STORIES FROM
EUROPE

Duncan* was the first pilgrim to stay at the guesthouse which opened just one year ago, in April 2024, after six years of planning and prayer. He had just finished his first day of walking and was continuing another 818 kilometers, or 30 days of walking, onto the city of Santiago, where the Camino ends.

At the guesthouse, pilgrims can stop to stay the night, have a shower and be refreshed before continuing on their way. Our aim is to offer them a safe space and the warm hospitality of Jesus along their journey.

Pilgrims are just ordinary people walking the Camino, and though many simply walk to enjoy the beautiful Spanish landscape or as a break from life’s busyness, others—like Duncan—walk for deeply personal reasons. Around 45% of pilgrims say they walk the Camino for religious or spiritual reasons, and many are searching for God.

Since April, we have welcomed over 150 pilgrims to Casa Camino Antiguo, men and women, young and old. Over half are Spanish and the rest come from all over the world - France, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, England, Brazil and Russia to name a few. Every encounter is different: sometimes we have an open personal conversation about spiritual things, other times they might not want to talk about faith at all; we might get to share Scripture together or they might just want to keep to themselves and rest quietly.

Sometimes we invite the pilgrims to share a meal with us. It might just be a friendly chat, a glass of water and a comfortable bed is all they need. However our interaction with pilgrims works out, we aim to be a God-glorifying presence and to show them the love of Jesus in a practical way.

As a team and with volunteers who have come to help at the guesthouse, we’ve have had opportunities to reach those who are searching, hear an atheist respond to Jesus in the gospels, pray with a priest, meet Christ-following hippies and send a few pilgrims along with a Bible in their backpack.

When they arrive, each pilgrim has their credencial (like a passport), stamped with our logo which has the words of Jesus above it from John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Our prayer is that they leave not only with the literal words of Jesus stamped in their passport, but that God would impress His grace and mercy upon each one in some way.

The guesthouse is in the same building as where our small church plant meets. These ministries are not separate entities but make up a whole where we aim to reach out not only to pilgrims, but to be a visible gospel presence to locals in our town here in Basque Country.

*Name changed