Castle Olmillos Sasamón de Burgos - Photo of Miguel Ángel García
If you decide to take the magical journey of Santiago remember firstly that there is no official starting point: the pilgrims decide where to start usually by the time they have available.
But if you are among the most daring and Touring it all then you know that the official starting point is the town of Roncesvalles and to follow it all that it takes about five weeks if you move on foot, two weeks if you hire a bike and a week if you go by car.
Among the different paths, the Camino Frances is the official one where you will cross several regions of Spain, Navarre, the Roja, the tablet Leon, and Galicia. Here are the milestones that you touch during your pilgrimage.
From Roncesvalles to Pamplona
Just to the north of the Camino Frances Roncesvalles enters Spain through the Pyrenean step charmingly told in the famous Chanson de Roland (Song of Roland).
Roncesvalles, a beautiful town surrounded by forests where the Gothic church of the thirteenth century found the first statue dedicated to the pilgrim, the path descends from picturesque villages to the city of Pamplona bulls, characterized by clean lines and slender Gothic fourteenth century.
From Pamplona to Estella
Leaving Pamplona you will come to the Sierra del Perdon after which awaits Puente la Reina, where the path meets the frances Aragones, and where to find one of the most significant of the way: lunate, a beautiful octagonal chapel of the twelfth century in the middle of a cornfield.
Preseguendo then stop in Estella where you expect the first examples of monumental Romanesque architecture and the beautiful building where they represented some of the deadly sins: sloth, lust and avarice.
From Estella in Viana
Just out of Estella taste the delicious wines offered free to pilgrims and walk among rolling landscapes, Torres passed, and arrived in Viana, the last town of Navarre.
Viviana in Santo Domingo de la Calzada
After Vivian entered the Roja, the finest wine region of Spain, and arrived in Najera, visit the ancient Monastery of Santa Maria la Real, and go to one of the most unique places of pilgrimage: Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
This town was named in honor of its founder, has a spectacular cathedral not to be missed.
From Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Burgos
Passed Santo Domingo de la Calzada, through dense woods, the path enters the Castile and Leon, where we expect the isolated monastery of San Juan Ortega, Atapuerca, the richest paleontological site in Europe, and Burgos with the spectacular Gothic cathedral of the XIII century.
From Burgos to Leon
After Burgos, the path continues along 200 km through fields of wheat and the provinces of Burgos, Palencia and Leon.
You stop at Castle Castrojeri, to 'Iglesia de San Martin Fromisa, the Roman churches of Sahagun, Léon and finally to where the path reached its peak in terms of architecture with Gothic Catedral de Santa Maria La Blanca considered the Chapel Romanesque painting of the Sistine.
From Leon to Villafranca del Bierzo
Hospital de Orbigo exceeded, the journey up into the mountains, through small villages and Astorga once abandoned, until the highest point in La Cruz de Ferro (1504 meters), a small iron cross placed on a long wooden pole sticking from an old pile of stones deposited by pilgrims.
From the Cruz de Ferro then the trail descends steeply to Villafranca del Bierzo to the western border of Castilla Leon.
From Villafranca del Bierzo in Samos
After Villafranca the path climbs up on the hillsides at the rate of O Cerebrio, one of the first stations of pilgrimage, and joined in Galicia, where the landscape changes completely and becomes covered with green hills, country churches and stone houses.
Go through the province of Lugo, among oaks and chestnuts, Triacastela, through the great Monastrio of Samos, and came up to Sartia.
From Sartia Melide
From Sarria begin the last 100 km of the road where the trail descends steeply to Portomarin through Palas de Rei, where Melide up to find the oldest Galician crucifix and an interesting ethnographic museum.
From Santiago de Compostela Melide
From Melide continue between small villages and forests of eucalyptus, cross Lavacolla, and down to 6 km to the Porta do Camino access to the magnificent medieval Cathedral Square in Santiago de Compostela.
