A shell is the symbol for pilgrimage to which major holy site?
- Mont St. Michel, France
- Bodh Gaya, India
- Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
- Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Answer:
4) Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Want to read more on Spain?
Travelers’ Tales Spain (Updated)
Twenty years have passed since the death of General Francisco Franco, and Spain’s emergence from that decades-long dictatorship has been nothing less than dramatic. The year 1992 marked a kind of debut for Spain, with the Olympics in Barcelona, the World Expo in Seville, the dubbing of Madrid as the “European City of Culture,” and countless celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s journey.
The New Spain is a country that has learned to live a little, displaying a sophistication that is truly European while retaining the exotic sensibility of a heritage rooted in almost 800 years of Moorish rule. Indeed, Spain is an enigma. It is not one but many lands, with a history of conquest and reconquest that still resonates throughout the country, a place where Catholic cathedrals tower beside Moorish minarets.
Its surprising diversity of languages and landscapes has always intrigued travelers and writers, from Washington Irving to George Orwell to Ernest Hemingway. This is the country of the flamenco and the bullfight: it understands sensuality and it understands death. It is also the land of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, of both idealistic quests and earthy practicality.
Spaniards have a spirit that is warm and rich, and a contagious ability to linger in a moment as it unfolds. The traveler’s sensibilities, too, are heightened there: the light is different, hotter; the music, soul stirring and, well, hotter too. It is a banquet of bougainvillea blossoming fuchsia and orange, and air pungent with sizzling olive oil. It is both intoxicating Moorish musk and contemplative Catholic frankincense. When in Spain, one does not doubt that one is alive.
In Travelers’ Tales Spain you’ll find stories by these notable authors: Gabriel García Márquez, Barbara Kingsolver, Calvin Trillin, Jeff Greenwald, Colm Tóibín, Penelope Casas, Robert Elms, Norman Lewis, Jeff Greenwald, and many more.
Want to read more on Pilgrimage?
In ever-greater numbers, people are drawn toward spiritual travel, with a hunger for stories that unveil journeys of the soul—stories that are meaningful and mindful, intimate and catalytic. Pilgrimage: Adventures of the Spirit embraces these rich possibilities within travel, showing us the many faces of pilgrimage: traditional and unconventional, religious and secular, intended and accidental.
On this spirit-renewing journey you will:
- Wander with Nicholas Shrady through Buddha’s old stomping grounds in India, where the Buddhist path is also trod by bandits.
- Journey to sacred New Mexican soil with Ann Hood, as she searches for a miracle for her dying father
- Marvel at the unity of all life in holy Jerusalem with Rabbi David A. Cooper
- Explore the mysteries of the goddess site at Glastonbury, England with Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.
- Walk the Road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain with Jack Hitt and face the perils of dogs, lightning, and losing one’s sanity
- Travel to the holy Hawaiian site with James D. Houston and celebrate the “place within each of us where the universe resides”
- Explore the birthplace of Jesus with H.V. Morton in Bethlehem
And much more.
About World Wizard:
World Wizard is a weekly geo quiz compiled by the editors at Travelers’ Tales.