Santiago Day

EROSKI CONSUMER invites you to enjoy the Camino de Fisterra and Muxía

The Camino de Fisterra and Muxía has reached the age of majority. If last Holy Year achieved its best record, this 2011 overcomes it with slack. From January to June, the public hostel in Fisterra has delivered 1,454 fisterrals more than in the same period of 2010. In Muxía, both in the tourist office and in the hostel, 534 Muxians have also been granted, from January to June, more than last year. EROSKI CONSUMER has travelled on foot, in several dates of 2010 and 2011, the 151 kilometers of this itinerary. Of these, the 89 kilometres to Cape and the rest are those separating Olveiroa and Fisterra from the Muxian village. The result of this pilgrimage has elaborated a Guide divided into an introduction and 5 stages, each with its respective interactive map, profile with heights and practical content, with sections describing the itinerary, the main difficulties and history of the most important localities. The Guide can be accessed on the web from https://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/los-roads -de-santiago/epilogo-a-fisterra/, downloaded in PDF and is also available in the free app for iPhone.

Hatching hostels in 2010 and 2011

Apart from the easy access to specialized information, the journey to the Costa da Morte is increasingly frequented thanks to the quantitative and quality leap experienced by its infrastructure in the last two years. In addition, it is a route where all pilgrims coincide, whether they come from the Camino Francés, Portuguese, del Norte, Primitivo or any of the dozens of routes that cross the Peninsula. If at the beginning of 2010 the picture was not very encouraging, with 8 hostels for pilgrims, during the last Holy Year and this 2011 11 new specific accommodations have been opened. Thanks to this hatching it is possible, first, to be optimistic in order to find a place and, second, to divide the stages into comfortable distances, a privilege that until recently was impossible, having to walk more than 30 kilometers to rest in a Jacobean hostel.

Rocky stages, typical of Galicia

The transition between the city of Compostela and the countryside is priceless, crossing the rustic Hortas the road penetrates into the carballeira of San Lorenzo and leaves to the immediate Ponte Sarela, where the doors of the forests and the rural landscape are opened. The stages of the epilogue to Fisterra and Muxía are those of Galicia, constant ups and downs that impede a steady rhythm. However, the vast majority of the public is more than trained and will not fear the route, as this road will be an extension of its periplo to Santiago. This epilogue forms an endless triangle and offers several options according to the desire and the days available. You can complete the 89 kilometers to Fisterra and extend the pilgrimage another 30 kilometers to Muxía. Besides, from the village of Hospital, it is possible to go directly to Muxía and from here to Fisterra, and even draw the triangle by returning to Hospital through Corcubión and Cee. The entire route is 151 kilometers, almost the same distance as there is from O Cebreiro to Santiago.

Fisterrana, Muxiana and also Compostela

If the pilgrim who performs at least the last 100 kilometres on foot is rewarded with the Compostela, to those who decide to walk to Fisterra, and justify it by means of the credential, they will be granted the fisterrana. The same applies to the Muxian people who travel to this other town on the Costa da Morte. Both the fisterrana and the Muxian are accredited documents sealed by the mayor of the two municipalities, while the Compostela is granted by the Cabildo de la Catedral. However, there is an option to get the Compostela doing this way, and it is none other than to do it backwards in the direction of Santiago. Yes, justifying at least 100 kilometres, so you should almost visit both Fisterra and Muxía.

Back to the credential

It is a general question of what credential is to be carried to carry out this route. There is no special credential, you can use the same one that has been taken to Santiago. Those who do not have it because they make this Road expressly, as the Pilgrim’s Office does not provide credentials for this journey, can leave without it and get it in any of the hostels in Negreira.

Sunset

Fisterra is the figurative end of the Earth, a secluded paragraph that everyone wants to reach, like the Celtic and Roman peoples, to wait from Cape for the time of sunset and see the sun hide in the vastness of the ocean. Also the municipality where the city of Dugium was located, cited in the Codex Calixtinus and where the disciples of the Apostle went to bury, without success, the body of Santiago. In Muxía, according to the legend, the Virgin arrived in a boat to instil a mood in Santiago when she preached in Hispania. There are not few reports that throughout the centuries have been given to us by travelers who arrived to these shores and also the vestiges and historical documents that provide data on the ancient hospitals of pilgrims who marked this route. Today it is more alive than ever and will cease to be an extension to become a must after arrival in Santiago.

An almost unchanged formula for 13 centuries

The Camino de Santiago does not expire. Even with times of anodines, he was reborn for the great mass in 1993, the date of the first Xacobeo, devised by Victor Manuel Vázquez Portomeñe. Mix art with nature, sport with culture, freedom and friendship. This is a sociological phenomenon that generates optimism and which, they said, had to be done once in life, when now few can resist the temptation to go back and forth.