The Portuguese Way  

The Jacobean peregrination from Portugal is intensified since this country’s independence in the mid 12th Century, even though it is believed to have started in the high medieval period. From this time, the Jacobean cult and the peregrination to Compostela, are considered one of the signs of European culture identity, having an important projection on Portugal.

For centuries, the Portuguese people contributed to this collective experience with a high level of participation, funded with the fortune of kings, nobles and high clergymen. It must be remembered that the majority of Portuguese roads witnessed, from the 12th Century to our days, the way of pilgrims from different Portuguese towns heading to Compostela. The motivations for this peregrination were religious. The massive flow of people through the ways of Saint James brought about the population of the area between Portugal and Galicia, and with it, the cultural, economic, and thought exchange in these lands.

The Portuguese Way in Galicia, in its soft wandering to the north, uses the old roads that cross forests, fields, villages, towns and historical cities. Roads that jump over water channels through medieval bridges. Roads enriched with the presence of shrines, churches, convents and stone-crosses, where the comforting image of Saint James  is often present accompanying the pilgrim. 

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Tui - Santiago (6 stages)