Walking El Camino is by most pilgrims seen as a very long, arduous journey on seemingly endless dirt trails across vast agricultural plains and over one mountain range after another in sun-drenched, hot and dry Spain.
But with good planning, mostly time allocation, the splendid cities along the Camino will be equally remembered. It is only with time spent - more than the usual one-night stop - in Pamplona, Logroño, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Burgos, León, and Astorga that the pilgrim will be able to explore these cathedral cities' enormous historical and spiritual value. And by linking the cities with the entire way of St. James, the pilgrim will appreciate the remarkably complete cross-section of European artistic and architectural evolution over several centuries.
Pamploma's narrow streets bustle with life of business people, shoppers, tourists, students, and pilgrims. Late afternoon and early evening the local residents will appear in their finest city dress, just strolling, to see and to be seen. Follow the more determined strollers and you will arrive on Plaza del Castillo, the city's main square, a huge open space with covered arcades shading the shops, bars and cafés. Sit in front of art deco Café Iruña with the strollers, enjoy a cup of coffee, a glass of sangria or Rioja wine and soak in Spanish city leisure at its best.
As you walk back to your albergue or hostal, and as you explore the city the next day, notice that there are no motor vehicles in the streets. Pamplona's old town - like the Camino's other old cities - has cleverly been freed from vehicles that don't have business there, which makes it a joy to walk around - or just sit and look at the strollers.
Logroño, 117 kilometers/73 miles farther along El Camino, is a very different city. Gone are the international tourists and Spanish weekend visitors. As the capital of Rioja province it is closely linked to agriculture, particularly growing the Rioja grape and producing its superlative wines. However, Logroño's friendly people have welcomed pilgrims since medieval times and one senses a genuine hospitality towards pilgrims.
As early as the 11th century kings and noblemen promoted the Camino as a means of exporting wine and wares throughout Europe Santa Maria
Santo Domingo de la Calzada is the Camino's smallest cathedral city with a population of only 5,600. It takes its name from Domingo Garcia, born in 1019 and buried in the beautiful cathedral. Domingo's call to become a monk was thwarted by the local monastery, but the loss to the intelligentsia was the gain of pilgrims for hundreds of years after. He built a hospital (now the city's parador) and a church (now the cathedral), and assisted in road and bridge building to make the physical route for the pilgrims easier. The adjacent museum has a beautiful and very interesting display of medieval, religious artifacts.
For a much quieter and less crowded church, walk up the steps on the cathedral's west side to visit the Church of San Nicolás and admire its magnificent altarpiece.
The nearby Plaza Santa Maria and Plaza Mayor are wonderful examples of Spanish old city wide-open public places, today with restaurants, cafés and chique shops along its sides. They are perfect for coffee or a drink and people watching. Burgos is a veritable architectural jewel, so also take time to just wander around the city and admire some of the new buildings.
The next cathedral city walking west is León. The entry on the Camino is from a high plateau with a good view of the city and the huge cathedral and its two spires at the far end. Like in Pamplona and Burgos, the old town is a good walk from the first sight of the city miles away, but worth every step. And like in all the Camino's cathedral cities, one meanders through narrow streets, following the yellow arrows and brass pavement scallop shells, with no sight of the cathedral until, like walking out of a canyon, it is suddenly there, spectacular and almost overwhelming by its size.
The cathedral is renowned for its magnificent 125 stained glass windows set high in the walls and often compared in beauty with the windows in the cathedral of Chartres in France. The English travel writer H.V. Morton described the cathedral as "a conservatory that instead of keeping out the light, as most Spanish churches do, actually invites it in, showering this mosaic of colour all over it to become the gayest church in Spain. One of the chief functions of the medieval church was to instruct the illiterate and to give them pictures they could understand, to show them the story of the Gospels and the legend of the Saints - the novels of the medieval world. What more glorious picture book could there be than this church, whose illustrations are illuminated by God's own light?" Put plenty of time aside to visit this wonderful cathedral, maybe also attending Mass.
Nearby are Plaza Mayor, Plaza San Marcelo with City Hall and Gaudi's neo-Gothic Casa de Botines, and the tranquil Plaza San Isidoro with the beautiful Church of Santa Maria del Camino. On the way out of the city the Camino trail crosses over Plaza San Marcos with the ancient monastery and church dedicated to St. Mark (notice the profusion of scallop shells that cover the pediment of the church), and the beautiful parador with courtyard.
Compared with the Camino's previous cathedral cities, León is more lively and it is obvious that its inhabitants like a good party. The old town is a maze of narrow streets and alleys connected at tiny squares filled with restaurants and bars, but to watch the strolling citizens in their finest, grab a table at one of the many cafés on Calle Ancha.
The last cathedral city before our destination is Astorga, first visible from Cruzeiro Santo Toribio with a wonderful view of the entire valley. The city sits on a ridge with Catedral Santa Maria towering over the landscape, and three different mountain ranges to the south, north and - to the west - the highest part of the whole journey. Astorga, relatively small with only 12,000 inhabitants, is an important local market, but the greatest influence from outside seems to be the pilgrims. This is where Camino Francés joins the pilgrim route Via de la Plata from Seville and the south.
The cathedral competes in prominence and attention with its neighbor, Gaudi's neo-Gothic building known as the Bishop's Palace, now a pilgrim and diocesan museum. While the museum has regular visitor hours throughout the day, the cathedral is open to visitors only between 9 and 10:30 AM.
After almost 800 kilometers/500 miles on the Camino, the arrival to Santiago de Compostela with its enormous cathedral and the shrine of St. James is, of course, with a lot of emotion, anticipation, excitement - and relief. But unlike the other cathedral cities, Santiago cannot be seen from miles away. You know from your map and the distance posts on the road side that it cannot be far, you walked right by the airport's runway and a couple of local TV offices, but Santiago is not there. Finally, at the high point of Monte del Gozo, just outside the suburbs, the city is at the foot of the hill, only a short walk away. But still, only the very top of the cathedral spires is visible.
The pilgrim is held in suspense for another hour, all the way to the cathedral walls before he sees the actual cathedral, and only when he walks onto Praza do Obradoiro is the magnificent cathedral - or one side of it - in full view. The pilgrimage is complete.
