Last steps of the Camino

In this photo essay, I wanted to focus on the last steps of the famous Camino walk to Santiago de Compostela. I aimed to capture the emotions of the arrival and the sights of the physical suffering on the hard road.

Santiago de Compostela is a famous destination on the Christian pilgrimage route. The city draws more than 300,000 modern pilgrims yearly (before the pandemic). The walk is called the Camino.

Most people travel on foot, some by bicycle, and few, as their medieval counterparts did, on horseback or donkey. The ancient roads to Santiago de Compostela had become more popular yearly (the annual growth before the pandemic was about 10 %).

Nowadays, the pilgrims are more interested in mental, physical, and spiritual well-being than the Christian faith per se.

There are several roads to travel. Pilgrims may choose whether they go all the way or just part of one of those roads. The length of the main roads varies from a few hundred kilometers to over 1000 kilometers. So, the road is demanding both mentally and physically. I wanted to focus on the last steps of the walk to Santiago de Compostela to capture the emotions of the arrival and the sights of the physical suffering on the hard road.