50 Fun Facts About Camino De Santiago

In Spain, 'El Camino de Santiago' is also a popular name for which feature of the night sky?

The Milky Way was said in a common medieval legend to be formed from the dust raised by travelling pilgrims. At night it seems to point the way west along the route.

Which animals live in the cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada on the Camino de Santiago?

Chickens, a live cock and hen, are kept in a henhouse inside the cathedral because of a legend in which two roasted birds came back to life to clear a pilgrim wrongly accused of theft.

The Botafumeiro, which swings through Santiago Cathedral at up to 68 km/h, is a giant what?

An incense burner, the Botafumeiro is set swinging by eight robed men called tiraboleiros, who haul on its rope until it sweeps the length of the transept.

Which US envoy, later president, followed the Camino de Santiago backwards in 1779 to reach Paris?

John Adams landed in Galicia because his ship was leaking and went on overland from there. He later wrote that he always regretted not finding time to visit the shrine itself.

Where did the Codex Calixtinus, stolen from Santiago Cathedral in 2011, turn up a year later?

In a garage belonging to a former cathedral employee, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for the theft. One book of the 12th-century manuscript has been called the first tourist guide.

Which color are the painted arrows that guide walkers along the Camino de Santiago?

Yellow arrows began with a parish priest, Elías Valiña, who personally marked the whole French Way in 1984. He is said to have used paint left over from marking a main road.

A fountain built in 1991 beside the Camino de Santiago at Irache pours which drink for pilgrims?

Wine has been made at Irache for centuries: the monastery beside the fountain doubled as a pilgrims' hospital, and a medieval guide praised the area's bread and drink.

Which emblem, used as a waymarker on the Camino de Santiago, do pilgrims wear to show who they are?

A scallop shell became the pilgrim's badge because medieval travellers carried one home from the Galician coast as proof that they had finished the journey.

Tarta de Santiago, the cake said to reward pilgrims who finish the Camino, is based on which nut?

Almonds must make up at least a third of the filling for the cake to carry its protected EU name. The top is dusted with sugar around a stencil of the Cross of Saint James.

Which actor carries his son's ashes along the Camino de Santiago in the 2010 film The Way?

Martin Sheen was directed by his real son, Emilio Estevez, who wrote the part for him and also plays the son. Sheen himself had suggested Michael Douglas or Mel Gibson for the lead.

Which Atlantic headland do many pilgrims walk on to after reaching Santiago de Compostela?

Cape Finisterre, whose name means 'end of the earth', lies about 90 km beyond the cathedral. The walk there is believed to be older than Christianity.

What is the shortest walk into Santiago that still earns a pilgrim the Compostela certificate?

100 km is the rule for walkers, which is why so many set out from towns just beyond that mark. Cyclists have to cover twice as far.

Santiago Cathedral declares a Holy Year when St James's Day, 25 July, falls on which day?

Sunday feast days come round at gaps of five, six and eleven years. In those years pilgrims can enter the cathedral through its Holy Door.

Saint James the Great, the apostle whose shrine ends the Camino de Santiago, began in which trade?

Fisherman was the family trade: James was at the shore of the Sea of Galilee with his father Zebedee and his brother when Jesus called them to follow him.

Which royal couple founded the pilgrims' hospital in Santiago that is now a luxury hotel?

Ferdinand and Isabella ordered it after making the pilgrimage themselves in 1486. The hotel keeps up the old hospitality by giving free meals to the first pilgrims who arrive each day.

Which mountains do pilgrims cross on the French Way's first stage from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port?

The Pyrenees crossing ends at Roncesvalles, the first place to rest on the Spanish side. The whole French Way typically takes at least four weeks on foot.

Roncesvalles, where the French Way enters Spain, is famed for the death in 778 of which warrior?

Roland died with the rearguard of a Frankish army that Basque fighters cut off and wiped out in the pass. His last stand inspired the oldest surviving major work of French literature.

Which is the first Spanish city that French Way pilgrims reach after Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port?

Pamplona grew prosperous on pilgrim traffic from the 11th century. Today it is better known for the running of the bulls at its San Fermín festival each July.

The Kumano Kodō, a sister pilgrim route of the Camino de Santiago since 1998, is in which country?

Japan has its own ancient pilgrim trails ending in Wakayama, the region that signed the sister-road pact with Galicia. Walkers who finish both routes can claim a dual-pilgrimage certificate.

Which novelist turned his own walk along the Camino de Santiago into the 1987 book The Pilgrimage?

Paulo Coelho made the walk in 1986 and published the book a year before his best-seller The Alchemist. He later helped turn it into a 1997 adventure video game.

Which Galician town is the most popular starting point for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago?

Sarria sits just far enough from the cathedral for walkers to qualify for the certificate, and its bus and rail connections make it the closest convenient place to begin.

The Camino Primitivo, the oldest route to Santiago de Compostela, begins in which Spanish city?

Oviedo was the capital of King Alfonso II of Asturias, reportedly the first pilgrim, who set out from his court to see the newly found tomb and built the first shrine over it.

Which city on the French Way has a World Heritage Gothic cathedral holding the tomb of El Cid?

Burgos laid the warrior and his wife Jimena at the centre of its cathedral, though he was first buried in a monastery outside the city. Building began in 1221 in the French Gothic style.

Which Spanish city's cathedral on the Camino de Santiago is famed for nearly 1,800 square metres of stained glass?

León pushed Gothic design to the limit, shrinking the walls to make room for windows. Most of the glass dates from the 13th to 15th centuries, a rarity among medieval churches.

Which military order was given Ponferrada in 1178 to protect Camino de Santiago pilgrims?

