ONLINE: The Camino de Santiago is a network of medieval Christian pilgrimage routes leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The most popular route (the Camino Frances) is roughly 500 miles long and takes about five weeks to complete, walking from St. Jean Pied de Port, France, over the Pyrenees, across the Spanish meseta, and over the mountains to the cathedral of St. James, in Santiago. In 2019, 350,000 pilgrims from more than 175 countries (including 20,000 Americans) arrived in Santiago after walking all or part of the Camino; the number of pilgrims walking the Camino is expected to return to normal in 2023. In this lecture-based course, students will learn about the Camino's legends and history, the experiences of modern-day pilgrims walking the Camino, the "spirit" of the Camino and everything (training, transportation, equipment and more) they need to do to plan and prepare for a safe, enjoyable and meaningful journey on the Camino that will leave them transformed by the experience. | Lecture + Q&A.
Max enrollment: 30.
Class sessions are recorded.
John Saxon is one of the coordinators for the Raleigh chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino. He has made five journeys on the Camino de Santiago, in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, walking 2,075 miles on 10 different Camino routes in Spain, Portugal and France. He has taught this course twice before. He recently completed a three-day training program for prospective hospitaleros and plans to serve as a volunteer hospitalero at a Camino albergue in Spain in the summer of 2023.