On Foot and by Coach: In the Footsteps of St James
The loveliest stretches in walking boots, the longest in comfortable seats: this is how active holidaymakers follow the Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela with Eurobus.
Anyone going on a walking holiday should of course be a good walker. But even passionate hikers are unlikely to object to a little motorised support if scenic highlights and interesting places lie along the route. “That is exactly the concept of our walking holidays with a coach,” explains Daniel Dicke of Eurobus. “Thanks to the transfers between the individual stages, participants can cover greater distances and concentrate on the most beautiful stretches on their walks.”
And the tour operator has quite a few beautiful walking routes in its programme. “With us, holidaymakers also discover places they might not otherwise have visited on their own,” says Dicke. German-speaking drivers and tour guides share interesting facts about the individual destinations and route sections along the way.
Beyond that, the group experience is what makes walking holidays so appealing. On the one hand, exciting conversations naturally keep arising among like-minded people. “And on the other hand, it is simply a lovely feeling to have mastered a stretch together,” Dicke knows. The sporting aspect, however, is by no means the main focus, quite the opposite: occasional somewhat more demanding sections are outweighed by mainly easier ones that invite leisurely strolling. Anyone who still needs a little break in between can board the coach at various stations.
Like St James once did
One of the most impressive Eurobus walking holidays leads participants along the Camino de Santiago from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela and on through northern Spain. For eleven days they explore the Camino Francés, probably the most famous part of the pilgrim route, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, as well as regions of the Costa Verde. The walking excursions take about two hours. The greater part of the trip is covered in the Deluxe coach, which heads for four-star hotels each evening.
First it goes from Switzerland to Narbonne in France and from there on to Spain, where a tour of the history-steeped pilgrim city of Pamplona is on the agenda. The travel group also finds plenty of history in Burgos. The cathedral there is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Another imposing cathedral rises with two towers above the ancient city of León, which, alongside other Romanesque and Gothic churches, has a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture to offer in the Basilica of San Isidoro.
Via Astorga and Foncebadón, the group reaches the highest point of the Spanish Camino on a mountain ridge. On the last section of the Camino Francés, the walkers later climb the “Mount of Joy”, from which they already have the venerable cathedral of Santiago in view. During an optional city tour they learn more about the cultural city.
From the pilgrimage site the walking group turns to the Playa de las Catedrales with its world-famous rock formation. After a detour to the picturesque fishing port of Cudillero, which is distantly reminiscent of Cinque Terre in Italy, the participants spend the night in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. The tour ends with a visit to the spectacular Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, a city shaped by modern architecture. The return journey is by plane or, alternatively, by coach via Clermont-Ferrand in France.
This article comes from the knecht reisen magazine "Reisewelten"