The Knights Templar castle still dominates Ponferrada, a town whose name means 'iron bridge' after a river crossing reinforced for pilgrims in 1082.

The Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago begins in Lisbon or in which other city in Portugal?

Porto pilgrims head north across five main rivers, ending with the Minho, before entering Spain and reaching Santiago by way of Pontevedra.

The Northern Way of the Camino de Santiago follows the coast of which body of water west from Irún?

The Bay of Biscay keeps the route cooler in summer than the inland paths. Medieval pilgrims are believed to have chosen it to avoid territory then under Muslim rule.

The English Way of the Camino de Santiago starts from Ferrol or from which other Galician port city?

A Coruña and Ferrol were where pilgrims from Britain and Scandinavia came ashore after sailing south. Traffic was heaviest when conflict with France made the overland roads risky.

The Vía de la Plata, a Camino route running north through Salamanca, starts in which city?

Seville is the start of a route whose name misleads: 'Plata' is thought to come not from the Spanish for silver but from an Arabic word for a paved road.

When Al-Mansur sacked Santiago in 997, what did he make Christian captives carry to Córdoba?

The church bells were added to Córdoba's great mosque, together with the gates. When the city fell in 1236, Muslim captives were made to carry them north again, this time to Toledo.

Pilgrims have visibly worn away the stone of a pillar inside Santiago Cathedral by doing what?

Laying hands on it is the traditional gesture of arrival: the pillar stands just inside the doorway, and so many travellers have touched the same spot that the stone has hollowed.

In a popular folk etymology, the 'Compostela' of Santiago de Compostela means 'field of the' what?

Star fits the legend of a hermit drawn to the forgotten grave by lights in the night sky. Many scholars now prefer a plainer root meaning a well-ordered burial ground.

Monte do Gozo, where pilgrims first glimpse Santiago Cathedral's spires, means the hill of what?

Joy is what pilgrims are said to have cried out with on first seeing the end of their road from the hilltop, with an hour or two still left to walk.

Which gathering did Pope John Paul II close with a Mass on Monte do Gozo, above Santiago, in 1989?

World Youth Day brought a vast crowd of young pilgrims to the hill, and its largest sculpture still marks the Pope's visit.

The three great medieval Christian pilgrimages led to Santiago, Jerusalem and which other city?

Rome was reached along the Via Francigena. The road to Santiago offered a reward of its own: a plenary indulgence, the full remission of the penalty due for sins.

Which body named the Camino de Santiago its first Cultural Route in 1987?

The Council of Europe honour came six years before the French Way was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

What do Camino de Santiago walkers collect in a booklet called the credencial along the route?

Stamps prove where a pilgrim has walked and open the doors of pilgrim hostels. The booklet descends from a document given to medieval pilgrims as a safeguard on the road.

In which language is the Compostela, the certificate for finishing the Camino de Santiago, written?

Latin is still used for the document, the successor of the evidentiary letters that the cathedral was already issuing to pilgrims in the 13th century.

Which Spanish word names the dormitory hostels that house pilgrims along the Camino de Santiago?

Albergue beds are kept for walkers who carry a credencial. The hostels may be run by a parish, a local authority, private owners or a pilgrims' association.

A legend in the Codex Calixtinus has Saint James urge which emperor in a dream to free his tomb?

Charlemagne's dream fills part of the manuscript's fourth book, a chronicle credited to Archbishop Turpin of Reims but really the work of an anonymous 12th-century writer.

The red Cross of Saint James, emblem of the Order of Santiago, is shaped like which weapon?

A sword is said to recall how the apostle was put to death, and knights of the order wore the red cross on white cloaks.

Which sea creature goes into polbo á feira, a traditional dish of Galicia, where the Camino ends?

Octopus is boiled in a copper cauldron, snipped up with scissors and dusted with paprika. Tradition says that water should never be drunk with it.

The gaita, the traditional instrument of Galicia, where the Camino ends, is a type of what?

Bagpipe is what 'gaita' means across northern Spain, though in the south and in Portugal the same word can name a horn, a flute or an oboe-like instrument.

The Praza do Obradoiro, facing Santiago Cathedral, is named for a workshop of which craftsmen?

Stonemasons set up on the square while the building was going up, and 'obradoiro' is simply the Galician word for a workshop.

Santiago Cathedral's 18th-century facade on the Praza do Obradoiro is in which style?

Baroque stonework by Fernando de Casas Novoa was raised in front of the far older building, and its large glazed windows still light the 12th-century portal standing just behind it.

Besides walking and cycling, which other way of making the Camino earns the Compostela?

On horseback, a pilgrim must cover the same minimum distance as a walker, half of what is asked of cyclists. Some modern pilgrims still ride in as their medieval counterparts did.

At which legendary battle is Saint James said to have appeared to help Christians defeat the Moors?

Clavijo earned the saint the nickname Matamoros, the Moor-slayer, and a lasting place in Spanish painting and sculpture. Historians regard the battle itself as a legend.

Which legendary relic is tied to a miracle at O Cebreiro, where the French Way enters Galicia?

The Holy Grail legend grew around a chalice kept at the village's old monastery, and a chalice still appears on the coat of arms of Galicia.

During whose visit did the Botafumeiro once fly out of a window of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral?

Catherine of Aragon, later the first wife of Henry VIII, was attending Mass when the swinging vessel broke loose and shot through a high window. Nobody was reported hurt.

Whose troops stole the ornate silver Botafumeiro from Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in 1809?

Napoleon's soldiers took it during the Spanish War of Independence. The plainer vessel swung today was made in 1851 to replace it.