After Norway's patron saint, Olav Haraldsson, fell at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030, Nidaros (now Trondheim) and the grave of Saint Olav became a destination for people seeking salvation. This updated booklet is a guide for modern pilgrims who want to follow in the footsteps of those earlier wanderers. Today's pilgrim paths give the contemporary wanderer a sense of what pilgrims in the Middle Ages went through on their way to the shrine in Trondheim. All the paths and routes to Trondheim are described with accompanying pictures and maps. The book also contains brief texts about Saint Olav, Stiklestad, Nidaros Cathedral, and the medieval landscape, as well as useful information about today's Trondheim and its many attractions.

This is a walker's guide to the 643 km medieval pilgrim road from Oslo to Nidaros (Trondheim) Cathedral, where Saint Olav (king of Norway, and responsible for much of the conversion of the country to Christianity) was buried. His shrine was the focus not only of many miracles but also of the fourth most important pilgrim route in Europe ......

NIDAROS - the Jerusalem of the North - was a very important pilgrimage destination for centuries - until the Reformation. For some years now, pilgrims again have been making their way along St. Olav Ways to Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim in Norway.

This guidebook describes the Way of St Francis a 550km month-long pilgrimage trail from Florence through Assisi to Rome. Split into 28 day stages, the walk begins in Florence and finishes in the Vatican City. Stages range from 8km to 30km with plenty to see, including ancient ruins, picturesque towns, national treasures, and stunning churches. This comprehensive guidebook fits in a jacket pocket or rucksack, and contains information on everything from accommodation and transport in Italy, to securing your credential (pilgrim identity card), budgeting, what to take, and where to do laundry. Stories of Francis of Assisi's life are also included. Although the route includes climbs and descents of up to 1200m, no special equipment is required - although your hiking boots and socks definitely need to get along. Following the steps of heroes, conquerors and saints on this pilgrim trail is manageable all year round, but is best done from April to June and mid-August to October. Route maps are given for every stage, and basic Italian phrases are included in the guidebook.

Packed with over almost 100 images and countless stories, it brings to life the fascinating communities and the characters along the route in whose footsteps modern pilgrims are treading. Setting off with Celtic saints from Culross and North Queensferry, marching with miners through the West Fife coalfields, continuing on with Covenanters and Communists and ending among the martyrs, relics and ghosts of the haunted city of St Andrews, this gripping narrative presents a journey through Scottish history, ancient and modern, with spiritual reflections along the way.

"If Faust were a 21st century metal-minded former punk with too much libido and a major attitude problem, this would be her story."

Pilgrimage beyond the Officially Sacred: Understanding the Geographies of Religion and Spirituality in Sacred Travel examines the many ways in which pilgrimage engages with sacredness, delving beyond the officially recognized, and often religiously conceived, pilgrimage sites. As scholarship examining the lived experiences of pilgrims and tourists has demonstrated, pilgrimage need not be religious in nature, nor be officially sanctioned; rather, they can be 'hyper-meaningful' voyages, set apart from the everyday profane life—in a word, they are sacred. Separating the social category of 'religion' from the 'sacred,' this volume brings together a multidisciplinary group of scholars employing perspectives from anthropology, geography, sociology, religious studies, theology, and interdisciplinary tourism studies to theorize sacredness, its variability, and the ways in which it is officially recognized or condemned by power brokers. Rich in case studies from sacred centers throughout the world, the contributions pay close attention to the ways in which pilgrims, central authorities, site managers, locals, and other stakeholders on the ground appropriate, negotiate, shape, contest, or circumvent the powerful forces of the sacred. Delving ‘beyond the officially sacred,’ this collective examination of pilgrimages—both well-established and new, religious and secular, authorized and not—presents a compelling look at the interplay of secular powers and the transcendent forces of the sacred at these hyper-meaningful sites. Providing a blueprint for how work in the anthropology and geography of religion, and the fields of pilgrimage and religious tourism, may move forward, Pilgrimage beyond the Officially Sacred will be of great interest to an interdisciplinary field of scholars. The chapters were originally published as a special issue in Tourism Geographies.

This book examines contemporary performances of authenticity in travel and tourism practices. It re-thinks and re-invests in the notion of authenticity as a surplus of experiential meaning and feeling that derives from what we do at / in places. Drawing on wide ranging perspectives and cases, it demonstrates how the feeling of authenticity within places is produced.

This volume provides a theoretically and empirically-grounded study of the significance of landscape in the experience of Christian pilgrimage across different denominations and its intersection with cultural heritage and tourism. The book focuses on pilgrimages to Meteora (Greece), Subiaco (Italy) and the Isle of Man. These are each sites of scenic beauty that boast a rich heritage associated respectively to Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Ecumenical/ Protestant denominations. The study discusses different Christian theologies, practices and perspectives on the nature and the purpose of pilgrimage in these traditions. It draws on participant experiential accounts, archival research, and interviews with clergy, laity and local stakeholders. Special attention is paid to the themes of sacred space and practice, aesthetics, mobilities, embodiment and performance, emotional geographies, theology, cultural heritage, consumption and commodification, and the pilgrim-tourist continuum.

This book offers global perspectives from Mediterranean, Asian, Australian, and American cultures on sacred sites and their related stories in regional history. Contemporary society witnesses many travelers visiting sacred sites (temples, mountains, castles, churches, houses) throughout the world. These visits often involve discovery of new historical facts through the origin stories of the associated tribe, region, or nation. The transmission of oral tradition and myth carries on the significant meaning of those religious sites. This volume unveils multi-angle perspectives of symbolic and mystical places. The contributors describe the religio-political experiences of each regional case, and analyze the religiosity of local people as a lens through which readers can re-examine the concept of iconography, syncretism, and materialism. In addition, contributors interpret the growth of new religions as the alternative perspectives of anti-traditional religions. This new approach offers significant insight into comprehending the practical agony and sorrow of regional people in the context of contemporary history.