The curious rhythm of life in Spain’s Santiago de Compostela

Surely no other city can claim to have so many backpacks and walking sticks on its narrow cobbled streets. In Spain’s Santiago de Compostela it always looks like there is a giant hiking convention going on. These aren’t your average ramblers, though. They are pilgrims, as the city marks the end of the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.

The Camino, or the Way of St James, is most associated with the 500-mile route from the base of the French Pyrenees westward though Pamplona, Burgos and Leon. More accurately, the Camino is the collective name for the multitude of pilgrimage routes laid across Europe that, like a river’s tributaries, finally converge at Santiago de Compostela’s magnificent baroque cathedral, in whose basement it is believed the remains of St James the apostle lie.

Last week the city’s streets were even more rammed with backpacks and walking sticks than usual, as 25 July marked the feast day of St James that all Spain still celebrates.