User:Nellie.ftc/sandbox

Follow The Camino is an internet based holiday provider which organizes and promotes self-guided and organised walking tours along the Way of St James, best known as the Camino to Santiago de Compostela.

Description
Founded in 2006 in Dublin, Ireland by two French entrepreneurs Fabien Rolland and Umberto di Venosa, it is part of the Group One Foot Abroad. The Company also has offices in the UK, New York, USA and Madrid, Spain and they have a multilingual and international team. In 2012, they celebrated 5,000 holidays booked and they recently started offering cycling, horse riding and sailing holidays on the Way of st James.

Follow the Camino is one of the only travel company in the world to offer walkers the opportunity to complete the Camino in sections. The trek has been divided into nine different routes, originating from France, Spain and Portugal and walkers can complete the routes in one-fell-swoop or decide to return to tackle each section until they have completed the whole Camino.

Services
Their packages include:


 * 24/7 helpline with emergency phone lines and 7 days a week Customer Service Agents available
 * Selected hotels with en-suite rooms.
 * Luggage transfer - everyday from hotel to hotel.
 * Certified English speaking walking guide on guided tour
 * Holiday packs (walking notes, hotel information, maps, vouchers, luggage tags, Pilgrim Passport)
 * All dinners and breakfast during the hike

FTC does not organize flight but visitors are invited to book flights to Santiago de Compostela through Ryanair, BA/Iberia (airline) or, if arriving from Dublin, Aer Lingus.

The Way of Saint James
The Way of St James, or the Camino to Santiago has existed for over a thousand years and was one of the most important Christian pilgrimage during medieval times. While the religious symbolism remains for many, reasons for completing the world famous route have evolved in recent years and walking the Camino is now widely regarded as a journey of self discovery and reconnection ..

The walk was declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 1993.

Pilgrims who walk the last 100km or cycle / horse ride the last 200km and obtain stamps in the main cities qualify to obtain a pilgrim certificate in Santiago.

Main Walks
Their main product is The French Way, Way of Saint James’ most popular route, which attracted 75% of the 5 million walkers in 2010. It is a 748km long journey starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, in French Pyrenees; it runs through Northern Spain, to Santiago de Compostela, in the North western corner of the country. Their tour recommends 34 walking days (36 days/35 nights) to complete and has been separated in 8 dividable sections. Another very popular route is “Le Puy Route” which starts in Le Puy-en-Velay (South West of Lyon, France) home of the mysterious Black Virgin, which has drawn pilgrims from all over Europe since the Middle Ages. This route journeys through south-western France to the foothills of the Pyrenees, where this Camino joins up with the French Way. The route passes smaller towns and villages, encompassing various local culinary specialities known only to the French!

Other popular routes promoted by Follow The Camino include:


 * The Portuguese Way: travelling across Portugal (Lisbon, Santarem, Coimbra, Porto, Tui, Galicia) to Santiago de Compostela in Spain
 * The Via de la Plata: from Sevilla across Spain towards Santiago
 * The Northern Way: following the North Spanish Coast from San Sebastian, Bilbao, Santander, Ribadesella, Oviedo
 * The Original Way:Through the Sierra de Ranadoiro mountain
 * The English Way: Along the Estuary of Ferrol, Galicia
 * The Finisterre Way: leaving from Santiago towards Cape Finisterre (considered in the Middle Ages as “The End Of The World”, the most Western Place in Europe)

Sponsorship
Follow The Camino were one of the official sponsors with the Spanish Tourism Board in Ireland of Emilio Estevez’s movie The Way which was released in Ireland on the 13 May 2011 and based on the Way of St James.