“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.”
Anais Nin
One of the oldest and most famous pilgrimages in the world is the Camino de Santiago (the way of St James) which leads pilgrims to the tomb of St James in Santiago de Compostela. Santiago de Compostela is the capital of northwest Spain’s Galicia region and to get there pilgrims can choose from nine major routes – the most popular of which is the French Way. This route is the one which inspired Paulo Coelho’s book ‘The Pilgrimage’ and also the 2010’s Hollywood movie ‘The Way’ starring Martin Sheen. The French Way is approximately 800 km long and begins in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France, before traversing the Pyrenees and entering Spain.
Pilgrims find their way by following the route indicated by yellow scallop shells and when they arrive in the Spanish town of Pamplona they cross the Magdalena bridge which was built in the 12th century before arriving at The French Gate – one of the original six gates to enter the wall…
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