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Camino de Santiago
The Camino de Santiago (Latin: Peregrinatio Compostellana),
also known by the English names Way of St. James, St. James's Way, St. James's Path,
St. James's Trail, Route of Santiago de Compostela, and Road to Santiago,
is the name of any of the pilgrimage routes (most commonly the Camino Francés or French route)
to the shrine of the apostle St. James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the saint are buried.
Many take up this route as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth.
The Garabit Viaduct (Viaduc de Garabit in French) is a railway arch bridge spanning the River Truyère near Ruynes-en-Margeride (Fr), Cantal, France,
in the mountainous Massif Central region. The bridge was constructed between 1882 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffel, with structural engineering by Maurice Koechlin,
and was opened in 1885. It is 565 m (1,854 ft) in length and has a principal arch of 165 m (541 ft) span.
By the end of the 1870s Eiffel & Cie, the company formed by Gustave Eiffel in partnership with Theophile Seyrig, had an established position among the leading French engineering companies.
Auch is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Midi-Pyrénées, it is the capital of the Gers department. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony.
Auch is a very ancient town, whose settlement was noted by the Romans during their conquest of the area in the 50s BC.
At that time, it was settled by an Aquitanian tribe known to the Romans as the Ausci.
Augusta Auscorum was one of the twelve civitates of the province of Novempopulana (Gascony) and became the provincial capital after the 409 destruction of Eauze by the Vandals.
The French Way (Galician: Camiño Francés, Spanish: Camino Francés) is the most popular of the routes of the Way of St. James (Spanish: Camino de Santiago),
the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. It runs from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles
on the Spanish side and then another 780km on to Santiago de Compostela through the major cities of Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos and León.
A typical walk on the Camino Francés takes at least four weeks, allowing for one or two rest days on the way. Some travel the Camino on bicycle or on horseback.
Paths from the cities of Tours, Vézelay, and Le Puy-en-Velay meet at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. A fourth French route originates in Arles,
in Provence, and crosses the French–Spanish frontier at a different point, between the Pyrenees towns of Somport and Canfranc.
This fourth route follows the Aragonese Way and joins the main Way of St. James at Puente la Reina, south of Pamplona, in Navarre, about 700 kilometres from Santiago de Compostela.
The gorge of Lumbier. Colonies of griffon vultures flying over the cliffs, sheer rock faces where birds nest, a river with clean and fresh water that cuts through the narrow and changeable rocks,
the remains of a bridge that (according to legend) was built with the help of the Devil, two tunnels through which the first electric train in Spain (the Irati) used to run.
The result is a wildlife and harsh landscape that you'll enjoy if you visit the foz de Lumbier, a narrow gorge cut by the river Irati that has been declared a Nature Reserve.
Pamplona (Spanish: [pamˈplona]; French: Pampelune; English: Pampeluna or Basque: Iruña), is the historical capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former Kingdom of Navarre.
The city is famous worldwide for the running of the bulls during the San Fermín festival, which is held annually from July 6 to 14.
This festival was brought to literary renown with the 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises.
Pamplona is located in the middle of Navarre in a rounded valley.
Puente La Reina (Spanish meaning literally the "bridge of the Queen"; Basque: Gares) is a town and municipality located in the autonomous community of Navarra, in northern Spain.
Puente la Reina lies between Pamplona and Estella on the Way of St. James pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.
It is the first town after the junction of the French Way (Spanish: Camino Francés), the most popular route, and Aragonese Way.
Doña Mayor, wife of King Sancho III was the queen who gave her name to the town.
Laguardia (Basque Guardia ) is a small town and a municipality ( municipio ) with 1,520 inhabitants in the Basque province of Alava in Spain .
Laguardia is located at an altitude of about 630 meters above sea level. d . M. in the extreme south of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country in the Rioja Alavesa,
the Basque part of the area of Rioja . Closest major city is about 20 km ( route ) southeast preferred Logroño .
The municipality includes the villages and hamlets El Campillar, Laserna and Páganos each with about 30 to 80 residents.
Santo Domingo de la Calzada is a municipality in La Rioja, Spain, situated on the banks of the Oja River. Its name refers to its founder,
Dominic de la Calzada, who built a bridge, hospital, and hotel here for pilgrims on the Way of St. James. The town's Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada is dedicated to him.
Philosopher Gustavo Bueno Martínez was born here in 1924.
