Choose and Go
THE PATHS – 02 – CHOOSE & GO !
GO ON A PILGRIMAGE ? OR A TOURISM ADVENTURE?
On the whole European pedestrian network, there would be more than 80,000 km of marked trails “Compostela”! And in 2019, before the pandemic, nearly 350,000 people have applied for a validation of pilgrimage to Santiago!
If these figures leave you dreaming, they suggest that the craze for these paths has largely exceeded the notion of “strict pilgrimage”! It is true that today we still meet authentic pilgrims, but nowadays it is rather a large majority of new walkers who travel on these roads and for many different reasons.
In this sense, initially a “Catholic pilgrimage”, walking to Compostela is no longer reserved solely for a religious approach but has become over time and for most a “discovery experience”: for some “spiritual” to take stock of oneself and find oneself again, “sporting” for others who are looking for the challenge of a long hike, or “tourist” for those who love walking and appreciate the cultural and historical aspects and the reception facilities.
GOING TO COMPOSTELA OR MAKING COMPOSTELA ?
The motivations for leaving for Compostela are therefore numerous and varied. Since the motive for leaving is no longer only “religious” in the strict sense of the term, we can therefore claim that nowadays “leaving for Compostela” or rather “doing Compostela” has in reality become above all an invitation to set out, far from the framework of one’s usual environment, to live “something else” and for some time!
AND WHY NOT SHARE THE ROAD?
Pilgrimages, individual challenges, tourist adventures — all these paths are open to everyone. They are above all an invitation to hike, to travel on foot and at your own pace, to meet people and to share. No matter what your motivation is! It is a matter of choosing an itinerary and setting off. To each his own path!
WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!