and it was a great choice. The Gothic cathedral was worth the visit!
Our route took us through Navarra, La Rioja, and Castilla y León in Spain. Each area had its distinct character and having conversations in Spanish with town residents in these very diverse regions was always interesting and informative.
One bakery owner in Logroño treated us to a mini-lecture on the cultural dynamics of Navarra when I asked her for baked goods that were typical of the region.
I found it interesting that there was a huge sign welcoming us to Castilla y León, marking the border out in the middle of nowhere. I had promised my Spanish friend from that region that I would walk on his home turf and I kept my word.
From the outset, I felt the strong tug of the Spanish culture that I had come to know during my previous travels primarily in Barcelona, Madrid, and Andalusia. I relished the pleasure of taking a long, relaxed comida (lunch) around 2 PM with a siesta (nap) afterward, then milling around the shops when they open again at 6 PM until it is time for tapas or pintxos (appetizers) around 9:30 or 10 PM, followed by cena (dinner) at 11 PM. In the bigger cities like Pamplona this familiar culture was clearly in evidence.
The juxtaposition of the rhythm of the Camino, starting walks at 8 AM and finishing by early afternoon, felt incongruous to me given my past experience. I had a feeling akin to jet lag, being out of step all the time. I never fully adapted to the typical schedule of the Camino. Perhaps that is why I felt intensely driven to find my own way to enjoy Spanish culture yet take time to enjoy the slower pace of walking and taking in the sights that the Camino affords.
If one stays at the albergues, meals tend to be available at a timeframe that caters to the earlier walking schedule. Sometimes there is food available onsite, or often in smaller restaurants or bars in the towns that seem to exist by the grace of the pilgrims passing through, although that is not really accurate, as some of these smaller towns have been in existence for centuries in one form or another.
The food at the albergues where I stayed was understandably perfunctory given that they have a lot of mouths to feed, but I struggled to find opportunities to try more typical local foods. One of my biggest successes was tasting grilled artichoke hearts, a seasonal delicacy recommended by the locals that even the smaller establishments seemed to conjure up on request.
I am not an expert, but over time I have acquired some knowledge of Spanish wines and was very keen to try truly local wines (often not exported), especially in La Rioja. Again, I found myself out of step since the smaller establishments provided only one or two vintages in larger volumes in order to satisfy the demand of the many pilgrims who chose to include wine with dinner. I branched out in a couple of smaller towns like Cirauqui and found bars that kept a stash of local wines. By talking to the local barman I was able to taste some remarkable vintages from the surrounding area of Navarra. I also took full advantage of being in cities like Santo Domingo de la Calzada in La Rioja to try a variety of wines.
For the first week Nancy and I stayed primarily in albergues and followed along with the stages in the guidebook, except that we stayed in towns that were mid-stage as we found that lodgings were more plentiful.
After that first week, my inability to adjust to the regimen of the Camino gave way to a modified plan for the second week. We agreed to take at least one day to rest and sometimes to stay in a town that would have a hostal or pensión ( both types of lodgings) with private rooms. That small adjustment made a world of difference to my enjoyment. Perhaps some pilgrims would balk at those changes but based on what we saw in terms of variations, this fit squarely within the typical adaptations that pilgrims were making.
Towards the end of the trip we met up with our friend Rhiannon, who had moved to Denmark at the end of 2023 and came with a fresh, European perspective to the final week of our journey.
The private triple rooms that we booked at a pension (pension) ended up working very well for us in most cases. Rhiannon traveled with us between Logroño and Burgos. She indicated that she got a strong sense of the Camino even though she was with us for such a short time.
Since this was Rhiannon’s first trip to Spain, it made sense to enjoy our time all together for a couple of days in Burgos before she and I departed to Madrid to make our way back to our respective homes.
Nancy is still walking on the Camino on her own and plans to arrive in Santiago de Compostela soon.
So, what unites those who decide to journey on the Camino if all of us are taking a different approach?
The camaraderie among the people who are following the Camino and the shared desire to explore that beautiful region of Spain on foot at a slower pace, taking a more introspective approach to their journey.
[1]: Michener James. “Iberia” The Dial Press, July 3, 2013.