Burgos is a city in northern Spain and the historic capital of Castile. It is situated on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries,
at the edge of the Iberian central plateau. It has about 180,000 inhabitants in the actual city and another 20,000 in the metropolitan area.
It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León.
Burgos was once the capital of the Crown of Castile, and the Burgos Laws or Leyes de Burgos which first governed the behaviour of Spaniards towards the natives
of the Americas were promulgated here in 1512.
León is the capital of the province of León, located in the northwest of Spain.
Founded as the Roman military encampment of the Legio VI Victrix around 29 BC, its standing as an encampment city was consolidated with the
definitive settlement of the Legio VII Gemina from 74 AD. Following its partial depopulation due to the Umayyad conquest of the peninsula,
León was revived by its incorporation into the Kingdom of Asturias. 910 saw the beginning of one its most prominent historical periods,
when it became the capital of the Kingdom of León, which took active part in the Reconquista against the Moors, and came to be one of the fundamental kingdoms of medieval Spain.
Astorga is a town in the province of León, northern Spain. It lies 27 miles southwest of the provincial capital of León,
and is the head of the council (comarca) of La Maragatería.The river Tuerto flows through it. As of 2009, its population was about 12,242 people.
It is the 5th most populated municipality in province of Leon which has over 211 municipalities. Astorga pre dates the 910 AD Kingdom of León by 875 years.
The town lies along the French route of the Way of St. James (Spanish: Camino de Santiago).
Castillo de Ponferrada.
The castle of Ponferrada is a medieval Templar stronghold in Ponferrada, which is located in the northern Spanish province of León.
In the original fortress there were probably a Celtic fortification.
In 1178, Ferdinand II allowed Leon the Knights Templar, the creation of a fortress in Ponferrada.
It was intended, among other things to protect pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela.
Las Médulas (Galician: As Médulas) is a historic mining site near the town of Ponferrada in the region of El Bierzo (province of León, Castile and León, Spain),
which used to be the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire. Las Médulas Cultural Landscape is listed by the UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites.
The spectacular landscape of Las Médulas resulted from the ruina montium, a Roman mining technique described by Pliny the Elder in 77 AD.
The technique employed was a type of hydraulic mining which involved undermining a mountain with large quantities of water.
At least seven long aqueducts tapped the streams of the La Cabrera district (where the rainfall in the mountains is relatively high) at a range of altitudes.
The same aqueducts were used to wash the extensive gold deposits.
Santiago de Compostela, is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain.
The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the city's cathedral, as destination of the Way of St. James,
a leading Catholic pilgrimage route originated in the 9th century.
The cathedral borders the main plaza of the old and well-preserved city. Legend has it that the remains of the apostle James were brought to Galicia for burial.
In 813, according to medieval legend, the light of a bright star guided a shepherd who was watching his flock at night to the burial site in Santiago de Compostela.
The shepherd quickly reported his discovery to the bishop of Iria, Bishop Teodomiro.
The bishop declared that the remains were those of the apostle James and immediately notified King Alfonso II in Oviedo.
To honour St. James, the cathedral was built on the spot where his remains were said to have been found. The legend, which included numerous miraculous events,
enabled the Catholic faithful to bolster support for their stronghold in northern Spain during the Christian crusades against the Moors,
but also led to the growth and development of the city.
The Picos de Europa (literally: "Peaks of Europe") is a range of mountains 20 km inland from the northern coast of Spain,
located in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria and Castile and León, forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains.
The most widely accepted origin for the name is that they were the first sight of Europe for ships arriving from the Americas.
Potes is a municipality in the autonomous community of Cantabria in Spain.
It is the capital of the Comarca of Liébana and is located in the centre of it. It is bordered to the north by Cillorigo de Liébana,
to the west by Camaleño, to the south by Vega de Liébana and to the east by Cabezón de Liébana.
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain.
Built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Cantabrian Sea, it is one of several museums belonging to the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and features permanent and visiting exhibits of works by Spanish and international artists.
Bordeaux Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux) is a Roman Catholic cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Bordeaux-Bazas, located in Bordeaux.
The cathedral was consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1096. Of the original Romanesque edifice, only a wall in the nave remains.
The Royal Gate is from the early 13th century, while the rest of the construction is mostly from the 14th-15th centuries. The building is a national monument of France.
A separate bell tower, the Tour Pey-Berland, is next to the cathedral.
