"You say: Galicia is very small. And I say: there is a World of Galicia. Every piece of a land is in itself as the entire World. You may journey from North to South, from East to West, in little time; you may do so over and over again, and yet you shall not travel it whole. And every time you go, you shall come across new things (...) The surface may be small; in depth, entity, Galicia is as great as you wish ... " VICENTE RISCO www.turgalicia.es the Road to Santiago Cubertas: Barro Salgado Santana [Grupo Revisión Deseño] Cubertas: Barro Dirección Xeral de Turismo HOSTELS ON THE FRENCH ROAD LOCATION COUNCIL NUMBER OF PLACES CONTENTS (1) CEBREIRO PEDRAFITA DO CEBREIRO 80 (1) HOSPITAL DA CONDESA PEDRAFITA DO CEBREIRO 18 (1) TRIACASTELA TRIACASTELA 60 (1) CALVOR SARRIA 22 The Road to Santiago (1) SARRIA SARRIA 48+2 (1) BARBADELO SARRIA 22 (1) FERREIROS PARADELA 22 3 HELSINKI (1) PORTOMARÍN PORTOMARÍN 40 Setting Off (1) GONZAR PORTOMARÍN 20 STOCKHOLM (1) VENTAS DE NARÓN PORTOMARÍN 22 (1) LIGONDE MONTERROSO 18 4 (1) PALAS DE REI PALAS DE REI 49 DUBLIN COPENHAGEN (1) MATO CASANOVA PALAS DE REI 20 Towards Santiago (1) MELIDE MELIDE 130 LONDON AMSTERDAN (1) RIBADISO ARZÚA 62 5 (1) SANTA IRENE O PINO 36 BRUSSELS BERLIN (1) ARCA O PINO 80 The French Road (1) MONTE DO GOZO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA 800 PARIS LUXEMBOURG (2) ARZÚA ARZÚA 46+2 VIENNA 6 GALICIA The Road from the North HOSTELS ON THE FISTERRA-MUXIA ROAD LOCATION COUNCIL NUMBER OF PLACES LISBON MADRID 14 ROME (1) FISTERRA FISTERRA 16+1 NEGREIRA NEGREIRA The Silver Route ATHENS 16 HOSTELS ON THE SILVER ROUTE The Portuguese Road LOCATION COUNCIL NUMBER OF PLACES (1) A GUDIÑA A GUDIÑA 24+1 18 (2) VERÍN (Casa del asistente) VERÍN 16 (1) MONTERREI (Hospital de Peregrinos) MONTERREI hall The Sea Routes (2) VILAR DE BARRIO VILAR DE BARRIO 21+1 Highway (2) SANDIÁS SANDIÁS 21+1 Major Road (2) XUNQUEIRA DE AMBÍA XUNQUEIRA DE ABIMIA 20 Railway (2) OURENSE OURENSE 26+2 (2) CEA CEA 25+1 Airport Arrival 642 22 FERROL 634 HOSTELS ON THE PORTUGUESE ROAD Fisterra LOCATION COUNCIL NUMBER OF PLACES A CORUÑA (2) TUI TUI 38+2 651 (2) PORRIÑO PORRIÑO 634 28 (2) REDONDELA REDONDELA 28+2 A-6 (2) PONTEVEDRA PONTEVEDRA 56 N-VI 640 (1) PADRÓN PADRÓN 40+2 A-9 (2) TEO TEO 634 LUGO 550 HOSTELS ON THE NORTHERN ROAD: The Coastal Route SANTIAGO 547 A-6 LOCATION COUNCIL NUMBER OF PLACES 525 (1) RIBADEO RIBADEO 12 640 (1) LOURENZÁ LOURENZÁ 16+2 640 N-VI (2) LOCAL MULTIUSOS LOURENZÁ hall 540 (2) VILALVA VILALBA 550 525 (1) BAAMONDE BEGONTE hall 541 120 (1) SOBRADO DOS MONXES SOBRADO 66 PONTEVEDRA 120 550 OURENSE HOSTELS ON THE NORTHERN ROAD: The Inland Route VIGO LOCATION COUNCIL NUMBER OF PLACES 120 A-52 525 (2) CADAVO BALEIRA (2) LUGO LUGO 22+2 525 HOSTELS ON THE ENGLISH ROAD 532 LOCATION COUNCIL NUMBER OF PLACES (2) BRUMAMEXIA 20+1 (2) MIÑO MIÑO 21+1 (2) NEDA NEDA 32 NOTES: (1) HOSTELS OPEN (2) HOSTELS WITH PLANNED OPENING IN 1999 TEL. INFORMATION: 981 54 19 99 Carretera Santiago-Noia, Km 3 (A Barcia) 15896 Santiago de Compostela A CORUÑA (España) Design and production: Ferramulín Ediciones y Producciones Texts: José Luis Laredo Verdejo Tel.: 981 54 25 00 Photographs: Carlos Rodríguez - Víctor Cameselle http://www.turgalicia.es Printed in Spain - D. L.:C-1976/1998 e-mail: [email protected] The Road to Santiago no doubt, nonetheless, that has been, and continues to in nearly all cases the under- be, without doubt, the old- lying reason was religious. est, most covered and most In the Middle Ages the pil- celebrated route of the old grimage was a symbol of the continent. Jerusalem and life of Christ, an unsafe path Rome were, for centuries, towards the eternal home. the two poles of attraction The knights of the XV for the European pilgrims century came to take part in and travellers, but neither of tournaments and discover them had an established new lands, although always route to get there. Santiago doing so with the customary has also shared with them gallantry. It was not only the the appeal of walkers and Frankish people who came. wanderers of all the times Italians such as Giordano de but has also created a route, Codex Calixtinus Ribalta boasted of having a Road. Santiago and been three times in Rome Galicia can be reached in and four in Santiago. Jean many ways. But the best The Road to Santiago van Eyck, the Dutch pain- way of getting there is ter portrayed his Annunci- along the ROAD TO ation on the inside of the SANTIAGO. cathedral. The Englishman The first pilgrims, in John Goodyear donated a the XI century, only came precious alabaster to