Living in La Rioja has helped me understand how important outdoor activities are in Spain. People of all ages spend a lot of time outside walking, biking, hiking and meeting friends. Logroño is surrounded by nature, including the Ebro River, vineyards and nearby hills, which makes it easy to enjoy the outdoors. One of the most famous outdoor activities in this region is the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James), which passes directly through the city.
The Camino de Santiago is a very long walking journey that people have followed for hundreds of years. This journey is called a pilgrimage, which means a special trip taken for an important personal or religious reason. The people who walk the Camino are called pilgrims. The Camino is not just one path, but many different routes that start in different cities and even different countries across Europe. All of these routes end in the same place: a city called Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. There, pilgrims finish their journey at a famous church of the same name.
The route that passes through Logroño is called the Camino Francés (French Way). It begins in southern France and travels across northern Spain.
