This was in my Facebook feed today. Rick wrote it 6 days ago. I do not know why it showed up in my feed today but it is excellent and well worth reading.
Very informative and interesting.
I assume that you can find it on Rick's facebook page if you would like to go back and read the entire article.
There are a number of regular contributors here both in this Forum and in others who have recently completed trips on the Camino.
Nigel.
I have seen many of these contributions. I love them all.
You might recall that I am taking a cruise from Southampton to Lisbon in October. I will be porting in Vigo and taking an excursion to Santiago. This sealed the deal when I was considering this cruise.
Up until this time period, all I knew of Caminos was having seen the movie The Way many years back. I thought that there was one Camino that went along the mountains of Spain.
I have learned so much from being on this site.
With all due respect to Rick, I thought Rick's article was pure fluff. He interviewed a few people. He's never walked the Camino and is not encouraging people to really walk the Camino. The walk can be crowded enough without encouraging people to arrive at the end and gawk. LOL He hobnobbed a bit with Martin Sheen and now he thinks he knows it all. LOL. I'd love to hear about him actually walking the Camino for days, and then I would love to hear about it from him!
On the other hand there are some interesting books and You tube channels by those who have walked. Let me know if you want a link.
PS: BostonPhil, this is in no way meant to offend you in anyway!
Wray
I appreciate different perspectives. You did not offend me in any way.
Thanks for contributing
I knew nothing about Caminos until I saw The Way many years ago in Los Angeles during an AARP convention.
I am going on a cruise in October and I will be taking an excursion to Santiago from Vigo Spain.
I thought there was only one Camino until I began to post on this site and members informed me.
Is Santiago always crowded with pilgrims walking to the church? I was hoping that maybe I might attend a Pilgrim's Mass.
My Camino may be only four blocks long but it will be mine.
Is Santiago always crowded with pilgrims walking to the church? I was
hoping that maybe I might attend a Pilgrim's Mass.
I walked the 100km Camino Frances last May.
Many pilgrims walk their last day into Santiago to try to arrive by noon for the pilgrim's mass.
The square in front of the cathedral has lots of people arriving, but it's not overcrowded.
The line into the cathedral for the noon pilgrims mass can be long, but there are other pilgrim's masses at 9:30 am and 7:30 pm.
If you attend a mass, you might get lucky and get to see the botafumeiro swing. It doesn't happen at every mass, usually only on special holy days or if a group pays the church to have it swing.
My uncle, now 83, has walked 18 different Caminos in 24 years. He´s done them all, not only the "famous" one. Always on his own, sleeping in farms, on the ground, getting wet, with animals...and he´s willing to do it again next year (if his wife, my aunt, lets him do it!!).
MikelBasqueGuide
You have been such a big help to me. I have asked a lot of questions under Spain. When I began asking questions about Caminos, I was very confused and you are among the persons who helped unconfuse me or helped educate me.
i have booked an excursion from Vigo to Santiage. I do not have. a lot of free time in Santiago, maybe 3 1/2 hours but of course, I will be visiting St James and would love to attend some or all of a mass if possible. I so want to get incensed.
Before I leave in October, I plan to post a Thank You to all who patiently answered my many questions.
I also will have my new mini iPad with me and will be reporting about my trip.
Bostonphil, I’ll be looking for your report after your trip. We are hoping to walk part of the Camino next September. Just researching everything now. Enjoy your cruise.
Hi Barbara,
Are you walking this coming September or September 2024? Research can be fun.
I am hoping to be posting during my trip if wi fi is is decent.
But there will also be plenty of posting after the trip.
Here is another person who rather dislikes the article from Rick.
One, it was written at least 20-25 years ago with only an update on the numbers. He posted it last year with the number of pilgrims at 150,00 or so. I complained on FB about it. Last year, it was 460,000 that walked into Santiago and got a Compestela. Lots of people do not get them, because they just sit on your shelf at home after you have 2-3 of them. Why bother? You did the journey, that is all that counts. They are expecting the number to break 500,000 this year. I was one of them.
The article is just awful. No one wears a cape or carries a gourd to drink out of. His comments about the woman from Berlin are out of line and just plain goofy. All of his comments about the pilgrims are just some sort of made up cliches.
So, yes, he needs to come walk it at least for a week, and not that last 100km. Or, he could interview some of us who HAVE walked it for accurate information. He has a Basque guide (Fran) who knows all about it, so why doesn't he ask him?
For the Botafumeiro, I have seen it swing several times at the early morning mass, as well as at noon and in the evenings. Hardly anyone there in the morning though. Sit in the side naves, where the ropes are tied up on the pillar. If it swings, you have the best view of all. I have gotten fabulous videos of this, because no one was there! Groups pay for this, and they are often at those early morning masses. In 2 days this past May, saw it 3 times. It swings on holy days and when ever a group pays for it. (costs about 500€)
Thanks for your kind words, Bostonphil7. Just for information, the "Botafumeiro" or "incense dispatcher" (sorry, I´m not a native English speaker and can´t find another word to describe it...) is only used 12 times a year, on special religious occasions, not every day. Botafumeiro literally means "smoke thrower" in Galician, one of the 4 official languages we have in Spain. More accurate info here, https://oficinadelperegrino.com/en/, in English.
I do not understand how the titled article ended up in my Facebook feed on August 1st.
i can not even click on the article now and had to do a search to read it.
I read it and it said something about it being adapted for one of R S's new books I think "The Love of Europe"
September 2024