the from the interior of the Compostela treasury. And kingdoms of Galicia and those four boats full of Asturias. However, with Germans who set off from surprising speed, Compos- the port of Hamburg to tela began to attract trav- make an unconventional ellers and pilgrims from Monastery of Samos Monastery of Sobrado dos Monxes Road to Santiago by sea. All other Christian kingdoms, of these people came before including those from beyond our own frontiers. The first, the end of the XV century, and all of them to worship the whose name we know, Godescalco, Bishop of Le Puy, was relics of Christ’s disciple and to give the ritual embrace to French, and arrived in Compostela in 951. The influx of pil- the Apostle. grims then began to grow forcefully and, before the century One of the most famous and well-known medieval pil- was over, it was deemed necessary to supply accommodation grims in Compostela was the Frenchman Aymery Picaud, a for them. This began to take place in the monasteries such monk from the French town of Poitou. His fame comes as San Martín de Albelda, San Millán de la Cogolla, San from having written a chronicle of his journey, around Juan de la Peña, Samos, Sobrado... 1130, in precise details, with an endless list of advice and There are many reasons and motives given by historians recommendations for other walkers. This chronicle, enti- for the fever felt by the Franks to cross the Pyrenees. For tled “Guide for the Pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela”, is some, it was for political motives. The Papacy and Cluny included within one of the most beautiful documents pre- were decided, for reasons of their own safety, in supporting served in the Compostela cathedral library: The Codex the kingdoms in the north of Spain, thus making a Muslim Calixtinus. This Guide to the Pilgrim is an obligatory refer- invasion a more remote possibility. Others came out of cu- ence book whenever talking of the old French Road. riosity and the lust for ad- venture. On many occa- sions the reasons were based on commercial interests or for making cultural exchan- ges. And sometimes, also, the zeal for robbing and taking advantage of the helpless pilgrims. There is San Millán de la Cogolla Monastery of San Juan de la Peña 2 3 The Guide to the Road monopoly granted by the to Santiago, by Aymery Archbishop and ratified by Picaud, states with a typical the Popes. French clarity: “There are The pilgrim or modern four routes to Santiago non-motorised traveller who which join into one at takes the Road does not Puente la Reina, in Spanish usually wear the classical at- territory...and from there tire. Nonetheless, there is only one road leads to something special which Santiago”. The first one left distinguishes them from from Arles, close to the everyday walker, when Marseilles, the only one descending the Poio Pass crossing the Pyrenees via via Triacastela, or cross- Somport. The other three ing the Arzúa and Melide left from Paris, Vézélay Cross at the beginning of the Road to Santiago in Roncesvalles mountains. Indicator of the Road and Le Puy, which entered Once it was for the ful- Navarra at Roncesvalles. filment of a vow, or to free These were the tradi- Setting Off oneself of a penitence, to Towards Santiago tional routes taken inter- fulfil the desire of a de- mittently by the pilgrims ceased relative, or even by The modern traveller who goes along the roads of to Compostela. judicial order as a pun- northern Spain from the Pyrenees to Galicia often comes Good footwear, short ishment. Today it is more across the sign which indicates the way to Santiago, ac- clothing and shoulder cape, common to take the Road companied by the number of kilometres separating them a stick for support and de- in order to relive our past, from Santiago de Compostela. The signs are there for fence, a gourd for water and discover our culture and those travelling by car and are placed on the roads closest wine, a small pouch and history, admire the har- to the early road. The successive modernisation of the road a wide-brimmed hat. All mony of Romanesque art network, from the old royal ways to the national roads and these features made up the and architecture, or simply modern motorways have erased many stretches of the road typical appearance of the to have the pleasure of tramped on by the pilgrims over centuries. On some occa- pilgrim from the Middle taking in the landscapes sions, however, the present roads do not exactly follow the Ages. The “vieira” or scallop Pilgrim offered by the Land of medieval Road.