The Pilgrimage to Santiago (Lost and Found Series)

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Summary: Read this book BEFORE you embark on the road to Santiago ...
Review: Even though it was written over 20 years ago, this is probably the best book on the pilgrimage to Santiago. Mullins is an architect with words. He turns 12c history into a series of vivid and interesting vignettes and tales, provides a wealth of fascinating detail --such as the digression about the origins of the word Compostella (Campo Stella)-- about churches (trends in Romanesque architectire), places and people. etc. etc. Better than anyone else, Mullins thoroughly covers the principal sights and stops along all four pilgrimage routes dissecting France -- right up to Puente la Reina southwest of Pamplona where they meet; he then leads you on the concluding stage of the journey to Burgos, Leon and finally Galicia.

In the late 80s I covered some of the routes between Paris and Santiago de Compostella. Only after reading his book had I realized how much I had missed. Even though Mullins does not paint himself as a believer, he conveys a certain spirituality with which a believer can relate. One of the best aspects of his book is that quite often he actually gets out of his car and walks through some places along the pigrimage route. I am reminded of a discussion I once had in Paris with a Serb friend on the relative merits of touring holy places, say on a donkey . . . vesus the now ubiqitous automobile. Even though I argued for the efficiency, flexibility and speed of the auto, today I have to admit he was right: covering the same sights on a donkey is by far a much richer experience than rushing through a country in the most comfortable of cars -- a point that Mullins unintentionally brings in his book. A ride on a donkey, or just walking, is more uplisting because it allows you to experience feelings and see details you can never hope to appreciate from a speeding car. So much for progress, fast tranposration and modern technology . . .

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Summary: Great feel for the history of the road
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. The author has a wonderful eye for detail and communicates a deep appreciation of architectural detail of the numerous churches that played such an important part in the experience of the pilgrimage. I did have initial reservations about the role of the car in his journey, but his descriptions of the road won me all the same. I particularly liked his quotes from and responses to earlier writers. He has a keen sense of the historical setting and impact of the polgrimage, which I found fascinating.

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Summary: This is probably The best book I have read on the Pilgrimage
Review: Mullins was a BBC Broadcaster and he did a superb job on the writing about the pilgrimage. Unfortunately the book itself is out of print. The publishers might bring out a reprint and then I will order two copies from Amazon. Extracts from the book can be found under the travel section of the Telegraph Online Newspaper look under Yahoo for this newspaper. There is also quite a bit of useful information on the pilgrimage to santiago under the Travel section of the Telegraph Online.