| Cost From: | $3495 |
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| Length: | 8 days |
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| Activity: | Hiking / Trekking, Cultural Adventures |
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| Difficulty: |
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The trip was the perfect mix of culture, hiking and cuisine with a truly outstanding leader.J. Clark—Campbell PA
By adding trips to your “Wish List” (above), you can easily make a side-by-side detailed comparison of as many trips as you like.
Indochine Photoshop Workshop with Ben Wilmore
This unique journey combines a Photoshop workshop featuring renowned Photoshop guru Ben Willmore with unforgettable cultural exploration and photography adventures in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, including magnificent Angkor Wat.
El Camino de Santiago—the Way of St. James—traces a thousand-year-old route to the Holy City of Santiago through some of Europe’s most beautiful scenery, from the ancient kingdom of Castile to green, mystical Galicia, a romantic hidden corner of Spain alive with legends and Celtic heritage. Our journey hikes the most spectacular sections of this long-distance footpath, following Castile’s sunny country lanes marked with the scallop shell, the symbol of St. James, and Galicia’s trails through mist-shrouded forests of giant gnarled oaks. All along the way, we relish Romanesque settings redolent with the air of pilgrimage and enjoy the comfort of historic inns and splendid paradors, including the 5-star Hostal dos Reis Catolicos in Santiago.
$3495 (13-15 guests)
$3795 (10-12 guests)
$3995 (6-9 guests)
Single supplement: $425
Prices are for 2009 dates
Sep 4-11, 2009 Beatriz Gutierrez
May 14-21, 2010
Jun 18-25, 2010
Sep 3-10, 2010
The US Dollar has strengthened against the Euro, and Wilderness Travel would like to pass the savings along to you! Here's how it works: we will purchase the Euros for your trip when you sign up, which lets us lock in the current exchange rate, and guarantee your savings. To receive the discount, the first deposit on the trip ($500 per person) is non-refundable. If you prefer to have your deposit be fully refundable up to 90 days before departure, you can sign up at the regular published rate for the trip.
To find out the current discount available at today’s rate, please call us at 1-800-368-2794 or send us an email.
Reading list, click here.
We meet in the genteel town of Burgos and begin our hike above the remote village of Hontanas, where we begin to see the trail markers of el camino—signs displaying stylized yellow scallop shells, the symbol of St. James, with star-rays pointing the way. We follow el camino through the Castilian landscape to the 14th century ruins of the Monasterio de San Anton and onward to the pilgrim town of Castrojeriz and then Fromista, a key pilgrim stop since the days of the Codex Calixtinus. We visit Fromista’s perfect Romanesque church and overnight in ancient Carrión de los Condes. After exploring the engaging medieval city of León, we continue to the walled city of Astorga, where we hike to the hamlet of Castrillo de Los Polvazares and onward to our hotel, a charming inn nestled in an old stone village on the pilgrim path.
Today we enter rural Galicia and the cultural transition is dramatic—now we begin to hear the ancient Galician tongue, Gallego. The province of Galicia has a Celtic heritage similar to that of Brittany in France and Cornwall in England. We climb paths through woodlands and across dramatic moors of heather and Scotch broom, typical of the wild Galician landscape. Our accommodation is the peaceful Parador de Villafranca in one of the prettiest towns on the pilgrim route, the 11th century hamlet of Villafranca del Bierzo.
Our path brings us to the famous Cruz de Hiero, an iron cross atop Monte Irago and one of the most emblematic spots on the pilgrim trail. We continue to the mystical village of O’Ceibreiro, whose tiny church has a chalice linked in legend with the Holy Grail, and traverse some of the most beautiful stretches of the entire pilgrim trail, with jewel-green fields, ancient stone walls, and farmers tending their small herds. One overnight is in a handsome 17th century manor house set in splendid countryside.
We continue through gorgeous Galician scenery, hiking through hamlets and farms flanked by ancient grain silos built of granite. Our first sight of Santiago is from an overlook above town, from which we descend on foot to enter and explore this beautiful medieval city of golden granite. In the extraordinary twin-towered limestone Cathedral of Santiago, we have a chance to attend the noon pilgrim mass and see the enormous traditional incense burner, the Botafumeiro, swung from the ceiling over the assembled crowd. Overnight in a sumptuous parador. Depart on Day 8.
