The launch of the inaugural cruise of the new and first «Caminho Marítimo de Santiago» in Portugal will take place next Saturday, May 28, at 9:00 am, in the port of Vila Real de Santo António, and will be attended by Ana Abrunhosa, minister of Territorial Cohesion.
The project «Caminho Marítimo de Santiago in Portugal» intends to recreate, on the Portuguese coast, the journey of the mythical «Barca de Pedra» that transported the body of the Apostle Santiago to Galicia, navigating between the places that are historically associated with the cult and the Order of Santiago – the ports of strong connection with Santiago.
The activity is the result of a partnership between Upstream Portugal – Valorização do Território and Fórum Oceano – Associação da Economia do Mar and has the advisory support of the National Association of Cruises (ANC), with the central objective of promoting nautical tourism and the Network of Nautical Stations of Portugal. The initiative has the High Sponsorship of the Presidency of the Republic and the institutional support of the Portuguese Navy.
This is an event that had the support and involvement, from the outset, of the Baixo Guadiana Nautical Station – coordinated by the Guadiana Naval Association – and the municipalities of Vila Real de Santo António, Castro Marim and Alcoutim, which created all the conditions to ensure the opening match.
The cruise – made up of about 20 vessels (guest boats), including the Caravela Vera Cruz, as well as several international vessels – will depart from the port of Vila Real de Santo António, towards the port of Vilamoura (where you will stay overnight) , bringing together around 150 participants.
This nautical path, consisting of 12 stages, will then travel towards Sines (May 30), followed by Cascais (June 1), Peniche (June 3), Ria de Aveiro (June 4), Matosinhos ( June 6th), Viana do Castelo (June 8th), Baiona (June 10th), Vila Garcia de Arousa (June 11th) and, finally, Pádron (June 12th).
This sea route will cover approximately 500 nautical miles. The 12-kilometer route that connects Padron to Santiago de Compostela will be done on foot by nautical travelers.
In parallel with the cult of Santiago, the new and first «Caminho Marítimo de Santiago» in Portugal also aims to contribute to the diversification of the tourist offer, to the qualification of maritime services and infrastructures and to territorial cohesion and the development of cross-border partnerships. .
Thus, this new itinerary will allow the exploration of the coastal landscape and the rediscovery of local history and culture, namely the municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, which will be a reference for all who wish to start the route in Portuguese territory.
The initiative has almost a dozen ambassadors, namely Fernando Pimenta, João Rodrigues, Joana Pratas, Francisco Lufinha, Hugo Rocha and Ângela Fernandes. These are the six athletes who accepted the challenge of joining, as ambassadors, to this initiative, representing sports ranging from windsurfing to canoeing, sailing, kitesurfing and standup paddle.
The new and first «Caminho Marítimo de Santiago» in Portugal will have an entire postal service from the Republic. The piece, developed in partnership with CTT – Correios de Portugal, has more than three thousand copies and will be available at all nautical stations on the cruise.
Caravela Vera Cruz will «guide» the inaugural cruise
The Caravela Vera Cruz will be the Polar Star that will «guide» the inaugural cruise to Padron. Built at the beginning of the century to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil, it will be possible to board this exact replica of the old Portuguese caravels at all the nautical stations that make up the route.
At the port of Vila Real de Santo António, the Caravela will be open to the general public and can be visited from the afternoon of this Wednesday, May 25th, and on May 26th and 27th, between 10 am and 00 pm . There it will remain until May 20, the day of the start. From there, it will travel from the south to the north of Portugal, with the community invited to visit it in each port.
Recreate the trip of the “Barca da Pedra”Legend has it that, in the first millennium, the body of James, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, crossed the Mediterranean, on a journey that linked Jaffa, in Palestine, to Campus Stella, in Galicia. This mythical voyage was called «Barca de Pedra».
The apostle's body was buried in a forest and his tomb was discovered only eight centuries later, when a star guided the first pilgrim to this place. This was the first great pilgrimage and the first Camino de Santiago.
Since then, different are the paths that are traced to Santiago de Compostela. With the aim of reviving the ancestral paths that, lost in time, have been reintroduced in the Jacobean routes, the new and first «Camino Marítimo de Santiago» in Portugal proposes to «live» this pilgrimage on a route to be carried out by sail.
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