Some pilgrimage observations

An overview of recent pilgrimage events and news from around the world.

Europe, the Via Francigena
Europe, the camino, an introduction
Asia, the Mount Kailash pilgrimage
Asia, from film induced tourism to anime tourism
America, the Pacific Crest Trail (book)
Europe, Norway's new soul-soothing, time-travelling pilgrimage
Europe, the camino in Slovakia
Europe, pilgrimage as slow travel in Italy's Emilia-Romagna
Asia, pilgrimage sites in Nepal

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Aleteia: This ancient pilgrimage road crosses Europe from north to south

"Before the discovery of the tomb of Santiago El Mayor in Compostela, Rome was the European city with the only Western-known burial spot of one of the twelve apostles.", includes slideshow.

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The Hindu: A 24-day gruelling trek to Mount Kailash in Tibet

"Every year, faith inspires thousands of Indians to undertake the gruelling trek to Mount Kailash in Tibet.", includes slide show.

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The Japan Times: Japan's anime tourism: A lucrative blend of cash and chaos 

"Japan has become a magnet for young tourists from Asia on “pilgrimage” tours to the most famous scenes in Japanese anime."

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Newsweek: The great alone, walking the Pacific Crest Trail

Why did I walk 4265 kilometers grom Mexico to Canada? Introduction to the book of Tim Voors.

(Book available in Dutch: Alleen)

More on the book on site of Gestalten.

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The Telegraph: The ultimate antithesis to modern life? Norway's new soul-soothing, time-travelling pilgrimage

"Leaning on a gnarled wooden staff like a clean-cut version of Gandalf, pilgrim priest Einar was waiting for me outside the world’s most northerly medieval cathedral. “Welcome to Trondheim and well done for finishing St Olav Ways,” he said, warmly shaking my hand."

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Traveler: Pilgrimage of a lifetime: How and why you should walk Spain's famous Camino de Santiago 

An introduction to the camino pilgrimage, where to go, what's it like... "But the Way is no longer about war, fanaticism or religious ascendancy. Today's pilgrims walk arguably in what was always the true spirit of pilgrimage – for acceptance, forgiveness and redemption. And in the case of my friends, utter generosity."

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The Slovak Spectator: Slovakia completes last part of ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela 

"The Way of St James in Slovakia. The route is 603 km long and is divided into five stretches."

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Forbes: Walk On Pilgrimage Paths Through Emilia-Romagna To Celebrate Italy's Year Of Slow Travel 

Slow travel in Emilia-Romagna where ten ancient pilgrimage routes cross through the region.

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Nepali Sansar: Nepal’s Top Pilgrimage Sites – The Abode of Spirituality

Have a look at some of the best Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage sites..

Altamira: the cave, the art, the movie

Once upon a time, 30 kilometers west of Santander,

near the village of Santillana del Mar, some 35000 years ago....

Perhaps you remember from early school years mentioning of Lascaux (France) and Altamira (Spain). Famous for their paint art, some of the very first human art.

As I walked the Camino del Norte in 2013, and as I also studied history with special interest in pre-history, how could I not visit this cave on the occasion.
Well, I saw the closed gate of the original cave, but visited the replica. 

By the way, the cave of Lascaux is also closed for public and rebuild in a replica.

  

(Photo: P Kouwenberg)

This movie by Unesco shows the Altamira site.

(2:50)

Click here to go to the Cave of Altamira in the Unesco records.

Click here for the Website of the Museo de Altamira

In 2016 a movie was published on the discovery and the man who devoted his life to the cave.

Directed by Hugh Hudson,

featuring Clément Sibony, Rupert Everett, Javivi, Antonio Banderas

Storyline on imdb:

"Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola y de la Pedrueca, in 1868, accidentally discovered Patheolitic paintings with the help of a hunter named Modesto Cubillas inside Altamira's caves, located in Cantabria, north to Spain. Trying to expose their discovery to the academic world for that they study the paintings, Sautuola crashed against the skepticism and discredit of all experts, who claimed that the caves were false and the paintings made for the own Sautuola, in a effort to get rich. Looking for the truth, Sautuola was the rest of his life fighting to prove that those paintings were real, trying to restore his innocence from the accusations of falsehood launched against him. Written by Chockys"

2016

Trailer Altamira

(1:42)

Music by Mark Knopfler

Here you can hear the title track

(2:58)

Movie review here

A commenter on imdb states that original discovery was done by the poor shepherd Modesto Cubillas. The movie however emphasizes Marcelino Saenz de Sautola. He's the owner of the land, also a powerful family (co-owning Banco Santander) and co-sponsor of this movie.

A full documentary on 

Prehistoric Europeans. People Who Invented Art

Not only cave drawings, but also a flute ;-)

(56:52)

Walk and Horreo

Sleeping in a Parador is perhaps not the place to sleep along the Camino de Santiago for a usual pilgrim.
But a traditional horreo, that's an option for the pilgrim living traditonal values, right?

Architect Nacho Gias from Madrid rebuilded four traditional horreos along the camino into luxurious 2 person cabins. (66$ a night)

By the end of 2016 two more are planned.

Catesby Holmes reports in Conde Nast Traveler

See also the Walk and Horreo site

Rural flight

Perhaps half of all abandoned villages in Spain are in Galicia. As processes of aging, rural flight (& urbanisation) and bad (economic) perspectives continue, this development will increase. Will immigration or tourism have an impact?

I collected some fine articles, a book and a movie on the subject.

So, if interested, go ahead ;-)

Population increase (red) or decrease (blue):

(Source and also population map of Europe on CityMetric here (Jun 2015))

Have a look at this 13:11 documentary on Galician Ghost villages published by Celtico on the situation of the living landscape and on a family started to live in a former abandoned village.

See also this article in NPR (Aug 2015)

In Spain, Entire Villages Are Up For Sale — And They're Going Cheap

or this one in Christian Science Monitor (Aug 2015)

For sale in Spanish 'paradise': entire villages. Cheap.

or this one in Financial Times (Dec 2014)

A Spanish exodus to the cities leaves a desert in its wake
(FT subscription field may popup)

or this pictoral impression of Molina de Aragon, the least-populated place in Europe in MailOnline (Mar 2015)

This is in contrast with research from CheckmyBus (nov 2015) where The Camino de Santiago with place five rates among the top ten of tourist attractions in Spain, with Santiago de Compostela on the sixth place (LaVoxdeGalicia).

More information in

The Depopulation of Rural Spain in the Twentieth Century

by Fernando Collantes and Vicente Pinilla, 2011

(book review here)

In 'Reducing Depopulation in Rural Spain: The Impact of Immigration' the authors (Fernando Collantes, Vicente Pinilla, Luis Antonio Sáez and Javier Silvestre, 2013) discuss research on the impact of immigration that could lead to substantial reduction.

(Here available online)

Immigration and depopulation is also subject of the article 

'Silent blight in a countryside of empty homes and shut shops'

in The Guardian (Aug 2015):

"Young people are leaving rural areas of Europe for the cities at a time when birth rates are at historic lows. As the countryside empties, should rising immigration be seen as a solution, not a problem?"

(Click here to see)

(And for Dutch audience a link to a report from Henk Jan Slomp on depolulation in Spain, specific Matarraña, Teruel (2004))