I am leaving this post up for historic purposes, to show how things developed but the situation on the Camino and in Spain has since dramatically changed, my latest update about the current situation (October 2020) can be found here: https://egeria.house/egeria-house-2020/
Last updated: 14th March 2020 17:13 Spanish Time
Important! All albergues in Galicia are closed, and albergues in other parts of the country are closing fast also, and Spain has declared a state of emergency. If you are on a pilgrimage now, please stop and travel home!
I am NOT updating this list anymore as the Caminos here in Spain are de facto closed!
This is very much a work in progress, but here you go. The list of albergues / pilgrim hostels currently closed to prevent the further spread of the Corona Virus/ Covid-19. Please bookmark this page for further reference … And if you want to help, please post any news about closed/re-opened albergues in a comment. This list currently features albergues that are closed or about to close plus certain other, pilgrim related services that have been closed.
Santiago de Compostela
Pilgrim House in Rua Nova 19 – closed
Cathedral – closed
Pilgrim’s Office – closed. You can leave your Credencial in a mail box and they will mail you your Compostela.
Camino Francés
Roncesvalles – closed
Burgos – municipal Navarette – Casa del Peregrino
Rabanal – Gaucelmo closed/opening postponed
Camino del Norte
A Carida (El Franco) – municipal Sobrado dos Monxes
Bustio Asturias
Mar y Montaña in Vegadeo
Tapia de Casariego municipal albergue
Almuña
Via de la Plata:
Zafra – Albergue Vincent Gogh limited to 18 pilgrims max Alcuescar
Camino Primitivo
Albergue Grado – Closed starting Monday, for a month.
Other Caminos in Spain
The towns of Igualada and Vilanova del Camí and Santa Margarida de Montbui on the Camí Catalan & Camino Ignaciano have been placed in complete quarantine isolation for two weeks, nobody allowed in or out of town. It goes without saying that the Albergue at Igualada is closed for business.
Camino Sureste Albergue Santa Anna. CLOSED
Albergue O.Ninho. CLOSED
Camino Levante
Canals and Mouxent – Closed
Portugal:
Alpriate Albergue Albergue de Conímbriga Rainha Pilgrim Hostel Rainha D. Teresa, Albergaria-a-Velha Albergue de S. Salvador de Grijó Albergue Cidade de Barcelos limited to 20 pilgrims/day Albergue Municipal de Pilegrinos – Casa da Recoleta – Tamel limited to 20 pilgrims/day Rubiães Pilgrim Hostel of São Teotónio São Tiago de Labruge Santa Clara Albergue- Vila do Conde Albergue Sao Mamede Valença Albergue Povoa de Varzim: São José de Ribamar Paredes de Coura – closed starting Friday Ponte de Lima – closed FARMINHÃO Caminha Marinhos
Azinhaga Casa de Azzancha closed
Camino Zamorano Portugues
Edral – albergue in old people’s center closed Braganca and Vilhais – The fire brigade is not accepting pilgrims anymore at this time
Every now and then, and with increased
frequency this year it seems, the Donativo thematic raises its
agitated head on social media like Facebook. Often started by a
hospitaler@ complaining that the pilgrims of yesterday didn’t leave
enough money to take care of the pilgrims of tomorrow. Or by somebody
innocently stating that Donativo equals free as the Church (which
one?), the state, the European Union, or whoever or whatever comes to
mind, supports the Donativo albergues on the Caminos de Santiago. Or
a new pilgrim is just asking what would be the correct amount to
leave in a Donativo albergue. And then the discussions start …
Church and albergue of Grañón in La Riojy, on the Camino Francés, image (CC) Henri Bergius
I have served over the last 20+ years
in more than 20 albergues as a hospitalera and whilst Egeria House is
NOT an albergue, the work that I do here, be it practical pilgrim
help or the Camino Chaplaincy, is supported by fundraisers, donations
and my own money. If you don’t want to read the whole article to the
end, it has become rather long, here a short summary:
Donativo Albergues are maintained
exclusively with donations and don’t receive any public funds. They
are a work of love by veteran pilgrims and locals to help the
pilgrims currently on pilgrimage to Santiago.
