Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[belinha]

Hi Everyone,

Just read that the pilgrim office in Santiago is now requesting two sellos per day for the last 100kms. Does anybody know if this applies to Camino Portugues?

Isabel

[JohnnieWalker]

I'm not at all sure how rigidly this is being applied. Rather it seems to be a strategy aimed at identifying people who have not taken the pilgrimage seriously. I submitted my Pilgrim Record for the Camino Ingles recently which had five or 6 sellos over the 5 day journey and they were content with that - they did however ask questions about where I had started, how long it had taken and so on.

The same thing happened when I finished the VdlP - they recognise that on some routes sellos are easier to obtain than others.

[belinha]

Thanks Johnie for the info. I agree with you it is a way of the Pilgrim office keeping control. Not worried.

Isabel

[peskywabbit]

I recall when I did the CFrances the requirement was to get 2 sellos per day, for the last 100kms. So I just assumed the requirement also applied to the CPortugues' last 100kms, and made sure I got them

[Athena]

I'm not sure if I met the requirement of two sellos a day for the last 100kms...but they didn't really question me when I handed them my passport. What they did comment on, which I thought was peculiar, was how important it was that I managed to obtain a stamp from the cathedral itself.

Upon arriving, I did the traditional visit to the Tree of Jesse and Maestro Mateo, but when I went up to hug the statue of the apostle, the gentleman offered to stamp my passport to certify the end of my camino. I wouldn't have thought to have asked, but at the Pilgrim Office, they seemed pleased to see it.

Bom Caminho,
Athena

[rafferty]

Hi there,Yes do do have to have two or more stamps per day for the last 100kms through Galicia.There are so many people cheating now just to get the Compestellanae(certificate)that they have tightened up the rules.From next year they will be tighter again with the cathedral in Santiago being in sole control of issuing all pilgrim passports via "appropriate outlets".

[Gareth Thomas]

...when I went up to hug the statue of the apostle, the gentleman offered to stamp my passport to certify the end of my camino. I wouldn't have thought to have asked, but at the Pilgrim Office, they seemed pleased to see it.

Another person who would be very pleased to see it would be Angel, who runs the excellent website with over a thousand sellos on it: http://www.lossellosdelcamino.com
I think we should really support this site - and make an effort to send in photos of sellos Angel has not yet collected - for two reasons. First, because this is a contemporary record of the culture of the modern day pilgrim which will be of value to future historians. And second, for a reason I've just tuned into myself: you can see in advance where to go and collect the sellos that will look good on your credencial!

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There are some pretty naff sellos out there: let's raise the standard by only seeking out the quality sellos, like these four pictured above, which I've selected from Angel's site as good quality examples. Angel's site tells you where to seek out each sello: alongside the picture there's a brief description of the place where it can be obtained. In some towns there are a range of sellos to be found, and the pretty ones are worth seeking out. Of course, some of the sellos illustrated on the site will not be currently available, but once again, Angel dates them on his site, so you can suppose the recent ones will still be available.

I've established contact with Angel and I'm going to send him all my stamps from the Le Puy to SJPP route from my 2006 Chemin St Jacques, which he is lacking on his site. Can other pilgrims, who may have credenciales from previous trips, likewise help identify gaps in his collection and fill them in for him by photographing your credencial?

Angel has a blog too: http://lossellosdelcamino.blogspot.com

Gareth

[ksam]

Another person who would be very pleased to see it would be Angel, who runs the excellent website with over a thousand sellos on it: http://www.lossellosdelcamino.com

Just wanted to say thank you so much for the link to Angels site. I enjoyed browsing the pages of sellos for the Camino Portuguese. I've actually printed them and will copy them...smaller and carry them w/us so we remember where to obtain some of them. I loved the one from the library esp. having been a parochial school librarian and managed a bookstore...so that is one I am sure to look for!

One question ... the two per day...would that be starting in the morning and ending the day of hiking?? or two diff locals in the town?? Only 49 more days! Can hardly wait!

Karin

[Gareth Thomas]

Just wanted to say thank you so much for the link to Angels site. I enjoyed browsing the pages of sellos for the Camino Portuguese. I've actually printed them and will copy them...smaller and carry them w/us so we remember where to obtain some of them.

Good: that's exactly what I thought people could use the site for.

Your question about the two-per-day: I think the idea is that you simply demonstrate you've done the walk properly by getting your credencial stamped with sellos at regular intervals, not time-wise but distance-wise. So maybe in the middle of your day's walk and at the end of the day at the place you stay, is minimum requirement. I sometimes collect three or four in a day. Going from London in May, I'm hoping to get my CSJ credencial stamped with the CSJ stamp and the Spanish embassy sello and the Westminster cathedral stamp, before I set off. I have 28 A5-size pages in my pilgrim passport, ready for a journey of 74 days to Santiago (and a few more after that to Fisterra.) So I'm looking to collect about two-hundred sellos in total!

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Here's the Samos monastery sello. I stayed there for three days last August after I couldn't walk downhill from O Cebreiro and the medic at Triacastela signed me off with tendinitis. So I had three days to admire the Benedictine monastery sello, as there was nothing much else to do in Samos...

Gareth

[ksam]

I guess another way of looking a the stamps or Sellos..is as an ancient form of "postcards" or photos of my trip...in times when such things weren't possible. How else to show the folks back home all the places and spaces you visited! We will take great care to see that we collect them wherever and whenever we can...may even do as you are planning and get one from the nearest Spanish embassy! I believe there is one in Philadelphia, which is close to home for me...or perhaps when I run up to NYC this weekend...perhaps I can check there! Would be a nice way to begin. Thanks again for the great suggestions.

I do find it hard to fathom why some people would fudge something like this...I fully understand grey areas, but somethings in life either are or are not..to me this is one of those situations. You either do it right...or just say you went on vacation...not a pilgramage!

Wishing you Buen Camino
Karin,