Looking down over the ancient Pagan, and later Druid, spiritual site in Stonehenge, UK
For years, my travels have prompted me to think about religion. When I got my history degree at the University of Washington, one of my favorite classes was History of the Christian Church. For years, I have believed that people who enjoy getting close to God should pack their spirituality along with them in their travels.
Here are some magical experiences in Europe that spiritual people would enjoy -- from conservative Catholics to Buddhists, to tree-huggers to Methodists, to curious European bus drivers who have never thought about this while on a tour before.
- Attend an evensong service in one of England's many historic cathedrals. You will be surrounded by men and boys singing their hearts out for the glory of God today, in a church built for the glory of God hundreds of years ago. You are in the middle of a spiritual Oz as 40 voices sing Psalms...
- In Santiago de Compostela, in the far northwestern corner of Spain, stand in front of the cathedral at midmorning to greet the daily batch of well-worn pilgrims...Anyone walking through Santiago with a backpack probably is a pilgrim. Some 80,000 are expected in 2009. If a backpacker walks past, I spin around to see the scallop shell dangling from the pack as it has from the rucksacks of pilgrims for more than a millennium. I love the idea that the first guidebook ever written talked up "going local, packing light, and watching out for pickpockets" for pilgrims traveling the Camino de Santiago more than 1,000 years ago.
- Experience the latest in European monasticism in Taize, a few miles north of Cluny in central France. Here, thousands of mostly young European pilgrims ask each other, "How's your soul today?" The community welcomes Christians from various sects: Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic. At any time there are several thousand here from about 100 countries enjoying a weeklong retreat. When the bells ring, worshippers and white-robed brothers file into the long, plain, modern church. Taize-style worship is a cycle of Bible readings, meditative silence...
- Rome is the capital of the "Seventh Continent" -- more than a billion Roman Catholics spread across every nation, language and ethnic type. Swahili-speaking sisters, Romanian theology students, extended Mexican families, and American tourists converge on Rome.
- Throughout Europe, regardless of your religion, if you are seeking an experience beyond the material world, there are special places where you can go to feel the spirit. More>>
Rick Steves (ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. E-mail him at rick@ricksteves.com, or write to Box 2009, Edmonds, WA 98020.
