Mon, Dec 9, 2013
In the Middle Ages, pilgrimage shaped much of Europe, as inns and churches sprung up along routes and villages near popular shrines developed into towns. To see how this is still happening, Simon visits a route that has come back to life. The Camino is a 500-mile trek starting in a bustling French town before it climbs over the Pyrenees and winds through northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela.
Mon, Dec 16, 2013
Simon Reeve follows in the footsteps of travellers who made long, arduous and dangerous journeys to reach Jerusalem. He begins in Istanbul, Turkey, a busy medieval staging post for pilgrims to the Holy Land. Before falling to the Ottoman Empire, it was the centre of Roman Christianity under Emperor Constantine. His mother Helena, arguably the first pilgrim to the Holy Land, brought back relics from Jerusalem to fill the city's churches, which made it a major destination for pilgrimage in its own right for centuries to come. Simon visits the magnificent Hagia Sophia and a traditional Turkish bath, discovering that pilgrims brought public bathing back with them to Europe, showing how pilgrimage spread practical ideas as well as religious ones.
Mon, Dec 2, 2013
Simon, although not religious, enjoys trying out the modern versions of major medieval pilgrim routes trough Catholic Europe. He compares the original pilgrimages, about guilt and penitence, but also the only major precursor of modern tourism and major income for ecclesiastic authorities and local host communities, to the present 'industry', where challenge and self-discovery or often dominant motives. he visits some shrines and rest stops and interviewers fellow walkers to Santiago de Compostella and Rome, the third major destination being Jerusalem.