Pilgrim arriving to Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is the famous destination of the Christian pilgrimage route. The city draws more than 300,000 modern pilgrims yearly (before the pandemic).

Most travel on foot, some by bicycle, and others, as their medieval counterparts did, on horseback or donkey. The ancient roads to Santiago de Compostela had become more popular yearly (the annual growth before the pandemic was about 10 %).

Nowadays, the pilgrims are more interested in mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing than the Christian faith per se.

There are several roads to travel. Pilgrims may choose whether they go all the way or just part of one of those roads. The length of the main roads varies from a few hundred kilometers to over 1000 kilometers. So the road is demanding both mentally and physically.

Most popular Camino Routes

Camino Frances: 780 km / 485 miles
Camino Portugues: 600 km / 370 miles
Camino Portugues Coastal: 178 km / 110 miles
Camino del Norte: 466 km / 290 miles
Camino Primitivo: 315 km / 195 miles
Via de la Plata: 1,000 km / 620 miles
Via Podiensis: 752 km / 467 miles
Camino Finisterre: 90-118 km / 56-73 miles
Camino Ingles: 120km / 75 miles

(Source: https://followthecamino.com)

Last summer (2022), I visited Santiago de Compostela and saw these Camino de Santiago adventures arriving at the cathedral. It was touching to see how emotional those people were after the long walk. Some were celebrating, hugging, and laughing. Some people were crying and spending time on their own.

In this photo essay, I wanted to focus on the last steps of the road. I aimed to capture the emotions of the arrival and the sight of the physical suffering on the hard road. I wish that through these pictures, you could sense the experiences of modern pilgrims.

Emotions in Santiago de Compostela

My discussion with Ricky Huerta on his podcast