Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Chemin des pellerins

We are sitting in a small café in the town of St-Jean Pied de Port. This is one of the staging areas for the Pilgrim's Road to Compostelle. From here it is 800 kilometers across the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain.
This little village of 1700 will see 25000 pilgrims come through their town in a year. It has been the major stopping point on the road to Compostelle since early medieval times. Everywhere you look you see seashells carved on doors and walls. These shells (the same ones as for coquilles St-Jacques) are the symbol of the pilgrimage to Compostelle and many pilgrims we saw had them tied to their backpack.















- Posted from my iPhone

1 comment:

geewits said...

Lovely! But where are the seashell things? You teased me with seashells.