If you can, leave:
… the place better, cleaner and
tidier than you found it.
… a generous donation, think what was
offered to you freely (not for free!) and respect the hospitaler@s,
as they are donating their precious vacation time, to help you, the
pilgrim.
…, as a rule of thumb, and if you
can, the same amount that you have left in a previous albergue where
you had to pay a fixed amount for everything you received.
… or 5 Euro (or even a bit more) each
for the following: a place to sleep, clean bathrooms and showers,
dinner and breakfast.
… nothing, if you have nothing, but
always, always leave a smile and a Thank You!
And now my longer take on the subject:
Donativo Albergues 101
A Short History – Medieval Times
The Roman-Catholic church did indeed support pilgrims to and from Santiago de Compostela, and other places, by providing food, shelter, spiritual and practical care. So belonged, for example, the little church and monastery in O Cebreiro to the powerful Benedictine abbey of Cluny in France. Or take the Parador here in Santiago, it was founded by the Catholic kings in 1486 as a hostel and hospital for pilgrims. These were financed by generous donations of the nobility and gentry plus with the income of the monasteries. Helping a pilgrim was, and is still, deemed a good work, a work that helped the donor to achieve salvation and his or her heavenly reward.
A Short History – Modern Times
In the late 80s and 90s of the last
millennium, the pilgrimage to Santiago picked up again, after its
decline caused by the Black Death, wars, reformation, enlightenment
and so on. Some 25+ years ago a young teacher from Catalunya
approached a parish priest who lived in a small village on the Camino
Frances with an unusual request: Could he help her to rent a house on
the Camino so that she could welcome pilgrims in it? Her reasoning
was that whilst albergues existed even back then, the human touch,
the personal hospitality was still missing. And so the modern
movement of volunteer hospitaleros started.
The priest was Don José Ignacio Díaz Pérez, at that time editor of the Spanish pilgrim magazine “Peregrino”. After the teacher finished her stint as a hospitalera, a couple of people took over and the albergue in Hornillos del Camino became the first of many albergues where the traditional hospitality of the Camino de Santiago has been revived. Today a hospitaler@, after having done the Camino, typically attends a preparation course that takes place over a weekend in many places of Spain and also worldwide. After that, they get assigned, typically for 15 days, to an albergue. These hospitaleros pay their own travel to and from the albergue, donate their free and/or vacation time to clean bathrooms, dormitories, kitchens, to cook with and for pilgrims and to pray with them. They don’t receive any remuneration for all the work they do in 15 very long days. The donativos are used to maintain the albergue, pay the water and electricity bills, buy food and other necessities.
Commemorative sign to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hospitaleros Voluntarios, (cc) Jialxv
What Donativos can teach pilgrims and society in general
The traditional hospitality on the Caminos de Santiago shows that another approach to life, sharing and possessions is possible. The pilgrim receives what is on offer and available in the albergue. Sometimes it is just a place to shower, sleep and rest, sometimes it is a communal meal, a breakfast and/or a time of prayer and reflection. This hospitality aims to take care of the pilgrim and his/her needs without expecting anything in return. Yes, you read that right, if we hospitaler@s start to see pilgrims in terms of “possible donations” then we get it wrong. Of course, there is a box where those who want to keep this “pay it forward system” alive can leave their contribution, but that box should never be the centre of our hospitality. Generous hospitality, offered with an open heart and without judgement, has changed the life of many pilgrims, including my own, more than 20 years ago. Because of the hospitality I have received so many years ago I am now where I am and do what I do.
And a final word to my hospitaler@ colleagues
There is a fine line between explaining
to pilgrims what a Donativo albergue is and how it works and making
them uncomfortable by being too pushy towards the donation box. Here
some tips that might help:
Don’t overload the pilgrims, on
arrival, with information, they will forget it anyway. Instead show
them their bed, the showers and tell them to come back to you later
for more information, after they have recovered from their day’s work
of walking or biking.
A transparent or open donation box
helps and lets pilgrims see how much or little is in the box. If they
can’t see that, they will automatically assume that the box is as
full of money as the albergue is full of pilgrims.
