Camino de Santiago: The Best Way
I have just released a new book on the Camino de Santiago called, The Best Way. It is a narrative of my 2010 and 2011 hikes of the popular Camino Frances, which runs from St. Jean Pied de Port in southern France to the great Gothic Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. In the ‘Holy Year’ of 2010, I did this 500 mile trek with my 18 year-old nephew Gavin, who proved to have his own brand of Fonzie-like charm. Hopefully, the reader will see in our frat-boy dialogue a style similar to that of Bill Bryson and Katz in A Walk in the Woods.
Like many Americans, I have often wondered what was the best way to see the Old Continent of Europe. Finally, I have an answer.The Camino proved to be the perfect place to meet people from all over the world. You simply can’t walk all day around so many people, queuu for showers and laundry machines, have dinner, and sleep in crowded bunkrooms without letting your guard down and meeting people in authentic situations. And for me, that is what makes a great trip. For that reason, the book is called, ‘The Best Way’. The Camino is especially teeming with French, Germans, and Italians. Fortunately, most people seem to be on their best behavior on the Camino and national rivalries simmer down. Americans are just discovering that the Camino is the best way to see Europe, so this 1,000 year old pilgrimage, which ends at the great shrine to St. James in Galicia in northwest Spain, seems to have an especially bright future.
Follow Us!