Pilgrimage, Sweet Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage is a great way to get your thoughts together while exploring a country in a way that most tourists will never experience. Ancient pilgrimage paths take you through towns which have benefited economically and spiritually by pilgrims passing through, becoming the great cities and villages of Europe. Churches, hospices and inns were financed by rich and powerful pilgrims in the day when the Bible was taken at face value and it was thought to be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to go to heaven.

Even though these days are long gone, the idea of pilgrimage has suddenly become popular. For example, the Centro Nacional de Cultura in Portugal is developing pilgrimage routes to Fátima. One route leading from Lisbon and proceeding mostly along the River Tejo is now complete. Another from Porto is underdevelopment. The routes are planned to take the pilgrim through quiet countryside instead of busy roads. These shorter pilgrimage routes deserve consideration from vacationers who like walking in the presence of like-minded strangers.

When I return to the Lunigiana in a few weeks, I'll be right on the Via Francigena pilgrimage route that takes pilgrims from Canterbury to St. Peter's in Rome, This time I'll have Paul Chinn and Babette Gallard's LightFoot Guide to the via Francigena with me. The authors have created a very detailed record of the Via and what you'll find along it. It's always a great feeling to know that there are people who work toward a common cause that is spiritual, or at least doesn't have as its aim the domination of the world or the destruction of other cultures.

Walk in peace, pilgrim.