1. La Compostela: Our itinerary qualifies you for the Compostela certificate upon your arrival to Santiago.
2. Semi-independent tour: You choose! Walk alone with the assurance that we’ll take care of you or enjoy the company of others & your knowledgeable guides.
3. Experience and expertise: Your guides are either Spanish or live in Spain year round. This is our home and we love to share it with you!
4. Van supported: No need to carry a heavy pack – let us do the lifting, while you do the walking.
5. Unique accommodations: Charming restored manor homes that offer the best in hospitality, comfort, and location.
This is the number of people that were attended to in the Pilgrim’s Office in Santiago. For a closer look at the profile of these pilgrims, please see:
“Why are there no gypsies in Melide?” my friend from Melide asks me. I shake my head.“Because the people of Melide are more like gypsies than the gypsies themselves.”
I didn’t understand what he meant, until he explained that the people of the town are famous as traders: they will sell you anything!
They have also taken advantage of their situation on the Camino to prosper as a market town. Melide is on high land unsuitable for farming. You are aware of this as you walk across the heathland from Leboreiro to here on the Camino de Santiago walking amongst the gorse and heather. People were not going to get rich from farming in this area.
In the centre of town there is a roundabout with roads coming in from Lugo, Pontevedra, A Coruña and Santiago. As you wait for the trucks to pass, you can understand why this crossroads town became a commercial centre. This was the way to make money. The people of Melide have always been renowned as merchants and traders. They have dedicated themselves to transporting goods from the coast inland and inland to the coast. Right on what was the highway to Castille- the Camino de Santiago- this is still a good place for hauliers. And if you zoom out on the map, the fame of this inland town for its octopus makes more sense. The rugged coast of Galicia is punctuated by estuaries and headlands: if Galicia is a stubby-fingered hand, Melide is in the palm.
As soon as you get to town you start to see octopus bars- the pulperías. With simple wooden benches and tables they are alive with noise at peak hours. In the window you see a copper kettle where the octopus- or pulpo- is cooked to perfection with Galician potatoes: the best in Spain. It is served on a wooden platter- bite-sized chunks of melt-in-the-mouth octopus with perfectly boiled potatoes sprinkled with pimentón. The perfect accompaniment is a glass of ice-cold fruity white wine- the famous Galician Albariño. Like all the best pleasures in life it is simple!
When you arrive in Santiago de Compostela after walking the Camino de Santiago, you go directly to the pilgrim’s office to request your compostelana or Compostela, which is the certifícate that has been handed out to pilgrims for the past 1000 years.
It is written in Latin and attests to the fact that you have successfully completed a religious pilgrimage. Here is the text in English. Do bear in mind that it is written in pompous Latin, a bit like lawyers’ language.
The Chapter of this Holy Apostolic and Metropolitan Church of Compostela, custodian of the seal of the altar of the Blessed Apostle Saint James, offers authenticating letters of accomplishment to all the faithful and pilgrims from all the lands of the Earth who, for devotion or by taking a vow, have come to the Church of the Apostle Santiago, Patron and Tutelary Saint of our Country Spain, and makes known to each and all who may inspect this letter that …. [NAME in Latin]…. has devoutly visited this most holy temple for reasons of piety.
In recognition of this I confer this letter, with the seal of the same Holy Church.
Dated in Compostela on the day ….. of the month …… in the Year of Our Lord …..
If you feel that your reasons are not ‘pious’ and are uncomfortable with this religious certificate, the same pilgrim’s office will issue a Cultural Certificate written in Spain in recognition that you have completed the European Union Cultural Itinerary.
The queimada is a traditional Galician ceremony that involves fire and alcohol. Many pilgrims along the Camino de Santiago are familiar with this Pagan ritual. The key ingredient is Oruxo, which is made with the grape skins left after they are pressed for wine. This grappa-like firewater is then mixed coffee beans and sugar and burnt (queimar). Often times people add orange or lemon peels or even apple for some flavour. The finished product after it is burnt is a thick, sweet liqueur and everyone raises their cup for a toast.
As you perform the Queimada, a conjuration is read in Gallego. Here is the translation:
Owls, crows, toads and witches
Devils, goblins and demons, spirits of the snow-clad valleys
Rooks, salamanders and enchantresses, spells of the healing women,
Through the hollow thatch, the home of worms and spiders
The light of the Holy Company, the evil eye and black spells,
The smell of dead things, thunder and lightning,
Dogs’ howling, the augury of death, the satyr’s sickle and the rabbit’s foot,
Sinning tongue of a bad woman married to an old man
Abode of Satan and Beelzebub, light from burning corpses, mutilated bodies
Of shameless people, farts from the arse of hell, groaning of the agitated sea.
Useless womb of the single woman, speech of cats that walk
In the January moon, long hair of the aborted goat.
With this fire I will raise the light of these flames that resemble the fires of hell
And the witches will run away on their broomsticks,
Plunging into sea water on beaches of coarse sand.
Hark! Hark! The screams of those that do not want to burn
In the firewater and be purified by it!
And when this beverage goes down our throats we will be free
Of the ills of our souls and of all witchcraft.
Forces of the air, earth, sea and fire, I make this call to you:
If it is true that you have more power than humankind,
Here and now, make the spirits of those who are not here
Participate in this Queimada.
Yesterday, we walked a bit along the Camino de Santiago in Castilla y Leon and we stopped in at the Church of Santa Maria. Unfortunately it was closed, but we had a great look at the main entrance and talked a bit about it:
Afterwards, we had some oven roasted “lechazo” – lamb – a typically delicious meal of the area!
Saludos from Spain!
Caldo Gallego is a hearty broth made with beans, potatoes and berzas, those long-stalked cabbages you see everywhere in Galicia. It is standard pilgrim fare on the Camino de Santiago and in all of Galicia.
Ingredients: an onion, a dab of lard (or olive oil, if you prefer), 500 grams of cabbage leaves cut into strips, chunks of salty back bacon, pre-soaked lima beans (better when fresh; the bigger the better), 3 or 4 medium-sized Galician potatoes.
1. Chop the onion fine and fry in the lard (or olive oil) until just turning golden.
2. Throw in the berzas and cook for five minutes over a low heat.
3. Add generous stock: 1 liter, at least.
4. Add lima beans and cook for an hour or until beans are soft.
5. Chop potatoes into smallish chunks and add with bacon. Add more water if necessary.
6. Cook for an extra 30 minutes.
If you can’t find berzas any dark green cabbage, such as winter greens will do. Berzas are tough and need a long time cooking. Some people say they are better if you cut them and freeze them first.
If you use canned beans and white cabbage, you can throw everything in together once you have fried the onion. I don’t add salt because the salty bacon gives enough flavor for my taste. In Spain you normally stick in a piece of bacon with the fat and skin attached – they love their pork!
Last, serve caldo gallego in warm bowls with thick-cut crusty rye bread. After a day out walking a bowl of this broth and a glass of red wine really warms you up!
Buen Camino and Buen Provecho!
For some more recipes and other food related things, please see:
1. La Compostela: Our itinerary qualifies you for the Compostela certificate upon your arrival to Santiago.
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