French Way

History

After becoming the most important pilgrimage route de la Europa Medieval para los peregrinos que, movidos por la fe cristiana, caminaban hacia la tumba del Apóstol Santiago en la ciudad de Compostela, la ruta francesa fue adquiriendo cada vez una mayor relevancia hasta ganarse el título de la ruta más reconocida internacionalmente y, por consiguiente, la más importante a nivel económico y social. Además, gracias a su importancia, se contruyeron grandes edificaciones que forman parte hoy en día del grandioso patrimonio histórico y cultural que rodea la ruta jacobea. Si realizas el Camino desde Ponferrada podrás ver un ejemplo claro de este patrimonio como es su castillo Templario.of Medieval Europe for the pilgrims who, moved by the Christian faith, walked towards the tomb of the Apostle Santiago in the city of Compostela, the French route was becoming more and more important until gaining the title of the most internationally recognized route and, therefore, the most important at an economic and social level. Moreover, due to it’s relevance, large buildings were erected that are today part of the great historical and cultural heritage that surrounds the Jacobean route. If you do the Camino from Ponferrada you will be able to see a clear example of this heritage, such as its Templar castle.

The French Way is the most documented, existing since 1135 manuscript archives in the Codex Calixtinus, whose “Book V” is the first source of information on the cultural, religious and even tourist treasures that walkers could find in each of the sections that separated the tomb of the apostle from the main capitals of Europe at the time.

Nowadays

The French route is the most famous route in the world the most traveled (in 2015 more than 260,000 pilgrims arrived in Santiago) and the best conditioned because of the economic potential it represents for the towns it crosses. Its route is drawn throughout the north of the peninsula along 760 km, which are often divided into 31 stages that begin their journey in the French town of Sant Jean Pied de Port.

Despite the fact that since the eleventh century pilgrims walked through northern Spain saving great difficulties and leaving behind an important cultural, artistic and social development,the most important increase in the French Way began in 1993, a Jacobean year that brought with it a very important revival of the Camino de Santiago as a tourist element, backed by the declaration of the Jacobean Route as the First European Itinerary of Cultural Interest by the Council of Europe and World Heritage by Unesco.