The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela attracts foreigners

Santiago de Compostela (Spain) - Despite fatigue and pain in her legs after eight days of intense walking, Federica Simonetta still smiles and takes photos to post them online. 21st-century pilgrims celebrate the medieval tradition of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with new technologies, thus contributing to the increasing number of those who set off on the Camino de Santiago, writes the AFP agency.
    "I take one or two photos a day, and when I find wi-fi, I post them on social networks," says the thirty-eight-year-old Italian nurse, leaning against one of the last milestones lining the thousand-year-old path in northern Spain.
    She covered 200 kilometers with her friend. "But I take medication, so I can continue on my way," she declares, while dozens of other pilgrims pass her by, using walking sticks, carrying water bottles, and traditional shells of St. James hanging from their backpacks and swaying to the rhythm of their steps.
    An increasing number of foreigners, especially younger ones equipped with the latest models of smartphones, head toward the impressive Cathedral of St. James every year.
    "Pilgrims from Europe have been coming here for centuries, but now we can see an increasing number of Japanese, Koreans, and Americans," explains Inma Tamayo, responsible for receiving pilgrims at the office.
    The Camino de Santiago attracts Spaniards, who have been affected by the crisis for the past ten years, because it is not very financially demanding. Thanks to a huge advertising campaign abroad, particularly in Australia, South Korea, and Brazil, the influx of foreign pilgrims has more than doubled in the last decade. In 2005, there were a total of 93,924 pilgrims, of which 43.7 percent were foreigners. By 2013, there were already a total of 215,880 pilgrims, of which only 49 percent were Spaniards.
    "The Camino de Santiago is very well known in Japan," claims Japanese retiree Ryoichi Fujioka. After walking 780 kilometers from the southern French town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, he reached the cathedral, where, according to Christian tradition, the remains of St. James the Greater are kept, and where pilgrims have bowed down since the 11th century.
    Among foreign visitors, there have long been the most Germans and Italians, but the number of American pilgrims also increased, especially due to the American-Spanish film "The Way," in which actor Martin Sheen makes the Camino de Santiago.
    The motivations of the pilgrims have changed. For many of them, the religious element is no longer the main focus.
    "We are here for the adventure and to enjoy the journey," explains twenty-eight-year-old Chris Jong, a computer expert from Canada, who is waiting at the pilgrim office with his girlfriend to obtain the famous "compostela," or certificate of completion of the pilgrimage.
    "I had had enough of work and needed to switch off and have time for reflection," says thirty-year-old Ashley Ha from South Korea, who, along with her husband, arrived at the Ribadiso hostel about 40 kilometers from Santiago, on the French route, which is the most used of the seven most famous trails.
    At the Ribadiso hostel, set up inside the stone walls of a former 13th-century hospice for pilgrims, 62 guests can be accommodated. "In the past, pilgrims slept in barns and various shelters and washed in streams. Today, they ask if we have wi-fi," says the hostel manager Dolores Agra, pointing to the common room where a dozen phones are charging.