Use, if possible, the conversation
during the common meal to explain a little bit about the albergue,
how it came into being and who actually maintains it and who not.
And, perhaps most importantly, try to
separate the pilgrims from the money they leave in the box. This
money doesn’t represent your worth as a hospitaler@ nor the
worthiness of the pilgrim as a pilgrim. It is just money and if it is
one day less than you need, rest assured the next day it will be more
than you need to take care of pilgrims.
Have I met true “freeloaders” aka pilgrims that had money, sometimes a lot, but decided to make their Camino as cheap as possible by staying mainly in Donativos and leaving nothing or next to nothing? Yes, over the last 20+ years it was around a handful … if you look at the numbers of pilgrims each year on the Camino, that isn’t many.
Shortly after moving to Santiago, I re-started the ‘forum pilgrims meet-up’. For those of you that don’t know the >pilgrims forum< here a bit of background info.
Some time back, a few bright pilgrims that pass a lot of time on this forum had the equally bright idea that it would be great to put ‘faces to names’ and started a regular forum meet-up in Santiago in a very nice café-bar called Tertulia. Sometimes people came, sometimes they didn’t. Problem was that many people that came found nobody around, so only stayed for a short while and went, half an hour later somebody else came, found nobody around and …
I thought that having at least one person committed to be there the whole time slot might actually help with this. Even if that person was me 😉 That way, the first forum pilgrim showing up would have immediately somebody to chat to. I run a short survey on the forum to find out what time of the day people favoured and if they would be willing to come to my place instead of meeting in a café-bar. The best time slot was quickly, and with a good majority, determined to be in the later afternoon/early evening. The vote for the best place to meet was less unanimous. A bit more than half of the contributing forum members actually voted for meeting in a café-bar. Stubborn woman that I am I politely ignored that vote 😉
First of all, if nobody comes, I can still do things around the house. Second, not everybody wants to/can spend money in a café-bar. Third, by moving to Santiago I committed myself to helping pilgrims, so my ‘intruded privacy’ wasn’t really an issue for me, more a concern by others for me 😉 But as I wrote on the forum:
“When I envisioned living in Santiago, I already had it very clear in my head that I would share part of the house with pilgrims/friends, so nobody is intruding on my privacy. The ground floor is ‘open space’, the first floor is ‘invited only’ space and the second floor is ‘only my space’.”
The experiment started off well, with a few pilgrims coming by each day and yes, there were also a few days when nobody came as well as a few pilgrims that came every day they were in Santiago. As time went by it became clear that weekends were the less ‘busy’ days, perhaps because most pilgrims integrate them in their ‘travel back home plans’. So I decided to take the weekends off and offer my ‘open door’ “only” from Monday to Friday. If you are curious now, here a short FAQ that should answer all questions:
(Forum) Pilgrims Meet-Up FAQ
Do I have to be a forum member to come?
No, not at all! Whilst the idea originated in this forum community, my door is open to all pilgrims.
Pretty much the same as when pilgrims meet up in any other place. We share a tea/coffee, a biscuit/cookie and there is normally a jug of homemade lemonade on the table plus plenty of fresh fruit. And we chat, lots. About the Camino, our experiences, whatever comes up.
Are there any costs for this?
Absolutely not! Sometimes pilgrims bring something to share (cookies/biscuits/fruit), sometimes not. It all balances out and, over time, I even had to restrain pilgrims that brought too much 😉
Why do you do this?
Because I am a pilgrim and I love meeting other pilgrims! And also because I hang around a lot on the forum (and others) and love to put faces to names after, sometimes, years of online interaction.
Is this some ‘Christian’ thing???
Only in the sense that I myself am a Christian, apart of that not. No bible readings, no hymns, no evangelisation or the like. Just pilgrims chatting the time away about pretty much everything. If you are looking for a pilgrims meet-up in English with a more Christian focus, I can recommend >Pilgrim House< or the >Camino Companions<.
Any further questions? Just leave a comment and hoping to see you soon in person!
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNoData Protection Policy and Imprint
You can revoke your consent any time using the Revoke consent button.Revoke cookies
