The routes to Santiago de Compostela have multiplied in recent decades, and the "major" routes (French, North, Primitive, Silver, Portuguese, etc.) have been joined by competitors... In spite of the current welter of routes, nobody disputes the primacy of the French Way, that "Jacobean highway" on which the four major routes from France lead, which were already recorded in Book V of the Codex Calixtinus back in the 12th century.
Our Way of St. James begins its journey with these words by the travel writer Antón Pombo, who together with the painter Zacarías Cerezo -both unrepentant pilgrims- interpret, through their eyes and words, the keys to this symbolic itinerary that we describe from the south of France to Galician lands towards the west: Scenery and landscapes of transcendental significance, from the Pyrenean passes of Somport or the Col de Bentartea and the Col de Lepoeder to their encounter with the end of the world in Atlantic waters.
In France, Zacarías Cerezo's gaze lingers on the bucolic landscapes of the Pyrenean valley of Aspe and the beech forests that lead to the high pastures of Somport or the beautiful historic square of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in Lower Navarre. Once the Pyrenean stages have been completed, his watercolours delicately capture the landmarks and the most outstanding villages of the two routes that give rise in Spain to the Aragonese Way with its entrance through Somport and the Navarrese Way through Roncesvalles.
From Puente la Reina - where the Navarrese and Aragonese branches meet - our pilgrimage runs in the direction of the Ebro valley and the vineyards of La Rioja to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, to enter the cereal plains of Castile and León and its valuable artistic heritage, the Tierra de Campos, the villages of Maragato and El Bierzo - the anteroom of Galicia - where our steps will lead us to Compostela, Fisterra and Muxía on the Costa da Morte.

Publisher: Anaya