La Virgen del Camino

La Virgen del Camino sits in the province of Leon, on the western approach out of the city of Leon. The town has been a Marian pilgrim site since 1505 and remains an active Marian shrine in northwest Spain. It is also the point where the Camino Frances splits into two variants for the next stretch: the northern route through Villadangos del Paramo and San Martin del Camino, and the southern route through Chozas de Abajo and Villar de Mazarife.

The shrine's origin lies in a Marian apparition. In 1505, a shepherd named Alvar Simon Fernandez was tending sheep on the dry paramo plateau west of Leon when, according to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to him and asked that a chapel be built. He was instructed to throw a stone from his sling and to build the church wherever it landed; the stone flew an improbable distance and the original sanctuary was built on the spot. The shrine became important enough that by the 16th and 17th centuries the Spanish crown made formal pilgrimages here, and the Virgin of the Camino was named patroness of the Region of Leon in 1914. The current sanctuary, replacing earlier structures, was completed in 1961 to a design by the Dominican architect Francisco Coello de Portugal. The thirteen bronze sculptures on the facade (the Virgin flanked by the twelve apostles) are by Josep Maria Subirachs, the Catalan sculptor who went on to create the Passion facade of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

La Virgen del Camino has full services. There are albergues including the municipal Albergue Don Antonino y Dona Cinia, private albergues, hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, supermarkets, a pharmacy, ATMs, and bus connections to Leon. The town has expanded around the sanctuary and the main road, and has the practical infrastructure pilgrims need.

From here the Camino splits. The northern variant follows the N-120 road through Valverde de la Virgen, San Miguel del Camino, Villadangos del Paramo, and San Martin del Camino. The southern variant cuts away from the road through quieter countryside to Chozas de Abajo and Villar de Mazarife. Both routes rejoin at Hospital de Orbigo. The northern route is shorter and has more services along it; the southern is quieter and follows older Camino tradition.