Camino Photo of the Day: Croix Occitane
Let’s take a moment to examine this Camino sign in the village of Saint-Côme-d’Olt. The symbols in the upper corners are the traditional drinking gourd of the pilgrim and the snail with its shell, perhaps a symbol of the pilgrims themselves with their slow pace and backpack. The shell is of course a symbol of Saint James and of the pilgrimage to Santiago. Instead of the traditional Saint James cross, however, we instead have a very different cross. This is the Occitan Cross1, which gained its popularity as the medieval symbol of the Counts of Toulouse. These days variations of the symbol are used by both the French cultural region of Occitania and the somewhat smaller administrative region of the same name, as well as many départements and villages within the region.
Date: 24 August 2023
Place: Saint-Côme-d’Olt, Aveyron Département, Region of Occitanie, France
Maps!
If you’re the sort who looks at the maps, you’ll note that the stage shown is 32+km long. I split this up into two days, since I wanted to spend some time exploring both Saint-Chély-d’Aubrac and Saint-Côme-d’Olt, both of which are on the list of most beautiful villages in France.
