The Camino de Santiago is a generic description of the numerous routes which lead to Santiago de Compostela. There are many routes leading to Santiago de Compostela. These include paths from England, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and the list goes on.
The Camino Portuguese has grown in popularity over the past 10 years and is the second most walked Camino de Santiago. The routes we follow and the ones mentioned above are marked paths that are maintained by various local governments. When walking the trail, you may meet pilgrims who opened their front door and walked directly from there.
Eventually these pilgrims will join a known and marked Camino path, however, they created their own little Camino path right from their home. This walk is another one of the principal Christian pilgrimage routes, crossing the English Channel into France, through Switzerland then Italy.
It starts in Santiago de Compostela and continues west all the way to the sea. Like many things related to the Camino, myth and legend surround the significance of the scallop shell. Medieval pilgrims to Santiago would, if they survived the journey, have returned home with a scallop shell. These pilgrims would have walked all the way to Finisterre and the Atlantic Ocean. Scallop shells are typically found on the coastline of Galicia. The shell was a medieval souvenir and also proof that the pilgrim had completed their journey.
Pilgrims returning from Jerusalem brought a palm branch, and those from Rome would collect the crossed keys of St Peter. Other people who share Camino de Santiago information, say the shell was also a practical method for drinking water from streams whilst on the return trip home.
